Dale Harper + Hugo Martin Jac Saorsa – Revolutionising birth and – Medicine, catastrophe building an agency and conversation
Amanda Agyei – Searching for perfection in her work
Preparation for the Research Excellence Framework – How do you go about rating research? Just ask Professor Steve Gill as he prepares for the REF
Nothing to Deleuze We sit down with Jac Saorsa to talk about her work on catastrophe, medicine and her conference appearances Jac Saorsa is a conversationalist. It’s a Monday lunch time when I speak to her in Garland’s Cafe, one of Cardiff’s hidden gems. For half an hour she takes me on a whirlwind tour of her theoretical and artistic practice. “My name is Dr Jac Saorsa and I’m lecturer in drawing at CSAD, Cardiff Met,” she says. Saorsa’s work is complicated, a body of many parts including academia, teaching, beautifully crafted passages of written work as well as her artistic practice - painting and drawing. “I’m an artist. That’s first and foremost. I’m also a writer. I write about and for and through practice,” she explains when I ask her what the most important aspect of her work is. “For me, being an artist is being a writer as well - that juxtaposition of the academic me and the practice me. I absolutely adore teaching, fortunately.” And it’s obvious that Saorsa loves teaching. She’s been at Cardiff School of Art and Design for only a few months but in the past she has taught in a long list of lovely locations including New York City, Costa Rica, Cyprus and previous to her appointment as lecturer in drawing at CSAD, Lisbon. This is the first time she’s been a full time lecturer in Britain. A read of Saorsa’s work and profile makes it obvious that she also has an infectious enthusiasm for the writing and theory of 20th Century French luminary, Gilles Deleuze. “My work is about the human relation and engagement. The way that we engage with the world and most of the work is figurative although I have a lot to say about the difference between what’s figurative and what’s not,” she explains. “I suppose that the overall concept is philosophical in the sense that I work a lot with Deleuzian philosophy - about the ‘creative catastrophe’. I suppose what I do is constantly challenge his theory that the artist must go through a creative catastrophe because once the artist does that, the artist ceases to be an artist.” It’s Deleuze’s work that was the subject of the Saorsa’s most recent book Narrating the Catastrophe: an artist’s dialogue with Deleuze and Ricoeur which was published by Intellect Books in 2011 as well as her current practice - a new project with the Tracey Drawing Research website called Drawing Out Deleuze which is a graphical representation of one of the writer’s texts. It’s refreshing to hear of someone who is so passionate about their study that it permeates their outlook on life. “I have studied philosophy almost as long as I’ve been drawing. I did it formally but even before that. I found existentialism - someone said that existentialism is not a school of thought but a way of being,” she tells me when I ask when her fascination with the philosopher began, “Next week, I’ll be talking at a conference and I’ll say that people understand Deleuze but they’re not only understanding - they’re standing in their own way. It’s not about explication, he would hate that! It’s about taking him on board and using him. I love the way that he writers because there’s a reference here and a reference there and he’s just pulling things out of the ether. I love that - it appeals to me.” Saorsa is about to head off to London, Ontario where she’ll speak to a conference of academics from all around the world or as she puts it - tongue in cheek - “all the big boys will be there.” What excites her most about this is not the opportunity to speak at a conference
on a subject she is passionate about but also that the subject is becoming a recognised one in the art world. “Deleuze and Guattari are a recognised link now ... it’s going to take a while for artists to take this on board and Drawing TB: Lung realise that they’ve got something to say. I work all the time on the interface between... the fact that I’ve got a PhD... a lot of my artist colleagues will ask, ‘why?’ It’s still there, that struggle. The fact that this conference is set up with a view to ‘[Deleuze] and the arts’ is a really big step,” she says of her own experience. But it’s not only Deleuze which interests Saorsa. In fact, there have been several developments which she’s very keen to talk about. “I’ve a thing going on called Osmosis: We’re a long way from Eden. That’s a conjunction of my fascination with human form and anatomy as well as my fascination with the botanical form - that’s a side of me that a lot of people don’t know about... I’ve a fascination with plants,” she says excitedly. The Osmosis project has sparked off a collaboration between the School of Art and Design and the Cardiff School of Medicine. Connected by Professor Steve Gill, Saorsa and oncologist Amanda Tristam, Cardiff School of Medicine are working on a drawing project around gynaecological cancers. “[Tristram] wants to produce a hard copy resource to give to patients because all they’ve got at the moment are diagrams which mean absolutely nothing at all to ladies or photographs which are very traumatic,” she tells me quite frankly. “So we’re trying to produce this hard copy with two streams: my work and then taken from that illustrations. We’re trying to produce this this thing that ladies will have to ease them through the process even a little.” The project will be based on interviews with both clinicians and cancer patients and will form part of a printed work which will feature transcripts of those conversations together with the drawing work of Saorsa. Currently trying to organise a symposium around the arts and medical research, the lecturer’s interest in anatomy is very infectious. One student I mentioned her name to curled a smile across her face and told me how since she began as lecturer in drawing in February, Saorsa’s teaching of life drawing has multiplied her own interest in the subject and that she feels her drawing skills have improved tenfold.•
“For me, being an artist is being a writer as well - that juxtaposition of the academic me and the practice me. I absolutely adore teaching, fortunately.”
Drawing Out Deleuze Intro 4 (detail)
Drawing TB: Mycobacterium (detail)
Research at CSAD CSAD is host to a wide variety of exciting research & enterprise activities. The School strives to build links and share its expertise, creativity and innovation with academic, industry and community partners Illustration & Writing Symposium: Visual Languages
Steve Gill – Caveman and Professor
The 2nd International Illustration Research Symposium organised by the Illustration Research group in conjunction with the Writing PAD network, took place at the Manchester School of Art in November 2011. Convened by Desdemona McCannon (Manchester School of Art), Amelia Johnstone and Chris Glynn (CSAD), the event looked to illustration as an expression of the ‘primary language of vision' (Kepes).
2nd WIRAD Symposium for Emerging Art & Design Researchers
A number of CSAD research students and staff took part in the 2nd WIRAD Symposium for Emerging Art & Design Researchers. Held at the Wales Millennium Centre at the end of March, the symposium provided an opportunity for emerging researchers across WIRAD to present their research, find out about the research of others, discuss synergies and differences with peers and learn more about the research process. CSAD speakers included Jan Bennett, Chris de Selincourt, Sally Grant, Theo Humphries, Craig Thomas, and Jon Piggott.
Ashley Morgan – Rise of the Geek Dr Ashley Morgan presented as part of a panel session at the MeCCSA, Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association conference held at the Bedfordshire Institute of Media Arts and Performance (BIMAP) in January 2012. Ashley’s paper was titled The Rise of the Geek: Masculine Asceticism in Popular Culture.
This term, Prof Steve Gill presented his lecture Designing for the Flintstones: How the Products of the Future Might Be Better Designed as part of Cardiff Met’s Inaugural and Professorial lecture series. Steve explored some of the reasons we have so many poorly designed products in our lives and how the situation might be addressed through better understanding of the cave people inside us all. Steve also participated in March’s Tiree Tech Wave 3 organised by Prof Alan Dix (Loughborough University). Based on the Scottish island of Tiree, the event considers the social and philosophical challenges of technology.
Dr Jon Clarkson
The Blue Rider Centenary Symposium at the Tate Modern Organised by CSAD’s Dr Chris Short and Dorothy Rowe (University of Bristol), this symposium celebrated the centenary of the first exhibition of The Blue Rider at Galerie Thannhauser, Munich in December 1911. The Blue Rider was a global project including references as diverse as Japanese art, Russian folk art, children's drawings, Bavarian glass painting and artworks by contemporary European artists, musicians and writers. The twoday event held at the Tate Modern in November 2011 established the divergent as well as related patterns of intention, outcome and influence presented under the name Der Blaue Reiter and explored its on going legacies and relevance today. The symposium included keynote presentations were made by Annegret Hoberg and Peter Vergo, a keynote performance by Stelarc and evening performance of Kandinsky's Der Gelbe Klang (Yellow Sound).
Dr Jon Clarkson presented at April’s Classical Association Annual Conference at Exeter University. Jon will presented his paper Narrative, space and the role of the viewer in relation to a Roman wellhead as part of the Interpreting the visual: Greek and Roman Material Display panel session.
Dr Wendy 3 Keay-Bright’s ReacTickles
Dr Wendy Keay-Bright
Dr Wendy Keay-Bright has been making news this year. Her work has been featured in Creative Review (Somantics) and April’s edition of WIRED magazine (ReacTICKLES). Wendy has also launched Reactickles Magic for the iPad, which is now available to download from the iTunes store. The software is a suite of applications that use touch, gesture and audio input to encourage interactive communication. The overarching goal of ReacTickles Magic is to allow users to playfully explore the magical possibilities of the system without prior knowledge or skill with technology. Wendy also presented a paper, Designing Interaction through Sound and Movement with Children on the Autistic Spectrum at ArtsIT 2011, the Second International ICST Conference on Arts and Technology, Esbjerg, Denmark in December 2011.
Dr Cathy Treadaway – Connected Communities Research
Dr Cathy Treadaway has received two AHRC research awards for projects funded by the RCUK Connected Communities scheme. Cathy will be a co-investigator on both projects which will come under the CARIAD portfolio of research. The first project, Healthy Play; Permission to play: taking play seriously; making sport playful will investigate the importance of creativity in adult life, in particular how ‘playful playing' - open ended unstructured playful activities - impact on creativity and wellbeing. The Principal Investigator is Dr Robert Rogerson from Strathclyde University and the multidisciplinary
team includes academics from Glasgow and Liverpool University. The first workshop associated with this project took place on 27th April at CSAD and included presentations and activities led by Dr. Wendy Keay-Bright and Darrell Cobner. The second project, Urban Flows; Connections, Shared Environments and Environmental Flows - how local walking interventions induce community positivity in urban locations, led by Dr David Prytherch from the School of Architecture, Birmingham City University. will investigate drawing and walking for wellbeing.
Professor Ferry, RE
Prof André Stitt
Professor David Ferry has been elected a full RE Fellow at the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in London. He was previously an Associate of the Society. He is currently on the Council and a steering group member and will be on the selection committee for the first Open RE International Printmaking Competition held in London later this year. The announcement of David’s Fellowship comes after a successful period of exhibiting and securing his works in the collections of both The Museum of Modern Art, New York and The V&A in London. His recent solo exhibition, The Stately Aquariums of England, (December 2011) traveled to Montclair University in New York in March in a shared exhibition with Richard Cox, Director of the Howard Gardens Gallery.
André Stitt – Prog. Vol. 1 at St David's Hall, Cardiff A collection of Prof André Stitt’s paintings went on show at St David’s Hall earlier this year. Continuing an exploration of performance and painting, the works were made between 2008-2011 to a ‘Prog-Rock' soundtrack that created a specific sonic atmosphere in the studio. The paintings do not derive an imagery or have a direct relationship to the visual landscape of 'Prog', but might be seen to occupy a certain ambient zone that benefits from the sonic experience of 'Prog' at its most experimental, atonal, schizoid or ethereal. André has been invited to collaborate with the Fine Art and Computer Science departments at Sheffield Hallam University on Live Notation, a new AHRC research project. He will be collaborating with live coders, exploring and testing relationships between
physical performance, painting, drawing and live notation. André has also received an Arts Council of Wales production grant to produce a body of large-scale paintings. The project will explore the physical action and performance of painting as a labour intensive activity in relation to the communal and postcolonial landscape of Welsh language communities in west Wales. The work will be exhibited at Oriel Myrddyn, Carmarthen in January 2013, and on-site at Maesglas Farm, Aberporth, in March 2013. A publication will also accompany the project. Finally, André took part in Shelter/ Lloches, a group exhibition at Oriel Mostyn that ran from early December 2011 to January 2012 that explored the tent as shelter.
Dr Jeffrey Jones contextualising Gordon Baldwin
Philippa Lawrence – Outside: Activating Cloth to Enhance the Way We Live Held at the University of Huddersfield in January 2012, Outside: Activating Cloth to Enhance the Way We Live considered the broad community centred, philosophical, activist, health and wellbeing aspects of textiles. For the event, Philippa Lawrence presented her paper Bound, The Use of Cloth as Interface: Exploring Boundaries and Concepts in Relation to Site and Place.
Welsh Ceramics in Dr Cazeaux talks at ‘On Seattle Perfection’ symposium Dr Natasha Mayo and Ingrid Murphy have secured money from Wales Arts International and Cardiff Met’s Research and Enterprise Services Unit to exhibit key pieces at the ArtXchange Gallery in Seattle’s Beyond the Borders: Ceramics from Wales exhibition. The exhibition features the work of staff and graduates, showcasing the diverse ceramics practices for which the School is renowned, and will help to promote the impact of research taking place at the Centre for Ceramics Research. The exhibition will coincide with the 46th National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Conference (NCECA) – the largest international conference for ceramics education and practice.
CSAD Reader in Aesthetics Clive Cazeaux gave a talk entitled Leading Plato into the Darkroom as part of the On Perfection artists’ symposium at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2-3 February 2012. Organised by WIRAD Research Fellow Jo Longhurst (University of Wales, Newport) the symposium brought together international artists and writers to discuss how concepts of perfection shape our personal identities and social and political systems.
Outside: Activating Cloth to Enhance the Way We Live
CSAD Research Seminars During the Spring Term, CSAD has hosted a series of Thursday evening Research Seminars as part of the Masters programmes in Howard Garden’s Tommy’s Bar. The seminar series has encouraged staff to share their research, and experience of research, to a mixed audience of staff and students. The series will continue next term with talks from Dr Jeffrey Jones, Dr Cathy Treadaway and Dr Clive Cazeaux.
Dr Jeffrey Jones has contributed a chapter to a book on Gordon Baldwin, an artist whose work falls between the categories of sculpture and ceramics. His essay contextualises Baldwin’s work in relation to movements and ideas in the respective disciplines from the early 1950s onwards and focuses on Herbert Read’s concept of Isomorphic Materiality and on Garth Clark’s concept of Organic Abstraction. The book, entitled Gordon Baldwin: Objects for a Landscape, was published in February 2012 to coincide with a major retrospective exhibition of Baldwin’s work at York Art Gallery. Jeff was invited to speak at a related symposium in York in May 2012.
Pairings II
Claire Curneen’s work is to be featured in the Pairings II exhibition at The Museum in the Park, Stratford park, Stroud, from 28 April until 27 May. Pairings II presents conversations and collaborations between makers and is a celebration of their engagement and collaborative working. This exhibition brings together pairs of makers to discuss and share the experience of making. Collaboration raises questions about ownership, it tests recognised working methods and negotiates how voices resonate and sing together.
Searching for Perfection with Amanda Agyei
Charitable art student seeks true reflection from her work Meet Amanda Agyei, third year printmaking student at Cardiff School of Art and Design. I’ll admit that I hadn’t come across Amanda before and despite researching her online, I was able to gather very little information about what she does. “Whenever I mentioned your name to anyone, they smiled and gave a warm giggle,” I told her when we spoke. “They said to ask you about Mothers of Africa.” A smile curled on her face and she said, “Oh, that’s nice.” Mothers of Africa is a charity run by Cardiff School of Medicine to help train staff in Africa to care for mothers during and after pregnancy. “It’s a difficult subject because my background is West African. It’s difficult when it’s put into an art environment and also people who don’t have a background there can talk about it in quite a detached way - but I can’t,” Agyei tells me with candid honesty. “I felt very uncomfortable doing it but still, I resolved that a bit and thought, at least I can put some work in and tell people about it even though I didn’t fully agree with what they thought, if I’m honest. It was very worthwhile because it’s a good charity!” The School of Art and Design became involved with the charity Mothers of Africa which organised an exhibition at the Senedd where several large panels of work were displayed alongside some sculpture work. This work is now being auctioned for the charity.
full of posters and over time it gets ripped away and more are put on, things get weathered, fade and even though it began with one poster which had meaning, the language becomes completely different and it reads differently because it’s not one piece but a whole. I think that’s my work.” Amanda’s explanation of her work as a poster wall illuminates her work in my mind. She is trying to produce a strange kind of self portrait which is always as truthful as it can be. The idea that she can rip up her work and use parts of it again in something else without being precious about it is exciting. “It’s progress. If something bad has happened in the past, you can choose to let it whittle you down or you can choose to go in a different direction,” she says. “You have something and you make a choice to improve it or to leave it alone. My course of action is to improve it.” Although she’s from London originally, Amanda’s journey to Cardiff was not a simple train trip from Paddington to Central. She began her studies at Leeds on a foundation course which she didn’t finish, followed by a second foundation year at Plymouth which she completed before deciding that she didn’t really want to go to art college. “But then I found Cardiff, applied and got in - on a whim, really - I found out later it was a good art college,” she laughs and then talking about the city, “It’s cool. It feels
“It’s a close knit community - you can walk around and bump into people who you know. It’s been a good experience...” The only references to Amanda which I could find online were references that had been made to her involvement in fundraising work for African causes. This makes sense, her parents are from West Africa. I asked her if that was important in her work, “Inevitably. Being from London influences my work, being a black girl influences my work, having really good mates influences my work. I think that if it’s a composite of you, it would influence you. In terms of my work now, anything that’s important to me adds to the process,” she explains of her preparation for her final degree show. “If I have a really bad day, I’ll write it down on the collage. Then if in two weeks time, I’m fine, I’ll erase it. It’s about weathering and at the end of this three weeks, hopefully what will happen is the final piece will show where I am at that time rather than where I was a year ago. That will be erased.” Amanda’s work is a mixture of collage, screens and print which results in a vibrant burst texture and shape. “I did a lot of work based on photography but coming up to third year any of the work I’ve done stems from second year,” she says, “I’ve ripped it all up and used it in my work. It’s gone from photography to recycling old work in collage, print and screen. It’s a jumble of everything I’ve done.” “It’s repurposing?” I suggest. “Yes and trying to constantly think, ‘OK, that doesn’t work... what if I put that there... enlarge it... do I paint over it?’ It’s about adding and taking away almost like a wall
Photocopy and Ink (detail)
very small. Not necessarily in comparison to London because Leeds didn’t feel that small. But it’s a close knit community - you can walk around and bump into people who you know. It’s been a good experience,” she continues. When she’s not studying, Amanda enjoys cycling and also poking about in charity shops both in Cardiff and in London. She also volunteers in various youth work projects - very much in keeping with her charity work, “The first lot I did here was a Friday evening youth club. It wasn’t mainstream kids but disabled kids. I had to stop because of studies but now I’m doing a pyramid project. You work with kids who have low self-esteem or social problems: not the really bad kids but just middle ground kids that don’t cause any trouble and get overlooked a bit. You spend an hour and a half playing games with them and doing art.” Once her final work is handed in and graduation has come around, Amanda hopes to continue her work with children and art. “I’ve got secret plans! I don’t know if it will work out! There’s a lot of time for art. Whatever I do it will come out,” she tells me. “If I’m working with kids it will come out, if it’s being an artist it’ll come out... the plan is to go abroad for a bit and teach English and work on art projects and things. Hopefully, whatever it is, I’ll be able to use anything I’ve gained here working!” A warm personality, a talented artist and a benevolent character, Amanda Agyei is a student who is sure to be well respected and admired by her colleagues in the future. •
Ink Photocopy 80gsm Paper (Detail)
Research Degrees Professional Doctorates at CSAD
CSAD is now pleased to offer two new Professional Doctorate programmes, Professional Doctorate in Art (DArt) and Professional Doctorate in Design (DDes). The Professional Doctorate is a research degree programme, designed around the concept of change agency, and is intended for professionals who wish to make a stepchange in the way their organisation operates.
ALISON GRAHAM
JIN EUI KIM
New research students Two new research students have recently joined CSAD. Clara Watkins joins the Product Design team funded by Cardiff Met’s Research and Enterprise Innovation Scholarship. The project, Disruptive Innovation: Developing culturally appropriate methodologies for informing transformative medical product solutions in rural Zambia, will be co-supervised by Professor Judith Hall at Cardiff University’s Medical School and in partnership with Mothers in Africa. Mohammad Alhazim, based in the Architectural Studies department, will focus on ways to improve the efficiency of Kuwaiti buildings by improved indoor lighting and air conditioning through the judicious use of design and architectural techniques.
JIN EUI KIM
Completions
Congratulations to Alison Graham and Jin Eui Kim who have both been awarded a Doctorate for their research in Ceramics. Alison’s thesis, ‘The creation of illusory depth and movement on the surface of ceramic artworks’, investigates theories associated with the creation and perception of visual phenomena relating to the illusory properties of colour and tone, and Jin Eui’s research explores the ways in which surface marks and tone may manipulate perception of threedimensional artworks.
School News Claire Curneen Ceramics and – Ambassador Sculpture for Wales Conference Claire Curneen has been selected for an Arts Council Wales Creative Wales Ambassador Awards. The Award recognises significant individual achievement in the arts and aims to raise the profile of Welsh culture outside of Wales. Claire already exhibits her work internationally and the Ambassador Award gives her the chance to explore the collection of the National Museum of Ireland. She will work with the museum to understand objects from its collection and reflect on them in a new body of work, which will be exhibited in Wales, Ireland and in the USA.
Cardiff Design Festival 2012
The initial ideas, inspiration and planning meeting has just been held for the 8th Festival which will take place from 28 September - 13 October at venues across the city. Already at the planning stage are a wide range of talks, challenges, exhibitions, happenings, philosophical discussions, puppet shows, parties, bike rides and workshops so the Festival will again be one of the key events in the UK and European design calendar.
Dr Jeffrey Jones and PhD student Laura Gray were delighted with the response to their call for papers for the Ceramics and Sculpture: Different Disciplines and Shared Concerns conference that they are organising at the National Museum Wales in July. A stimulating programme of speakers has now been selected from the many abstracts submitted. Speakers will include Mike Hose, Mike Tooby, formerly of the National Museum Wales, CSAD Associate Tutor Conor Wilson who will speak on “You can use clay, but you can’t do ceramics”: Some thoughts about why Ceramics isn’t Sculpture, based on the thinking of Eduardo Chillida and Robert Morris’ and keynote speaker Dr Jon Wood from the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, who will speak on ‘Manual Thinking’.
SIP update
The School is lucky to have secured funding for four SIP projects. Debbie Savage is working with the Artists Resource Cardiff (ARC) to review how the ARC website can be used to support galleries and artists in Cardiff. Duncan Ayscough is to work with the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Bethan Gordon is going to spend time with a company that will also support her PhD research and Philippa Lawrence is to undertake a project with Waddesdon Manor near Aylesbury.
Illustrator for craftspeople
Ray Nicklin has delivered a one day bespoke course for craftspeople as a part of the Craft in the Bay/Makers Guild in Wales’ professional development programme.
The Urbanists Dr Gareth Loudon has recently completed a workshop with Powell Dobson Architect’s urban planning and innovation group, The Urbanists, helping them develop their creative thinking skills.
Opening Event at The Senedd
2012 logo
Health and Well-being campaign boosts creative skills
Staff from CSAD have been helping colleagues from across Cardiff Metropolitan University discover their inner creativity through a series of lunchtime sessions. Staff from the Llandaff and Cyncoed Campus have been undertaking introductions to life drawing and pottery throwing, exploring creative thinking and learning the basic of taking great photos with simple cameras which lead to a lunchtime stroll along the Taff taking photos of ducks and greenery.
Duncan Ayscough – Creative Wales Award
Cardiff Open Art School
This year has been a busy one for COAS with it launching its new ‘Developing Your Portfolio’ course aimed at those wanting to apply for an art and design foundation programme, along with a new solar printmaking short evening course and a new one day letter press course. Lots of very positive feedback has been received from students offering praise to the COAS tutors.
Duncan Ayscough James Green, PhD Student, associate lecturer and COAS painting course tutor
Ceramics lecturer Duncan Ayscough has been named as a recipient of a 2011/2012 Creative Wales Award. The prestigious award made by the Arts Council of Wales, provide artists with time to research, experiment, innovate, and take forward their work. Duncan will use the award to investigate narratives in objects and challenge how audiences experience artefacts both perceptually and physiologically.
Drawing for architects and engineers
A 6 session drawing course for two groups of structural engineers from Arup and architects from Holder Mathias started in April. Run by Chris Glynn and Jac Saorsa the programme is designed to reignite their staff’s creativity and build their confidence at drawing which will be helpful to them in the workplace as well as provide networking opportunities. The programme is being sponsored by Arts and Business Cymru.
Contemporary Cardiff
CSAD has been working with the Cardiff Contemporary, the Cardiff Council initiative that is developing a partnership with the city’s visual art, design and architecture communities. CSAD provided information to help them map the venues used for showing art and design across the city. In their ‘manifesto’ they have also announced their commitment to working with the Cardiff Design Festival to identify opportunities for promoting the Festival and to capitalise on the developments with in the city. The campaign will also be useful in helping promote the Howard Gardens Gallery.
CSAD and M.U.S.E
Theo Humphries and Steve Thompson are on the board of governors of MUSE. MUSE is a 'social enterprise' set up to empower young, disabled musicians by helping them to challenge barriers to musical participation. CSAD’s relationship with MUSE has developed to include a reverse SIP, used to develop interactive musical instruments, and a research paper was commissioned for Youth Music and a member of MUSE has joined the School as an Associate Lecturer. Discussions are also underway regarding a potential PhD project.
School News
The Curious Pursuits of busy Lucy
Lucy Freegard, Year 3 Illustration has been exhibiting in Manchester as a part of Curious Pursuits, an exhibition of work by contemporary artists who have responded to the lost themes and ideas behind dark, strange, curious, and peculiar Victorian aesthetics. The exhibition includes the work of 38 contemporary painters, printmakers, taxidermists, and illustrators. Her framed edition print, Family Tree, that was exhibited at The Portico has since been sold and following the exhibition, it has been published in Clare Market Review, the journal of the London School of Economics and Political Science's Student's Union. Lucy has also recently completed 16 illustrations for local storyteller Mab Jones and will be working as a visual arts trainee as part of the Beyond The Border Storytelling Festival running some arts education workshops with Years 5 & 6 from local schools. Lucy has been accepted as part of the Just Us collective 2012. Just Us is run by ex-students for students, with the aim of promoting young and emerging creative talent form universities and colleges across the UK. Her work will also feature in their exhibition at Beach London, in Shoreditch from the 6 - 13 August 2012.
Seven/Saith at Oriel Canfas
Seven / Saith was a collection of work by 3rd year BA (Hons) Contemporary Textile Practice makers from CSAD. The show incorporated a diverse range of techniques for working textiles, from stitch to waxwork. The show ran from until 13th to 20th January 2012.
Boiling the perfect egg
Amelia Johnstone recently presented How to boil the perfect egg at the 10th Anniversary of the Falmouth Forum The Absurd Event on 9 March. Her talk concentrated on the representation of eggs and time in Alice Through the Looking Glass and other works. Amelia Johnstone and Anna Bhushan also feature in the Falmouth Forum's 10th Anniversary book with wise quotations and images.
Art helps kick starts Cardiff medical links with Zambia
An exhibition showcasing Africa-inspired art by children, fine art undergraduates and professional artists was been unveiled to kick-start new medical links between Cardiff and Zambia. Go Zambia is a new project developed by Professor Judith Hall at Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, which will share expert knowledge with the Chongwe District of Zambia, helping to reduce maternal and child mortality, promote environmental sustainability and achieve universal primary education. The month-long exhibition ran from 10 January - 7 February 2012 in Cardiff’s Butetown History and Arts Centre. The students have now created a second body of work that was exhibited at the Senedd from 26 to 30 March with an event taking place on 28 March, hosted by Carwyn Jones AM, the First Minister of Wales. Students donated work which was auctioned for the charity. Prof Gaynor Kavanagh, Michelle Brown, Vicki Jenkins, Angharad Jones, Martin Williams and Dr Rev Paul Fitzpatrick all took part in a 33 mile sponsored walk, highlighting the average distance a woman in labour in Zambia has to walk to receive medical attention.
Family tree
Off to Ireland
Prof David Ferry took a group of MFA and PhD students to The Burran, a remote part of the West of Ireland in March were they set up a Printmaking studio in a field!
Eccentric Worlds & Nonsensical Scribbles
From 29 January to 5 February 2012, the world was invited to Eccentric Worlds & Nonsensical Scribbles, an exhibition by CSAD’s 2nd Year BA (Hons) Illustration students in Cardiff’s Capitol Centre. As well as work from students, the exhibition hosted several events including guest speakers and workshops which took place over the course of the week.
Puberty
Experiments with Light
Chris Dennis’ ultraviolet Orifices was on display at the Leitzkau Castle, Germany, from the 10 March to the 20 April 2012, as a part of Experiments with Light II organised by Galerija Balta. The exhibition follows on from the success of the show's previous incarnation at the Kaunas International Textiles Biennial in 2011 and featured experimental UV - reactive textile artworks by over 25 international artists.
Opening performance Illustration by Joe Watson
First year Illustration student Joe Watson has just staged his first live art performance - for the opening of MAMBO store Cardiff. He was very nervous but it all worked out brilliantly and he now has the possibility of getting his work reproduced by MAMBO.
JACKIE SHACKSTON
Multiple Practice exhibition
Richard Cox is also staging an exhibition of his work at the Howard Gardens Gallery from 23 April until 22 May. The exhibition includes work from the Subterranean Architecture Stepwells in North Western India, part of an international touring exhibition that has been previously seen in India, the UK and USA. The show will also include other elements of the artist’s broad based and cross disciplinary practice, work from the Archive Series and a selection of artists’ books.
Preparing for Research Excellence Framework
How do you go about rating research? Just ask Steve Gill
When we were arranging the best time to sit down and have a chat, I caught a glimpse of Steve Gill’s diary as he pulled out his iPad. It was full to the brim. Gill, Director of Research and Professor of Interactive Product Design at C ardiff School of Art and D esign, is a very busy man. Still, when we meet in Howard Gardens, he’s got a lot of time to talk about what he’s up to and why he’s so interested in the activities of his colleagues. Professor Gill has a number of acronyms that he’s involved with: PAIPR (Programme for Advanced Interactive Prototyping Research), ERA (Experiential Research Atelier), WIRAD (Wales Institute of Research in Art and Design) and probably most important, the REF (Research Excellence Framework). The REF rates and assesses the impact of a university’s research on the academic community and the wider world. Although this is the first REF, which replaces the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), it is already a developed national system. Gill explained some aspects of the School’s approach: “The most important way to a good result is to actually do good research. To not get carried away with the exercise itself and whether people are in the exercise,” he told me. “Once you’ve got that, everything else becomes a little bit easier to do. I suppose that’s the biggest job: trying to support the researchers in the School within a budget and trying to use that budget strategically to nurture the people who are getting on their feet and to support the people who are really flying to make the best of the opportunities that come up.” In terms of the School of Art and Design’s research, as a lead partner in the Wales Institute for Research in Art and Design, it is set to be on the forefront delivering the strongest possible submission for the Research Excellence Framework 2014. The School has dedicated itself to the best output since receiving the news that in the RAE 2008 its research was 11 th in Research Power in art and design in the UK. Of course, the findings of the exercise have to be explained in a way that can be easily conveyed to people who might not be familiar with the individual pieces of research. The submission goes to a panel of people with art and design history credentials and expertise he says, “In the case of the impact case studies there’s also someone from outside of academia who assesses that.” When the work is submitted at the end of November 2013, the panel will assess the work within it using four rankings:
I ask him for examples of research in the School of Art and D esign. He points to Dr Wendy Keay-Bright’s work with various partners, including Autism Cymru and the Dyscovery Centre, Newport. The BAFTA winning work, Reactickles™ uses iPads, iPhones and interactive whiteboards to help autistic children who are otherwise ‘locked in’ to interact socially by providing them with non-threatening games that they cannot lose. “She has a contract with a company who distribute it and I think it’s been used in more than 70 schools and produced remarkable results with kids who were socially isolated and whose teachers couldn’t reach them,” Gill explains excitedly. “All of a sudden, they’re enjoying their life and starting to interact more with people. This is really interesting research that has made a lot of difference in the lives of children. I think you could successfully argue that that’s important.” He also cites the work of Professor Rob Pepperell: “Rob’s a fine artist who is interested in how we see things, how we see the world. He’s unlocking new concepts about how our vision works and how it doesn’t work. After working with Rob, I literally see the world differently - or maybe I should say, I experience the world differently (as all your senses combine to give you a single experience).” He’s full of praise for his colleagues and is clearly enjoying work at the School of Art and D esign. “I think it would be true to say that the job I’m in has given me an opportunity to work with a range of professionals from well outside my own field and I think that’s the most rewarding bit of it,” he says as we’re finishing our interview together. “I work with human-computer interaction people, fine artists, art historians, philosophers and others. That’s been a pleasure and it’s changed me and my views of the world.” •
“The job I’m in has given me an opportunity to work with a range of professionals from well outside my own field and I think that’s the most rewarding bit of it”
• • • •
1 star - Nationally significant 2 star - Internationally significance 3 star - Internationally excellent 4 star - World Leading
“That gives you an externally verifiable assessment of quality. The other thing it does is to give the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) a basis for future Quality Related (QR) funding,” Gill continues as the process becomes a lot clearer to me. “They will work out an equation for calculating each institution’s budget. Once they’ve worked it out, they’ll apply it to everyone’s submission and the resulting answer decides how much money you will get every year until the next REF.” The submission by the C ardiff School of Art and D esign is a partnership with several other institutions around Wales and PDR - the National Centre for Product Design and Development Research which is based at the University’s Llandaff campus. As well as the School of Art and D esign and PDR, there is also work from University of Wales Newport, Swansea Metropolitan University, University of Wales and St. David’s and Glyndŵr Universities. “A key part of my job therefore is to work with those other institutions to pull together a lot of information to make a coherent explanation of how that strategy has worked and how we’ve worked together to develop research within the Wales Institute of Research in Art and Design (WIRAD),” Gill explains.
Bill Chambers exhibits prints and assemblages
CSAD staff member Bill Chambers’ exhibition at U.R.B.A.N Gallery and Art Space (December 2011 January 2012), is a first showing of works in progress from a project entitled Hidden Spaces Forgotten Places. The project, funded by an Arts Council of Wales Creative Wales Award with assistance from the Contemporary Textiles Course at Cardiff Metropolitan University, focuses on the urban environment of Newport city centre using new technologies to create a diverse range of artworks. The exhibition ran at The Riverfront Centre in Newport in April.
Professor BA Illustration student / War Reporter Robert Pepperell: HEX A retrospective exhibition of work by the 1990s multimedia group, Hex went on display at the Space Gallery, London, from 20th January - 4th March. The exhibition, which included work by Prof Robert Pepperell, a founding member of Hex, and explores the group’s hybrid approach to art, music and technology. Other members of the group included coder Miles Visman and Coldcut members Matt Black and Jonathan More, who worked to exploit the creative possibilities of the personal computer, combining art, computers, rave, performance, ecology and cyberpunk theory.
3rd Year Illustration Student, Dan Peterson has recently returned from a month in Helmand Province with the 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards, also known as the Welsh Cavalry. Whilst in Afghanistan, Dan, a former member of the Territorial Army, produced sketches and drawings, responding to patrols and live operations in the Helmand Province. He will be making paintings and prints over the coming months. Dan gave an illustrated talk about his experiences to students and staff in February and was featured in WalesOnline.
Welsh Arts International grant for stone lithography research initiative A CSAD stone lithography research initiative called The Cardiff Sessions has received a grant from Welsh Arts International. The initiative was set up by Printmaking tutor Christina Wrege, Ian Wilkins, a former MFA Printmaking student at CSAD, and the curator and artist Micheal Eveson. The grant allowed the group to travel to New York in March to attend The Cardiff Sessions New York exhibition at the Booklyn Artists Alliance Gallery. This success follows Remake/Remodel, the first London showing of the groups work at the Chelsea Future Space, curated by Eveson. The show also included the work of Bruce Maclean, who was invited by the group to produce a print at CSAD. The publication of this exhibition included an essay by David Ferry. After the New York exhibition The Cardiff Sessions have invited Professor John Gibbons (CSAD Sculpture), and Professor David Ferry to produce a collaborative print towards their next venture.
Illustration by Dan Peterson
Textiles students give safety wear an artistic makeover
Students from BA Textiles have been recognised for their work inspired by the protective clothing worn by civil engineers and people in the construction industry. The students were invited by The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Wales Cymru to investigate PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) materials as part of a three month long module. The results formed the basis of an exhibition at Llandaff Campus where ICE presented awards to the top six students. The winner of the ICE Wales Cymru Glass Trophy and £50 was Bethie Helliwell; the runners up were Sophia Griffiths and Rosie Holman, who each received £25; and Rebekah Thomas, Emma Golding and Justine Arnaud-Guerin were Highly Commended. ICE Wales Cymru Committee member Matt Jones, who co-ordinated the project with the School of Art and Design, commented: “The quality of work produced by the students has been exceptional. They’ve clearly well researched civil engineering and been inspired by Personal Protective Equipment.”
Talks and Lectures
In November, CSAD hosted a presentation by the pioneer choreographer, digital performer and Director of the Palindrom performance group, Robert Wechsler. The lecture focussed on Palindrome's use of modern tracking technology during its performances. February saw a talk from illustrator Sophie Herxheimer, who after graduating from Camberwell, and then Chelsea School of Art, has worked in various ways and applications all springing from painting. The work consistently emerges from the same personal vocabulary of ideas, be it designing a stage set, or illustrating a book, or working on a collection of paintings and drawings for exhibition.
On The Map Bethie Helliwell
Chris Dennis’ work is also featured in the On The Map exhibition of historic and contemporary maps at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery which runs until 17 June. The exhibition features the work of 18 artists, including Chris’s work Hiraeth, which will be exhibited alongside historic maps from the museum’s collection.
Dale Harper and Hugo Martin: Two graduates, one business
Two graduates delivering better design From birthing instruments to battery cases to high profile public events in Qatar and Libya, School of Art and Design graduates Dale Harper and Hugo Martin have really got stuck into their careers since they left with a MSc and a BA in Product Design in 2009 and 2007, respectively. After graduation day, the two friends went separate ways. Harper stayed in Cardiff to continue developing his undergraduate product the Safeceps™ as a Masters student, while Martin headed off to Farnham to work for Alloy who make consumer electronics products. It was three years later when they started working together again at William Martin Productions (WMP), a business owned by Hugo’s father, which specialises in exhibitions, events and corporate communications. Hugo had joined the company to start working on a product design division, “With both of our backgrounds, Hugo at Alloy which majors on consumer products and then my work with medical products at PDR, which is linked to Cardiff Met,” Harper explains, “We have the skills to get product design services off the ground here. We can engage in any type of design. However, being a privately owned company, we offer a very different opportunity, one where we can take product ideas to companies and try and engage with them to fund it and then share in the revenues generated – it’s a way of off-setting design costs and commercial risk to our clients. This is one of the ways in which we can work differently to a main stream consultancy” He’s no stranger to the business aspects of product design having already had a success with his PRO Medical Innovations (PMI) venture, This pioneers a new kind of forceps, designed to prevent damage or serious injury to babies who are being delivered through instrumental delivery. “As undergraduates in our final year, we had a major project and we were encouraged to find an industrial collaborator. Through a number of opportunities and just asking about, I was put in contact with a hospital’s engineering team. In the meeting they mentioned problems associated with forceps delivery and that’s where the project started. I had no idea what this was until I was getting into it. I tried to remain academically unbiased by it so that I wouldn’t jump to a design solution that I wanted to design,” he told me. “I didn’t really look at the details about what forceps were. I just got involved. As my studies progressed, I formalised a collaborative team, which included a medical engineer, an electronic-mechanical designer and a consultant obstetrician. These were the guys who originally had the idea. My role was really to turn an idea into a product. They had a mechanical concept, but it was all the usability issues and design consideration that I addressed. I saw this through in my degree then further still in the masters.” The Safeceps™ won an International Forum Design award (iF) as well as a Red Dot award in 2010. Now that the design of the product is, in principle, complete, Harper is focusing on the commercial aspects of the business. “It’s all invaluable learning. In my PMI role, we’ve been looking for international funding opportunities and we’re pursuing that now; this lends itself to the
international dimension of WMP,” he continues. “This company is very global: based here in Oxford and also in Qatar. Its work is of a high calibre and it’s enjoyable to be a part of it.” Hugo is also very close to bringing a product to market which will make it easier for those with visual impairment to read books. He says that progressing a product that he has designed is always an exciting experience, “I think seeing the first product coming off the production line is a novel moment. Product design is very rarely just you working on a product, you are part of a team. At Alloy, we worked at least in teams of two, so you can never have claim to any one product. It’s one of those strange jobs where no matter what you’re working on, you always find a way to really get into it.” With both Martin and Harper gaining acclaim and experience, it seemed like a good idea for them to work on something together. “Hugo’s father, William Martin is the founder and owner of WMP. He saw that Hugo and I worked very well together – one summer he invited us to contribute to a project WMP were working on – we both threw ourselves in and worked well into the night on creative visuals and animations. He saw that we had competitive but complementary characteristics and got us discussing what we wanted to do postuniversity and with our lives. He seeded ideas,” Harper says. “That’s when we came up with what we call the three-year plan, where we would go in our own directions in whatever we’re doing and get some experience of what the commercial reality of design is. We’ve been on very different routes and now we’re coming back together I’m coming from the business angle and Hugo’s from the design and modelling side. We’re seeding this within an existing company, which incubates our venture until we’ve got enough to support ourselves.” Both parties agree that studying at the School of Art and Design was a great experience. Although he will freely admit he didn’t know all that much about CSAD before coming, Harper is sure that it was worthwhile, “Typically you’ll find that graduates of CSAD’s product design course go into product design at a more senior level or project management role. The tutors walk us through the process and get us to understand it,” he explains. “Yes, there may be model making and CAD but there’s also the business market, usability research and the whole spectrum. In their programme, CSAD had all that stuff. Those who rose to the challenge actually came out confident and quite rounded.” By way of example, the two tell about how when arriving at university, Harper knew more about CAD rendering of his work. He showed Martin how to use the 3D programme he was using and was astounded to find that within a few days, his colleague had surpassed his own skills. “That encouraged me to do something different and I developed a whole different style to allow myself to differentiate,” Harper said. “So rather than knowing I could do something and keeping it to myself, that small group of us had a mentality where we shared stuff for the common good.” •
“Rather than knowing I could do something and keeping it to myself, that small group of us had a mentality where we shared stuff for the common good.”
DALE HARPER
HUGO MARTIN
This much I know
Matt Thompson, Technician Demonstrator in Ceramics On life, work and play
Who are you?
I’m a Technical Demonstrator in the Ceramics area of CSAD. My role oversees the clay, glaze and kiln workshop areas. This involves demonstrations to students, carrying out maintenance, providing technical support, and implementing health and safety. In my time away from CSAD, I am a member of Fireworks Clay Studios, where I design and make ceramic tableware. I’m also a dad, a keen cyclist and enjoy the outdoors. If there’s also an opportunity to watch a good film, I’ll take it!
What’s the best bit of advice you’ve ever been given. There was a wall hanging in my Grandmother’s kitchen that read, ‘Yesterday is dead, forget it. Tomorrow does not exist, don’t worry. Today is here, use it.’
Name one of your heroes and tell us What’s a typical day at CSAD like for why. you? A typical day can consist of regular tasks, such as kiln firings, technical tutorials and the re-stocking of materials. We demonstrate a range of processes and equipment through student inductions, where groups can gain experience and become competent in a particular area, such as raku firing or glaze application, which will help enrich their practice and experience. Each day is also very diverse, where I encounter a lot of problem solving, particularly the trials and errors of glaze recipes! A day often involves plenty of thinking on your feet and great conversations with students and staff!
What do you like most about your job?
It’s pleasing to see a happy student reaction when revealing their work from a kiln, after months of material testing. The nature of ceramics can pose many dilemmas, although these are often balanced with successful outcomes. Working with students to help develop their technical practice is a rewarding part of the job.
What is your favourite piece of art/ design/making/architecture?
Art: Antony Caro with his table piece sculptures - I really admired these from his 2005 retrospective at Tate Britain. Design: Bicycle Design. A meeting of form and function that’s constantly evolving with technology, but still remains somewhat pure and quite primitive. Making: John Maltby’s ceramics. They have a gentle boldness about them. Earthy and gestural qualities that depict life and landscape. Architecture: Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (often known as the Duomo), the cathedral church of Florence, Italy. I visited this space during my time as a student and was amazed by its vastness.
Is there a book that has had an impact on your life in some way?
That’s a difficult question. They haven’t really made an impact on my life particularly, but George Orwell’s 1984 and Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger are books that stand out. The Potter’s Dictionary is one I refer to on a daily basis at work! At home, I enjoy reading autobiographies and travel writing.
Five records for a desert island?
It would be nice to have a few more! I think these tracks would be on my iPod in no particular order, a mixture of old and new music that I like: • The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash • Separator - Radiohead • Wish List - Pearl Jam • People are Strange - The Doors • News from Verona - Portico Quartet
Eddie Izzard – His sense of humour really appeals to me. He takes all sorts of historical references and common situations, conjuring them up into something quite hilarious. He has a really clever, creative mind and I admire his hard work. From stand up comedy, he has evolved into an accomplished actor and campaigner.
Name one of your villains and tell us why. Anton Chigurh – A character played by Javier Bardem in the Cohen Brothers’ film, No Country For Old Men. He decides the fate of others by flipping a coin, an unstoppable menace who creates suspense throughout and continues on his path towards the end credits. An Oscar winning performance by Bardem.
What’s the best thing about working for CSAD?
There are many highlights to working at CSAD. The shows for our BA and MA students are our busiest times of the year, but the most fulfilling. It is often the starting point for many students who go on to great things. The work is still evolving right up to the deadline and seeing the students come together as individual artists, makers and designers in one space is really satisfying. The staff team are a very supportive, hard working group, with everyone’s efforts combining in success at the end of each term. •