“Go, go, go, said the bird: Humankind cannot bear very much reality.� T S Eliot
blackbirds BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree Show 2011
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.
Gabriel Albrecht Katy Coe Abigail Cooke Sarah Cornforth Niamh Crawford Amy Daniel
Janet Gregory Teresa Hampton Janine K. Hayward Jessica Howick Celeste Ingrams Karen Eleanor Jenkins Natalie Kirby Matthew Lawson Rosanna Mckenna Emma Morrissey Gloria Musana Julie Shorter Emilie Snaith Ieva Sulca Kathryn Tanner Lydia-Rose West
Published in 2011 by Southampton Solent University, East Park Terrace, Southampton SO14 0YN Tel: 023 8031 9000 www.solent.ac.uk © Copyright artists and authors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise, without first seeking permission of the copyright owners and the publishers.
Fine Art, Academic and Support Staff, 2011 Nicola Chamberlain, Course Leader – Drawing & New Technology Andrew Mansfield – Painting Jon Buck – Sculpture Greg Palmer – Painting/Printmaking Emma Tod – Photography/Video Alexa de Ferranti – Sculpture Alan Schechner – Digital Art Lee Mackinnon – Art Theory/History and Cultural Studies Dr Atsuhide Ito – Art Theory/History Ron Cowdery – Art Theory/History Alia Syed – Film Dr Lynn Lu – Performance Alys Scott-Hawkins – Animation Les Buckingham – Professional Practice Bridget Cusack – Professional Practice Benjamin Lower – Technician Instructor, Fine Art Rosy Maguire – Technician Instructor, Photography Simon Griggs – Technician, Photography Peter O’Keefe – Technician Instructor, Photography John Cattell – Technician Instructor, Printmaking Katherine Anteney – Technician Instructor, Printmaking Nic Britt – Technician Instructor, Digital Film Chris Trim – Technician Instructor, Video Production
Introduction
This year’s Fine Art degree show provides an exciting and compelling overview of the hard work and dedication of each student as they set out at the start of their careers. During the last three years, the students have committed themselves to exploring their own artistic vision that this exhibition and accompanying catalogue celebrates and is reflected in the diversity of that achievement. The students at Southampton Solent University are encouraged to challenge the boundaries that define fine art practice. They have had to do more than merely reflect their knowledge and understanding of current trends and ideas, but have had to attempt to locate their practice within the constantly shifting contemporary art world. The work on show has been hard won, emerging out of numerous failed attempts and rigorous experimentation. Students have faced critical scrutiny and constant self-reflection, whilst the work has been made through hard work and some substantial financial investment. Hopefully what is evident is the vitality, ambition and creative intelligence that each student has brought to their own distinctive body of work. Finally, we wish them all the best of luck in their future careers. Well done to you all! The Fine Art Course Team
01
Gabriel Albrecht I have always held in wonderment the human form, even more so since my eyesight was lost. The human body is what we are born into; we live with it and expire from it, its complexities hidden from our eyes. But how often do we observe the naked form. I invite you to observe the various styles of my work, with the common theme of the female nude, and contemplate its simplistic beauty and complexity. Use your eyes as your hands, and feel what you see, as this is the way they were created, without visual perception or reference. Gabriel_albrecht_BA@hotmail.co.uk www.gabrielalbrechtba.webs.com
02
Katy Coe The only way to be honest is to explain myself through you: “I don’t feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am. The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning. If you knew when you began a book what you would say at the end, do you think that you would have the courage to write it? What is true for writing and for love relationships is true also for life. The game is worthwhile insofar as we don’t know where it will end.” — Michel Foucault coecoepops@hotmail.co.uk 07834 244014
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Abigail Cooke Perception, intimacy and mortality are the driving forces of my work. I challenge reality through the narrative behind my images. Penelope Schmogue takes photographs wherever she goes; these become a diary chronicling the quotidian. The photographs become the focus point for her to tell the stories of her everyday experiences. I try to notice moments that would be missed if you’re not paying attention to everything around you. I want to give a feeling of tenderness in my photographs and I feel that my work explores the transient and fictional nature of our lives. abi.cooke@yahoo.com 07984 943073
Untitled, from ‘Help Me Enjoy Reality’ Untitled, from ‘Help Me Enjoy Reality’
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Sarah Cornforth Social interaction and communication shapes the way we see others and how others see us. We subconsciously create an idea of ourselves that we think others will respond to positively. My work explores the self-editing process, using my body as a catalyst between space and subject matter. The bandages used in my performances represent the means by which we cover up our psychological and physical wounds: we spend so long worrying about how we are perceived that we wear our worries like a shroud. However, by identifying those wounds to ourselves, we become more aware of them and therefore feel more insecure – an endless cycle in which we patch ourselves up, only to tear ourselves to shreds once more. sarah.cornforth@yahoo.co.uk www.sarahcornforth.com
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Niamh Crawford I consider myself a curator, not an artist. I recreate and piece together other people’s memories and video footage to mimic the art market auction houses, taking into consideration the movement, structure and repetitive actions. Phish12@hotmail.co.uk 07955 484784
Auction room dynamics, projected
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Amy Daniel Sometimes life kicks you down, alters your path, creates a diversion. On my journey I’ve hit bumps in the road but reached the other end stronger, with better work and a greater understanding of myself. Art to me isn’t about conceptual genius or getting a sale, it’s about hiding from reality when you’ve had a really bad day. A reality where I can blend, distort and rediscover. Art shouldn’t be about rules and boundaries. It should be about having that escape and being able to stick two fingers up to your bad day and arrive at the other end smiling. amydaniel_@hotmail.com amydaniel.carbonmade.com 07749 108311
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Janet Gregory In the last three years at university my artwork has progressed from craft to ink and digital prints, photographs and fabric sculpture, in which I illustrate everything from the microbody cell structure to the world around us. This includes outer space images taken from the NASA website. Also, images of storms with tornados and hurricanes alongside those of volcanic ash clouds, earthquakes and landslides. I have experimented with digital prints, projection and light boxes. Drawing is one of my passions and also silk painting. I wish to explore drawing through technology in the future; this is a new direction for me. Janetgregory32@yahoo.co.uk 07845 174028
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Teresa Hampton “Art…the freedom to lay bare my soul.” Teresa Hampton (2011) TeresaHampton@gmail.com
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Janine K. Hayward My practice is process driven and includes drawings, film and an inter-related series of paintings in oil and acrylic. I am interested in exploring a visual language which moves between figuration and abstraction. The series of large-scale paintings, Dreaming, was inspired by an intimate experience: the moment that my partner and I settle down together to sleep. The network of lines in these works formed a set of spaces, which have become the focus of a group of paintings named Between Me and You. The painting Trace also refers to the body, alluding to the impressions that we leave, physically, psychologically and metaphorically. The process of making is important to me and in the film Eye, the ‘work’ of art is the focus. My work is rooted in reality; however, via structure and chance the viewer is invited to explore a world of order and chaos in line, space and colour. haywardjldv@aol.co.uk | 07761 612295 Dreaming, acrylic & oil on canvas, 207x169cm Dreaming, acrylic on canvas, 207x169cm Dreaming (detail) acrylic on canvas Trace, charcoal & oil on board, 80x80cm
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Jessica Howick The ‘Invasion Series’ explores the invasion of personal space and boundaries personal space and boundaries through performance art and installation. These social experiments are to occupy personal bubbles, self-boundaries, and to observe reactions to these unexpected behaviours. This collection consists of performances and documentation of these events where people are forced into situations where they have to confront abnormal behaviour which society or their own individual boundaries find socially unacceptable. This behaviour would be nudity. The performances would test the validity of the following quote by Michel de Montaigne: “Man is the sole animal whose nudity offends his own companions, and the only one who, in his natural action, withdraws himself from his own kind.” This demonstration would challenge the ability of the participants to abandon their own inhibitions, while allowing the artist to be naked in their household. howickj@uwindsor.ca
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Celeste Ingrams The many strands of thought responding to what is past – an image of what is gone – of other – of self – trying to grapple with this experiential complexity – constellation – of relation – lines of communication – the need to affirm – to be affirmed – to connect – to mark – to root – to set boundaries – the flux of this– of language – its impossibilities – attempting to grasp the real with the symbolic – the grief in this – of this – of me – of you – withdrawing – drawing – drawn from myself – trying to reach beyond the myth of what has passed – beyond representation – beyond form – within form – these tensions – beyond myself. celestei@hotmail.co.uk 07824 805518
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Karen Eleanor Jenkins As we sit in silence, the sounds around us echo our existence. The continuous rhythm of our breath reminds us every day that we are alive. This breath is one of the many vital functions that the body needs to be able to operate. It also reminds us of our mortality. The body operates in so many ways that a lot of what it does tends to go unnoticed. With the use of both performance and video art in my work, I aim to bring awareness to our beauty, importance and reality. kazjenkins@googlemail.com www.kareneleanorart.daportfolio.com
“Escape�
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Natalie Kirby Smile, it could be worse. natkirby@hotmail.co.uk 07926 060468
Photo and carpet Photograph and projection
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Matthew Lawson The figures in my current work adopt the positions of both male and female models. I proceed to systematically strip away any feature that signifies individuality or indeed any sense of identity at all. These fragile and vulnerable human-like shapes, thin and desperate, are isolated within an oppressive black void. They stare straight out with faceless faces, competing with one another for the attention of the viewer. They exist solely within the confines of the space around them, unaware of anything else and in a state of perpetual crisis. matt_lawson@hotmail.co.uk
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Rosanna Mckenna Cloth I didn’t mean to fall apart, I didn’t mean to leak, I didn’t mean to let it out When I became so weak. It’s not my fault I’m faulty, You left me so unclean. You loved me once; you cherished me. My shelf-life was so bleak. One day I’ll understand it; The water will be clear. I’m getting on a bit now, I’ll make no fuss, my dear. But one day look again And remember what I was; Then maybe use my pieces To make a washing cloth. roz_iz_ere@msn.com 07981 105892
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Emma Morrissey My practice is film and text driven. My concepts work within the heart of uncomfortable silence, inward emotion and an inner conflict within oneself which leads to uncertainty and helplessness. My video and text pieces are based on vulnerability and thought, relating to current issues of angst within modern society. I intend my work to empathise with its audience; society acceptance and finding oneself are current in today’s culture, perhaps relating my work largely to today’s modern youth. I produce work which allows the viewer to experience emotions with me, creating work that triggers people’s consciousness about up-front emotion. emzattitude89@googlemail.com
Written within Written within
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Gloria Musana With my work I started off by wanting to show how I could connect my heritage with my life now; trying to connect the two lives together and investigate the duality of my upbringing, as well as attempting to fuse different aspects of my identity. I used a number of different processes, textile fabrication, sculpture and installation. The textile prints and fabrics primarily stem from Africa. I purchased the material from a shop in Brixton and started by just designing and making dresses, which then led on to finding different objects that I could use to cover the material in. This process led me to the work I have now. gloria.musana@yahoo.com
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Julie Shorter The line between reality and fantasy is easily broken, easily overstepped, easily moved. We fight so hard to keep ourselves in check with the norm and what is expected of us that sometimes we lose ourselves. This can be to a person, object, state of mind, place; any of them real or unreal. Escaping to somewhere we feel safe and happy is what is expected of children, not adults…but is something I do every day. This work aims to show the collision of these worlds, which blur together as one. “This is not the end; this is not the beginning.” www.hybridjynxx.yolasite.com hybridjynxx@hotmail.co.uk 07590 380958
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Emilie Snaith My practice involves creating futuristic worlds in the form of digital art. The work is a leap into my apocalyptic visions of the future. It also urges the viewer to delve into their own imagination in order to try and understand the work. Some pieces come with a basic narrative underlining the fundamental issues of that particular world. I feel that even though some of these pieces may seem quite tragic, there is an obscure vision of hope that reveals the human’s ability to cope and cohabit in worlds that are physically and mentally challenging. emilie423@hotmail.com 07872 008544
Titles from top left, clockwise – Dome City, Underwater London, Overpopulated, Living Underground, digital ink-jet prints
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Ieva Sulca I would consider myself an opportunist film maker who responds to situations and objects for their rhythmic and aesthetic qualities. Parallel to this artistic process I am deeply interested in and concerned about people and their relationships with technologies. I feel these ideas have often come across in my work. It is very exciting when people feel that they have something in common with my filmed objects, which I feel indirectly alludes to my philosophy. filmavei@gmail.com ievalaart.daportfolio.com 07564 737555
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Kathryn Tanner Our story begins in a world of white, a city made of discarded objects and childhood memories, permanently awake and always dreaming. It doesn’t belong to anyone yet; it is a space owned by all; steeped in meaning, one can easily become lost within painting colours and new life through its deserted streets. My work is an attempt to examine the interior, psychological space, and to develop an understanding of my own internal reality. I have tried to sidestep the problem of objectivity by introducing an allegorical theatre with an ever-increasing cast of differentiated objects. shroomydopehat@hotmail.com 07769 186174
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Lydia-Rose West I have developed an interest over the past three years in the relationship that exists between men and women and feel that there is still an imbalance in society. I use my art which incorporates elements of the psychological and grotesque nature of life, utilising images which can be both fantastic and prosaic to examine the situation. This year I have focused on the female body in pain. I have used visual images to provoke the viewer into sensing the pain of women who are exploited and subjugated in contemporary society. rosie_west@hotmail.co.uk 07773 553469
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BA (Hons) Fine Art 2008–2011 1. Kathryn Tanner 2. Teresa Hampton 3. Katy Coe 4. Julie Shorter 5. Jessica Howick 6. Sarah Cornforth 7. Natalie Kirby 8. Niamh Crawford
9. Rosanna Mckenna 10. Abigail Cooke 11. Emilie Snaith 12. Ieva Sulca 13. Amy Daniel 14. Lydia-Rose West 15. Karen Eleanor Jenkins 16. Emma Morrissey
17. Rosy Maguire 18. Janet Gregory 19. Alia Syed 20. Celeste Ingrams 21. Emma Tod 22. Jon Buck 23. Nicola Chamberlain 24. Janine K. Hayward
25. John Cattell 26. Gabriel Albrecht 27. Benjamin Lower 28. Ron Cowdery 29. Andrew Mansfield 30. Greg Palmer 31. Mark Gaynor
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BA (Hons) Fine Art The Fine Art course is distinguished by its innovative, open and multidisciplinary approach towards artistic production and the robust, self-reflexive questioning of its own role and place within the educational establishment, our society and broader culture. Students will pursue a programme of staged development, progressing to an increasingly independent and personally focused programme of learning, equipping them with appropriate skills and abilities to succeed in the professional art world or to pursue further academic study. Course Structure • Year 1 aims to reflect a diversity of attitudes and approaches. Students will begin to define their own artistic practice and working methodology, in a single or multidisciplinary approach specific to their own ideas, concerns and philosophy. Students are exposed to a broad range of fine art practices including drawing, painting, video, sculpture, performance, printmaking, animation, photography, written text, conceptual art, net art, live happenings and events, disparate theoretical and philosophical concerns and many other visual and intellectual pursuits. • Year 2 students will be expected to develop and refine the aims of their practical work based on self-reflection, an understanding of the continuing importance of a theoretical and analytical context for their work and the critical responses of staff and peers, and developing a particular set of skills to facilitate the production of artwork to a high level of individual creativity and competence.
• Year 3 allows students to explore their chosen topic in greater depth. They will be required to produce a 5,000-word dissertation and a body of practicebased work reflective of their own individual style, which represents the ultimate conclusion to the course of study, bringing together all previously acquired knowledge and culminating in the final-year degree show’. Students are expected to become fully independent and self-motivated and to gain complete ownership of their own practice. Key Study Experiences • Students will be joining a vibrant community. You will be taught by teaching staff who are all renowned practising artists. • There will be an opportunity to participate in off-site events and activities and to acquire a variety of skills through an ongoing programme of technical workshops. • There is an exciting programme of visiting artists’ talks and study trips to international art fairs, London galleries and European cities. Facilities • We offer a highly resourced environment, housed in a new purpose-built space in the centre of the city, close to all local amenities, with access to a dedicated and flexible fine art studio and project and projection spaces. The course is supported by excellently equipped and staffed printmaking workshops, fully equipped and expertly staffed 3D studios, hi-tech digital production and printing facilities, top-of-the-range photography studios and good equipment access. All our resources are there to support students in fulfilling their own artistic vision.
With thanks We would like to thank all the lecturers and technicians for their advice and support. Special thanks go to Ben and his crack team – Steve, Phil and Louise – for being totally awesome. Nothing is impossible with them around!