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2014-15
Higher Education
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Textile degree student Sophie Wallis’s wall-hangings are a combination of polyester canvas, dye sublimation print, copper wire – which she knits on enormous needles – and weatherproof tubing.
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to discover the connection between thinking and making, join up here
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About Plymouth College of Art
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Course index
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Undergraduate courses
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Postgraduate courses
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How it all works
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Finding your course
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How to apply
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Financial information
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Living in Plymouth
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How to find and contact us
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make your move Plymouth College of Art is a vibrant art, craft, design and media laboratory growing in the middle of an ambitious ocean city. If you want to start making your mark as an expert creative innovator, conditions here are perfect. Ours is an independent specialist art, design and digital media college, run by artists for artists and combining over 150 years of tradition with cutting-edge technology. From the moment you step inside, you’ll feel the energy of our shared sense of purpose. Society needs the problem-solving insights of artists, makers and designers. Concerns about sustainability, exciting connections between the arts and science, ideas emerging from the marriage of the new media to the handmade, and our interest in the health of society as a whole will give everything you study here urgency and relevance.
all about the College : art, design and digital media 3
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making is a kind of thinking What makes art colleges different is a belief in the power of visual thinking and in the social value of learning by making. Making has tended to fade into the background of art and design education; the ‘concept’ has rather taken over. Here, because of our investment in crafts skills, we can help you to develop the quicksilver thread of expertise that connects eye to hand, and close observation to marvellous originality. Among the best artists and craftspeople it is hard to distinguish the tools of their trade – the scissors of the fabric cutter, the digital stylus of the games designer, the lens of the photographer – from the body using them. We’ll equip you with that practical know-how, and encourage you to make your mark. New processes, the latest media and exquisite raw materials are here for you to explore in purpose-designed buildings shared by a community of practising artists. An art college education produces a collaborative spirit that crosses subject boundaries, generates spontaneous creative networks and helps to shape the highly qualified, highly versatile design industry.
all about the College : what makes us different 4
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International students discuss contact sheets in the photography darkrooms: Monika Heizer (right) and fellow Hungarian, visiting exchange student Balazs Turos.
making it together A good education is one that listens to you, works with you and encourages you. The students whose voices you’ll hear and whose projects are illustrated in these pages all speak about the pleasures of belonging to an intimate, energetic, co-operative community of makers. Each year the independent mindedness and sense of purpose shine through the work of our students. That’s because our lecturers work in the tradition of individually-focused teaching and take a personal interest in the progress of every student. We’ll always ‘go the extra mile’ to meet your learning needs from your first day until long after you graduate and establish yourself as a professional maker. Above all, we’ll listen to you – because we’re all in the same creative boat.
all about the College : ours is an active, purposeful community 6
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Plymouth College of Art’s new art, craft and digital design centre taking shape against a clear blue Plymouth sky in the late winter of 2012. The first of the new studios opened the same autumn. Photo: Resources and Photographic Manager, Luke Broadway.
making all the pieces fit Some universities have been closing their craft-based design programmes, putting all of their eggs in one digital basket. We’re convinced that it’s a mistake to separate old and new technologies, and so we’ve invested nearly £8 million in a new art, craft and digital design centre. It puts us in the vanguard of contemporary craft and design practice in the UK, from where we’ve begun to shape the aspirations of the coming generation of thinkers and makers. The new building houses over 3,500 square metres of high quality industry-standard craft, design and manufacturing workshops, and studios in glass, ceramics, jewellery and fine metals, printmaking, textiles and textile print. Specialist crafts and digital design facilities include the latest 3D printing, milling and laser cutting for rapid prototyping. We’re also investing in the all important collaborative spark by creating new communal hubs and display areas. There are also new studios for painting, drawing and printmaking. It’s the ‘dream environment’ for creative thinkers and makers, hard-wired into creative industry and the international market.
all about the College : investing in your future 9
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A computer-generated impression of communal space inside the new Plymouth School of Creative Arts building.
we’re making a school Hailed by Tate as a groundbreaking project of potentially national significance, Plymouth School of Creative Arts is a 4-16 mainstream city-centre school that puts creativity at the heart of learning in all subjects, and creative arts subjects at the heart of the curriculum. We opened Key Stage 1 in September 2013, and we’ll be opening a brand new building in September 2014. Our school is a place for making – ideas, technology, as well as art – and for discovering how knowledge, values and language, identity and experience combine in a healthy culture. The school ethos grows directly out of our established art college principles, in response to the erosion of the arts and creativity in schools. It means we can offer a continuum of creative learning and practice from age 4 to Masters level, and beyond, into employment in the creative economy. So it’s more than a school; it’s an important aspect of our higher education portfolio. We see it as the dynamic catalyst for cultural and social transformation, addressing urgent needs and priorities across the domains of education, culture, community and health – creating in the process huge potential for live arts projects, internships and research enquiry.
all about the College : creative lifelong learning 10
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BA (Hons) Fine Art student Deirdre Dowley, whose installation is shown here, was one of six undergraduates chosen for a group show at the Karst Galley. Karst was set up by alumni with Arts Council support in the historically rich quarter of Plymouth Stonehouse. Read more on page 98.
preparing you for success Design quality is one of the few things that still gives UK manufacturing the edge in world markets. That means that graduates from art, design and media colleges like ours are supremely employable and in high demand. To make that proposition even more real we provide professional training and support for creative practice after graduation. We offer expert, custom-made advice, a pool of resources to support collaboration, and a channel for information, partnership and knowledge exchange. We make no distinction between education and professional development, which means there is a natural two-way traffic between studio time, work-based learning and work experience. Visiting lecturers, exhibitions and the live briefs we receive from industry will ensure you are part of the creative business community. We offer Masterclasses, short courses, business courses, careers advice and resources across the entire arts spectrum, from traditional silversmithing to illustration, digital photography, ceramics and textiles.
all about the College : we connect education with employment 12
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when it’s show time Our annual BA (Hons) Fashion Show during graduate Fashion Week is a showcase of technical skill, high quality making and inspirational design that draws a wide ranging audience from industry and the local community. One of the highlights of the year, it’s the culmination of months of hard work. Students design and make the range, select professional models, agree the theme as a group and decide how the main messages will be communicated. They liaise with designers to develop marketing materials, collaborate with photographers on publicity and documentary shoots, and negotiate with city businesses for hair, make-up and sponsorship. In 2013 the whole event was staged at the heart of the city centre.
all about the College : stepping out into the city spotlight 14
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The Fashion Department’s annual undergraduate runway show. Photo: Jamie Sweetlove.
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designing for social change By the time they graduate, our students are already beginning to make a mark in their chosen world by exploiting the connections and possibilities we open up for them. Third-year BA (Hons) Graphic Design student Matt Wilson had great success by holding a mirror up to the digital world with a campaign to raise awareness of the problem of ‘conflict minerals’. His visual explanations focused on the injustices surrounding the mining of raw materials for micro-electronics in strife-torn areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. When he showed his campaign at the New Designers show in London, a charity liked what it saw and negotiated permission to use his artwork. Matt also won a Design Council award. The Council’s Future Pioneers scheme supports emerging talent and highlights Design for Social Change.
all about the College : our outstanding students 16
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The Design Council commended Matt Wilson’s campaign, saying that it used simple vector graphics to illustrate a powerful story to convince people to support charities and demand a stop to conflict minerals being used in electronics. Mat Hunter, chief design officer at the Design Council and Future Pioneers judge, commented: ‘We were deeply impressed by the sophistication of the thinking, the quality of the making, and the diversity of needs catered for by these talented and inspiring young designers. Design is finding ever more ingenious ways to affect the world in a positive way, and with such capable and creative graduates the UK can be proud of its global standing.’
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looking at both sides Suki Dhanda successfully combines a career as a newspaper photographer with gallery and installation commissions showing work alongside the likes of Rankin and Turner prize winner Gillian Wearing. Suki graduated with an HND in the late 1980s, coming to the College from Slough. She was an advertising photographer’s assistant for the next three years and in the process assembled a portfolio by doing free shoots, notably for the music magazine Straight No Chaser. ‘To any young photographer I’d say that it’s important to build up connections by offering free work experience to artists whose work you admire or whose territory you would like to explore. Try to get work published while you’re at college. And be ready to continue to learn afterwards.’ Her big break came when The Observer commissioned her to take photographs of mothers and daughters. It brought her a freelance contract that has sustained her wider practice for the last eight years
alumni successes : Suki Dhanda 18
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Pictures on this spread show the range of Suki Dhanda’s interests: a celebrity portrait of the singer Beth Ditto (left), and a study from a series in which she compares the social invisibility of ‘cleaners’ and their menial work to acts of religious observance. ‘Growing up as the daughter of Indian parents in England, I’m aware of how it feels not quite to fit in,’ Suki says. ‘It’s led me to explore the lives of marginalised people.’ Other projects include assignments for a charity that challenges public perception of life with HIV and involvement in a British Council exhibition in Bangalore about ‘Homeland’.
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Plymouth College of Art staff are engaged in curatorial and publication projects, public art commissions, arts and industrial consultancy, and in curriculum development in China. Recent projects include an extended journal essay on the Bejing-based performance artist He Yunchang, a book on Buddhism and glass in the work of the Chinese artist Yang Hui-shan (shown here), and the catalogue to an exhibition on new realism in Chinese painting. We also consulted on the development of the new Shanghai Museum of Glass, and curated the inaugural international glass pavilion at Art Shanghai 2012. Photo: Professor Andrew Brewerton, Principal.
using research – making futures Our investment in the latest design and craft technologies and in a new building is creating an exciting ‘crucible’ for artistic research and postgraduate experiment. The powerful chemistry between our developing research programme and our studio and workshop teaching is enabling us to translate our research findings into new practice-based knowledge and skills. At the same time, we intend to demonstrate that the arts are an essential facet of community welfare, capable of promoting intercultural dialogue and individual and social well being. Current projects include: Making Futures, an international conference and journal platform for investigating crafts-based media, materials and processes in relation to sustainability and ethical agendas; and Making the Desirable Irresistible, an exploration of the use of styling and retail visual merchandising techniques in contemporary craft exhibitions. Plymouth College of Art is also a partner in Crysalis, a European partnership textiles project. Our work so far has benefited local, regional and international communities from schools in the South West to craftspeople in Shanghai and Beijing.
all about the College : our research activity is practice-led 20
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the hallmark of living by the sea If you would like easy access to sea, surf and unspoiled open countryside, if you want to be able to catch a high-speed train to London as easily as you can hop on a ferry to France, and if you want to be part of an exciting student subculture that’s transforming the character of a regional capital city, then Plymouth is the answer. Compared to many cities, the living here is good; the quality of accommodation is better and the supply is more abundant. Among our most precious attributes are our extensive specialist workshops and studios and a city centre location, all just a short stroll from the fresh sea air and open space. The sea on one side and Dartmoor national park on the other adds another dimension to the recreational and sporting possibilities: sailing, swimming, surfing, sea fishing, water skiing, kite surfing, climbing, and much more. The cultural and sporting calendar includes annual events such as the National Powerboat Racing Championship, the British Fireworks Championships, and we’re well placed for events at the Eden Project and Tate St Ives.
all about the College : we’re well placed to welcome you 22
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First Year BA (Hons) Photography students Ashley Moyden (standing) and Tim Bray on an underwater shoot at Wembury, a Marine Conservation Area just a short bus ride from Plymouth city centre.
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Third-year BA (Hons) Fine Art student Siobhan Fedden’s placement as an assistant in the gallery involved her in hanging an exhibition of photographs by the late Corinne Day. Working alongside is Equipment Resource Centre manager and photographer Luke Broadway.
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our designs on a city-wide culture Plymouth College of Art is a key player in a number of partnerships that are transforming the cultural life of the city. Our gallery was a main venue for The British Art Show when it made its first visit to the South West, and the following year Sinopticon, an investigation of the historical influence of China on British arts and crafts, included the College gallery in an equivalent cluster of city centre showplaces. We have a busy year-round exhibition programme, which in summer 2013 included the 4th Marmite Painting Prize – the winning selection from an influential international open competition founded by the painters Stephanie Moran and Marcus Cope (nothing to do with the food spread!). In 2012/13 we also ran: photographic exhibitions by Martin Parr and the late Corinne Day, reflections on the modern history of Plymouth by Ballet Rambert artist-in-residence Abigail Reynolds, textinspired work by Hannah James, and paintings by Chris Appleby. Partners in our wider cultural initiatives include the Real Ideas Organisation, Plymouth Arts Centre, the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World and Plymouth Visual Arts Consortium, as well as Arts Council England and the Crafts Council.
all about the College : our cultural connections 25
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BA (Hons) Photography third-year student Nick White has documented Plymouth’s historic seaport.
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international horizons? look no further! No ocean city knows more than Plymouth about the value of an international perspective. Its history has been all about reaching out across the world in a spirit of adventure and discovery. Modern Plymouth has become a centre for international scholarship, with a student population approaching 60,000. Put the two dimensions together and it means that Plymouth College of Art is dynamic, forward thinking – and altruistic, with a specialist international admissions team and an appetite for cross-cultural influences of every kind. If you are visiting from abroad, we are here to help you prepare for your stay and give you practical advice about living in the UK. We publish a guide for international students that highlights practical issues and lists organisations to contact for more help. All international applications for undergraduate degree programmes need to be made through the University and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS). Please see page 136 and refer to our website for more information about fees, English language requirements, student visas and how to apply: www.plymouthart.ac.uk For more information on international admissions please email international@pca.ac.uk .
all about the College : our spirit of adventure 27
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College Exhibitions and Events officer Hannah Jones sets up a College screening of Fairytale by the artist, architect, curator and documentary film maker Ai Weiwei. He invited 1,001 Chinese citizens of different ages and from various backgrounds to Kassel in Germany for the Documenta 12 exhibition in 2007. The film deals with the difficulties of leaving China and the effect on ordinary people of the journey to and encounter with a Western democracy.
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our ambitious international network Wherever you travel from you’ll find that a global view is at the heart of our teaching. We celebrate the value of visual culture and visual thinking that transcends nationality and language. International links across the spectrum of our projects include: Shanghai University, DadaPost Gallery (Berlin), Tsinghua University (Beijing), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), Institute of New Media (Frankfurt), Beijing Film Academy New Media Art Lab, Liuli China Museum (Shanghai), Vitamin Creative Space (Guangzhou), Escuela Superior de Aragon (Zaragoza), International Research Centre for Cultural Studies (Vienna), Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing), FORM (Perth, Australia) and Tshwane University of Technology (Pretoria). The College is a partner in Crysalis, an ambitious European project that aims to revive interest in textiles by improving knowledge and entrepreneurship in the industry. In 2013 and 2014 we’ll share an exhibition called Moving Textiles with partner sites at UCA Rochester, Calais Lace Museum and the Textiles Open Innovation Centre in Ronse (more on page 68). The Comenius Project has brought us friendships in Greece, France, Spain, and Poland. Past students have taken part in an International Exchange project with Ghana, and the Leonardo da Vinci project also cultivates exchanges of staff and students.
all about the College : mixing societies and artistic languages 29
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A detail of Albert Irvin’s Tideway (2009)
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the bond between the arts and society Two of the many ways the arts enrich and help to civilise society were celebrated at our 2012 graduation ceremony when we awarded honorary fellowships to Jeremiah’s Journey, a Plymouth charity that supports bereaved children and their families, and to Albert Irvin, whose long painting career has since been acknowledged with the award of an OBE. Our fellowship was for his outstanding contribution to painting over seven decades and especially for his achievement as a colourist. Bestowed on him in his 91st year, it was also an acknowledgement of a vital component of his work – the energy of the inextinguishable ‘life-force’. In August 2013 an exhibition in our gallery explored Irvin’s relationship with the birth of abstraction in Britain in the mid1950s when he was among the generation of painters influenced by an exhibition of American Expressionism at the Tate Gallery. From that point he was convinced, he says, that abstract art could stand in meaningful relation to your own perception. ‘You could move across a canvas in a way that you move through the spaces of the world.’
all about the College : recognising the social context of art 31
Transformation is the key ingredient. We put the creative aspirations and the support needs of every student at the heart of everything we do. Professor Andrew Brewerton, Principal
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all about the College (pages 1-32)
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Course index
all about the courses (pages 33-129) how we’ll support you (pages 130-141)
‘Finding your way’ courses 34 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design 38 Level 0 Extended Degree Undergraduate courses 42 Animation (BA, BA Top up) 46 Design for Games (FD, BA, BA Top up) 50 Contemporary Crafts (FD, BA, BA Top up) 54 Ceramics (BA, BA Top up) 58 Glass (BA, BA Top up) 62 Jewellery and Silversmithing (BA, BA Top up) 66 Printed Textile Design and Surface Pattern* (BA, BA Top up) 70 Fashion (FD, BA, BA Top up) 74 Fashion Media and Marketing* (BA) 78 Costume Production and Associated Crafts (BA) 82 Film (BA, BA top up) 86 Film and Media Production (FD) 90 Fine Art (BA, BA top up) 94 Fine Art: Critical and Curatorial Practices (BA, BA Top up) 98 Graphic Design (FD, BA, BA Top up) 102 Illustration (FD, BA, BA Top up) 106 Painting, Drawing and Printmaking (BA) 110 Photography (BA, BA Top up) 114 Commercial Photography (FD) *Subject to validation FD - Foundation Degree; BA - BA (Hons); BA Top up - BA (Hons) final year
Postgraduate courses 118 Introduction to postgraduate study 120 MA Contemporary Crafts 122 MA Creative Practices for Sustainability 124 MA Critical Curatorial Practices 126 MA Entrepreneurship for Creative Practice 128 MA Photography Help to make it happen 130 How it all works 132 Finding your course 134 How to apply 136 Financial information 138 Living in Plymouth and student support 140 How to find and contact us 33
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Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
This intensive one-year programme will inspire and motivate you to learn through discovery, experimentation and exploration. It will give you the freedom to try out new ideas and introduce you to a range of media, materials, resources and equipment. We will help you to become creative, confident, independent and successful – and prepare you for progression to BA (Hons) or a Foundation Degree. We provide an exciting, challenging environment where you may cultivate your intellectual curiosity and creative thinking. We’ll encourage you to work beyond your comfort zone and develop an individual approach to problem-solving, giving you the confidence to discuss your work formally or informally in large or small group situations. This programme strikes a balance between taught sessions and your independent personal learning and development. During stage one you will experience a variety of disciplines, allowing you to find the most appropriate pathway and eventually the perfect undergraduate programme. Stage two is about narrowing the field of your enquiry and selecting a way forward, for example in fine art, design, the contemporary crafts, visual communication, fashion and textiles or lens-based media. Stage three is a self-initiated project and is externally assessed. It is the culmination of the knowledge, technical and creative skills developed during the programme. This work becomes your end of year Summer Exhibition. The programme is demanding, experimental and fun and is staffed by a team with a great deal of experience and knowledge. We love everything about it and hope you will too.
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Entry requirements We offer places to students who have a GCSE profile of at least 5 A*-C grades and a combination of AS and A-level qualifications. We also welcome applications from mature students who may not have the qualification profile – but who have other experience and knowledge. Validated by University of the Arts, London Portfolio requirements All applicants need to show a portfolio of creative work that reflects their passion, enthusiasm and commitment for art, design and media.
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Sophie Taschner-Baldwin visited several colleges in different corners of the UK before deciding on Plymouth College of Art for her Foundation studies. ‘When I arrived to look around I just thought, “this is it, I’ve found what I want”. I feel completely at home here.’ For her final show Sophie invented an imaginary interplanetary substance, Proteg-1 (above), by experimenting with the ‘chemistry’ of boiled sweets. ‘I enjoy turning any material into something that looks unearthly and bizarre.’ Ruby Revell (right), whose disconcerting ivy-leaf sandwich is shown top right, talks about the different way of thinking she found at the College after a disappointing start to AS-levels elsewhere. ‘I can see a huge development in my work over the year. I have a much improved process,’ she says.
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Callum Charman and Leah Hodges discuss Leah’s Foundation Diploma project work. ‘We have total access,’ Callum says. ‘If you want something, you can just go and find it. Illustration is the direction I’m heading in.’
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Level O Extended Degree
Do you want to pursue a specialist degree programme? Do you have the required AS or equivalent A-level qualifications, but lack experience of hands-on making? Our Level 0 Extended Degree programme will prepare you for entry to our BA (Hons) Degrees. This programme is intended for students who have finished their school or college education, or have been out of education for a while, or are an international applicant. It doesn’t lead to a qualification in its own right, but by providing you with a range of art design and media skills it will guarantee your progress to our undergraduate programme. You’ll soon become more confident in your use of drawing, visual research, contextual studies, digital imaging and design methods, and you’ll learn how to use a range of materials, equipment and software. As the year goes by you will specialise in your chosen subject. The aim is to become creative, confident and independent.
Entry requirements We offer places to students who have a GCSE profile of at least 5 A*-C grades and a combination of AS and A-level qualifications. We also welcome applications from mature students who may not have the qualification profile – but who have other experience and knowledge. As this programme forms part of a degree programme, all applications need to be made through UCAS. Please visit www.ucas.com for further information. UCAS codes for all the separate Level O programmes can be found on our website. As this is an undergraduate programme you will be eligible for a student loan and you may be entitled to a grant towards living costs, such as food, accommodation and travel.
Extended Degree students have access to all of Plymouth College of Art’s facilities, including our 3D studios, north light drawing spaces, photographic facilities and the region’s most extensive and comprehensively stocked moving image resources.
Opposite: glaze tests from our ceramics workshops and a reminder of the range of digital drawing and making equipment that all students have access to.
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making memory laser sharp
I live in Plymouth and I have three children. I always wanted to do something with art after I left school but I was dissuaded and instead trained as a hairdresser - a job I did for ten years. After having my children I was a full-time mother for another ten but as I started to have more time I wanted to do something just for me. I used to walk past the College and I visited exhibitions here but I never had the nerve to apply. I was mostly worried about being among a predominantly youthful culture, but as soon as I started, my fears about being older dissolved. I realised that age is irrelevant. We were all new to the experience and we all wanted to create and make. Coming here has changed my life and how I view the world. I’m very excited to have been accepted on to the new BA (Hons) Painting, Drawing and Printmaking programme. I feel like a pioneer. Beyond my degree I hope to combine the knowledge I’ve acquired through motherhood with my art expertise to work in art therapy or run workshops for children.
Julie Ellis : Level 0 40
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Opposite: Julie laser cutting text from her mother’s typewritten journal on to glass. ‘My mum was born in 1943 and experienced a very difficult and violent childhood in a large family of nine children plus extended family members who all shared a threebedroom Victorian terrace in the Stonehouse and Devil’s Point area of Plymouth. I’ve been looking at the period which took her to her early teens in 1956. My interest is in personal experience and memories. Mum’s journals are extremely precious to me. I recognise her pain but they also represent her triumph over adversity. I feel that I’m preserving the sense of her life, endowing it with the strength and beauty. The use of etched glass is integral. It provides a lens – a further layer, linking together the elements.’
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Animation BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W61M
Animators are masters of illusion. Our craft was born as we played with shadows and light. We honed our skills, breathing life into the drawn line. Now, in the midst of the digital revolution, the scope for the imagination of the animation artist is limitless. Our BA (Hons) programme embraces all forms of animation, and attracts students with diverse interests and cultural backgrounds. Productions range from cartoons for entertainment to documentaries exploring social issues through to interactive multiscreen installations and projections for performance. The programme is based on learning through making. You’ll take on production roles on live projects and learn the essential skills of creative collaboration and professional practice. Workshops run by professional animators will give you the technical and creative skills to succeed in a highly competitive industry. A wide range of visiting artists augments the knowledge of the staff team. Our aim is for you to find your own creative voice. The emphasis in the first year is on fundamentals such as animated performance, drawing skills, storyboarding, compositing, CGI and interdisciplinary experimentation. During the second year you’ll extend your knowledge in your chosen vocational pathway, developing skills in producing and becoming a creative entrepreneur. In your final year you’ll consolidate your professional portfolio by completing your own animation production. We’ll have enabled you not only to make great work but also to distribute it effectively. The range of skills you’ll acquire is sought after by the entertainment industry, documentary makers, in scientific and architectural visualisation, projection for performance, games, education and fine art practice.
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BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W616
Our graduates become: animators installation artists moving image artists documentary makers art directors game designers 3D artists character designers facial animator/riggers motion editors visual effects artists 3D modeller/texturers environment artists compositors title sequence designers
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Second-year BA (Hons) student Faye Elliott’s work (above) proves that every craft – sewing and embroidery included – can be useful to an animator. ‘This project is about an owl character that will move through an environment,’ she says. ‘I’ll be using stop frame right here in my workspace. We bring in lighting and equipment and set everything up here, and have no problems booking studio space. I can work until 8pm and on Saturdays, too, if I want to. And don’t think you can’t do this because you don’t have the skills! You just need enthusiasm and you’ll get plenty of support.’ Top right: Second-year Animation student Kerry Whitehead models characters for her film and game projects and Alex Stewart (below) builds characters and sets for stop frame animation. First-year computer animator Andrew Msemburi (right) is impressed by the Plymouth lifestyle as well as by the course. ‘For the first time I’m in an environment where everything is focused on animation. If you’re looking for a place to express yourself as an artist, this is the place for you. The pace of learning is good. The tutors tell us not to worry, to have fun, but learn as much as we can. Plymouth is a friendly city, and it’s a new experience for me being near to the sea – it’s been special!’
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the magic of automation
After A-levels I’d had enough of exams so I did a couple of bar jobs and some cleaning work. Then I made a last minute decision to come back into education. My portfolio was slim, but I convinced my tutors with my enthusiasm! We’ve had a series of professional workshops and I’ve loved them and done every one. The automata workshop was about exploring animation as an interactive experience. We had Keith Newstead, a top automata maker, visit. Then Suzie Templeton did a workshop showing us her techniques for making models and I came out so inspired. I was worried at the beginning because there’s so much to learn, but there’s always someone to help you.
Sofia Beale : Animation 44
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The expert maker of automata, Keith Newstead, has been among visiting specialists who have been widening the range of skills available to students on the animation programmes. Keith is one of a small group of makers associated with the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, centre of the English ‘school’ of modern automata. ‘I never aim my work at a particular age group, and it makes me happy that both children and adults enjoy it,’ he says. Below: BAFTA-winning writer and director Suzie Templeton explains stop-motion animation techniques to students. Workshop photos by photography student Shelley Barlow.
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Design for Games BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W281
Design for Games at Plymouth College of Art is much more than learning how to create yet another point and shoot game, although to be able to do that calls for a tremendous range of skills. You’ll learn about the commercial entertainment industry and we’ll equip you to find career openings, but the programme takes a much wider cultural view. We recognise that gaming technology is being put to a huge range of purposes, for example in education, medical simulation and architecture. It’s also informing the spread of new ideas about social and democratic design. The meaning and value of games and play are changing and deepening. We teach the complete design process from drawing on paper and developing in Photoshop, to making 3D models, texturing, UV unwrapping, rigging and animating. You’ll also learn sound production, how to structure narrative and develop characters. You’ll explore how digital games have evolved in genre and design to become complex experiential-narrational texts with the power to influence how we understand stories and information. And just as the industry relies on teamwork among specialists we will encourage you to collaborate. We teach all this through lectures, studio-based activities and online through a virtual learning environment. You’ll be encouraged to meet practising designers and to participate in study visits, external commissions, national competitions and exhibitions. The reality of the games-making world is built into everything we do.
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Foundation Degree 2 years full-time; 4 years part-time UCAS: WG26 BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W280
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Designing a final piece for our summer show means creating everything from the storyline to the soundtrack and the packaging to the technical manual. Frederic Fitzpatrick’s interactive discovery game, Molly, was based on the story of the Marie Celeste, a ship found abandoned in impenetrably mysterious circumstances – breakfast on the table, no sign of struggle. In these example frames, from top to bottom, 1. the player awakes in zero gravity to find a crashed capsule embedded in the hull, restores gravity and begins to explore; 2. signs of recent departure are evident; 3. after restoring power to the reactor it becomes clear there are far worse problems! 4. the hangar bay is almost empty and logs of the crew struggling to make ends meet can be found dotted around. And so on ‌ until it emerges that the spaceship has been set to autodestruct and the significance of a Purcell Funeral March soundtrack is clear.
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specialists in serious games
First-year Design for Games student Laura Varga has come to the programme via an Economics degree in her home country of Romania and work in England in floristry. ‘Now that my daughter is at nursery, I have a chance to study character design for games,’ she says. ‘I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it from the very beginning. We draw and do digital 3D modelling from day one. As a mature student I’ve made lovely friendships with younger students – it’s a nice mixture and people are open-minded. We get lots of support from the tutors and technicians – they even set up extra skills workshops when we asked for them.’
First-year experience : Design for Games 48
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First-year Design for Games students James Dyer and Tom Donachie did the Interactive Media and Game Arts Diploma to improve their digital 3D modelling skills before embarking on the Design for Games Degree programme. ‘You don’t get that experience at school,’ James says. ‘It’s more hands-on here and that helps you decide what to specialise in. We’re learning about audio for games, traditional and digital drawing, gaming, and conceptual design and presentation techniques. There are so many specialist skills needed for Games Design that we need to collaborate to double our expertise. Teamwork is really important to us.’ These specialist skills are transferable across a wide range of industries, from architecture to animation, special effects and visualisation. Tom says, ‘I looked around at courses nationally – the facilities here are fantastic.’ Above: Max Johns produced this single frame for his 3D modelled and rendered Bridge project.
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Contemporary Crafts BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W702
In the space of a few years, the relationship between the crafts and design has progressed from one based largely on fading tradition to being highly experimental and innovative. There is a powerful resurgence of interest in the qualities of new, old and retrieved materials, often used in new combinations, and there has been a reassessment of the value of craftsmanship as the benchmark of all good work. Our Contemporary Crafts programme is on the pulse of all of these dynamics, as well as encouraging practice that crosses the interface between art and design. Its bi-annual Making Futures conference is driving forward the new thinking, and the creation of our £7.7 million contemporary centre for the crafts represents confidence in their value. The range of creative practices you’ll experience includes ceramic manipulation, jewellery making, glassblowing and textiles, and our taught programmes encompass a wealth of disciplines, materials and approaches. Expect to become fully immersed in design solutions, material qualities and digital processes from the initial brief to the finished product. Contemporary Crafts practitioners are not only fired by a love of material qualities and making processes, and by the history of their crafts, but also by drawing, narrative development and issues such as globalisation and sustainability. These crosscutting themes are central to the programme and to the future of international craft practice. Our Contemporary Crafts programme forms one of four crafts subject areas. Students benefit from the creative synergies that emerge from working alongside students of Ceramics, Glass, Jewellery and Silversmithing. All of our teachers and technicians on the programme are practising makers.
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Foundation Degree 2 years full-time; 4 years part-time. New for 2013-2014: a part-time option to study evenings and weekends. UCAS: W701 BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W703
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Naomi Cristofoli applied for the Contemporary Crafts programme after doing A-level Ceramics. She’s inspired by the endless possibilities of materials – and tried out jelly (bottom right) when she was working on a project about Plymouth during the Second World War Blitz. ‘Craft doesn’t have to be strictly functional,’ she says. ‘I’m working in resin now, exploring connections between technology and craft. I’ve taken my old computer apart, discovered lots of components. I’m not sure where it’s going, but it will be an electronic moving something.’ The extraordinary result of that experiment is shown bottom left. Facing page: Rebecca Clark tackles big knitting.
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introducing conceptual crafts
A teaching residency by ceramic artist Alicia Ongay-Perez in the spring of 2013 was an example of our investment in the emergence of new crafts supported by a cross-disciplinary approach to teaching. Alicia worked intensively with our crafts students at all levels and encountered experiments in a wide range of media from clay to wool and glass to electronics. She was visiting from the prestigious Jan van Eyck Academie in the Netherlands where she has a fellowship supported by the Mondrian Fund. Alicia specialises in ‘inverse forms’, slip-casting ceramic objects inside out so that they cease to be functional and enter a more ambiguous world of what she suggests might be called ‘conceptual crafts’.
Workshop : Professional Contemporary Crafts 52
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Pipe cleaners, Jacquard loom punch cards, rug making techniques in the hands of Chrissie Roberts (top right); printing on glass by Emelia Sutherland Netto De Oliveira (centre) and the weaving sketchbooks of Hannah McArthur – all examples of the excitement around the potential of the crafts to convey contemporary ideas. ‘We learn lots of skills and techniques in this first year,’ Hannah says. ‘I’ve always been better at learning in a practical way and for the first two months we did a carousel through all the workshop areas in contemporary crafts – glass, jewellery, ceramics, silversmithing, silkscreen printing and sublimation print.’
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Ceramics BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: J311
Some of the oldest surviving manmade artefacts are ceramic objects – transformed by fire to make everything from cups, plates and amphorae to the tiled skin of the space shuttle, and from medical scalpels and musical instruments to bathroom showers and kitchen sinks. That something so fundamental can readily be turned into the finest decoration or the most functional sculptural form means that the art, craft and science of ceramics are enduringly relevant and increasingly experimental. We’ll encourage you to explore functional and sculptural ceramics and introduce you to a variety of hand-building techniques as well as to small batch production methods such as mould-making, wheel-throwing and slip-casting. You’ll use excellent facilities including electric and gas kilns. There is potential for cross-disciplinary inquiry and for experiment with digital design and 3D modelling software. The programme concentrates on the realities of workshop practice and makes connections with the community of professional makers outside the campus. Our Ceramics programme is one of four crafts subject areas. Students benefit from the creative synergies that emerge from working alongside students of Contemporary Crafts, Glass, and Jewellery and Silversmithing. All who teach on the programme are practising makers.
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BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: J310
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Third-year BA (Hons) Contemporary Crafts student Jane Mooney did a BTEC award here when she was 16 and then a degree in Graphic Design in Swindon before living in Florence for a year. ‘I’ve combined traditional ceramic methods with digital technologies to create detail and textured surfaces. I’ve made a mould using 3D printing, slip-cast porcelain decanters and then laser cut the unfired clay to create a delicate layered effect. The course has made me realise that I want to work in a variety of ways. I’d like my own studio, but want to stay involved in community arts.’ Jane's third-year colleague Sharon Howard also experimented with distressed surfaces and ideas about age and archaeology in her homage to Josiah Wedgwood (left) – making replica fragments of the pottery's blue floral pattern domestic ware. Opposite: austere porcelain cones by Jessica Thorn.
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the delicacy of repetition
I’m originally from Essex where I studied for my National Diploma in Art and Design. I was impressed by the facilities here and started out on the two-year Foundation Degree. In the first year I tried out a variety of media and techniques. After deciding to specialise in ceramics, I had an internship with Jacob van de Buegel who was Edmund de Waal’s assistant and now has his own studio near Tiverton. I learned many new skills from him and still work there once a week. My final year work was inspired by a project I did in my first year called ‘repeat forms’. I’ve experimented with building up a large-scale piece using smaller elements. These slip-cast vessels are covered with over a thousand circular pieces cut with cookie cutters and individually placed. I want to set up my own studio and continue with the internship. I’ve also been involved for some time in the Saturday Arts Club working as a Student Ambassador.
Ruth Harrison : Ceramics BA (Hons) Top up 56
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Glass BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W771
Transparent or translucent, crystalline or resinous, reflective or refractive, glass has enduring qualities. Our Glass programme will introduce you to a wide range of specialisms within glass practice. In the hands of a new generation of experimental makers, glass is being used in numerous unexpected ways – in architecture, product design, craft and the fine arts. Our programme provides opportunity to master traditional process, to explore new digital technologies and to combine the old with the new in original ways. You will be encouraged to explore widely before identifying a special interest. Plymouth is one of very few universities and colleges in the UK with its own glass-making studio, and is able to offer expert teaching in glass blowing, kiln forming, architectural processes and casting. Even fewer colleges run programmes that encourage students to develop cross-over skills, combining craft disciplines that exploit the new media. Our programme is based on learning-through-making, beginning in the first year with an introduction to design for industry and studio practice, and thereafter gradually developing and refining students’ expertise and professionalism, through links with established artists and industry. Glass at Plymouth College of Art has a long history of international collaboration. Our networks include programmes and practitioners in Korea, the USA, Shanghai, Beijing and Pretoria. This programme is one of four crafts subject areas, and so students benefit from the creative synergies that emerge from working alongside students of Contemporary Crafts, Ceramics, Jewellery and Silversmithing. All who teach on the programme are practising makers.
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BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W770
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Now in her second year as a BA (Hons) Contemporary Crafts student, Emelia Sutherland Netto De Oliveira transferred to the College from a furniture design course. ‘It’s been tough to catch up but I like a challenge,’ she says. ‘Not many places still teach glass, but I searched the ucas site and came to an Open Day here and everything fell into place. I like the fact that it’s quite small. You get a lot of access to facilities and get to know people much better. Drawing and printmaking are the basis of my work. This wax crab I’m casting in glass will be a display for my jewellery, and I etch my drawing and prints on to jewellery. I’ve made some sandblasted glass panels too. In a way I’m a printmaker looking for the most appropriate way to make what’s in my head. I was brought up in Brazil, playing on beaches. The idea of lost treasure, washed up from the sea, inspires me.’
Third-year BA (Hons) Glass student Adam John’s experiments with method and colour (left) have been inspired by natural forms. They have included dipping glass to simulate the exterior structures of cocoons and, for his graduation show, an interest in the vibrant warning colours that have evolved in insects and amphibians. ‘I wanted to explore how the emotions experienced by the viewer are affected by using certain colour combinations, shapes and textures,’ he explains.
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making it in the furnace
I did a Foundation Diploma and originally wanted to study blacksmithing. I also wanted to be near the coast and chose this College because of its location and the facilities. I like to work standing up and moving around, to be more involved physically. It’s exciting because of the furnace and melting materials, and you never know what’s going to happen – there’s always an element of surprise. I don’t know how my pieces will turn out! I think of myself as an artist/ designer/maker. This project is inspired by the sea and by Scandinavian and Swedish design, combining form with imagery of the sea taken from my drawing and photographs. I really like the College. There’s a lot of freedom and help to explore other areas. For example the jewellery tutor invited me into her workshops and made me feel welcome.
Amy Casto : Contemporary Crafts (Glass) 60
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First-year BA (Hons) Contemporary Crafts (Glass) student Amy Casto is blowing glass in our specialist glass workshop.
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Jewellery and Silversmithing BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W722
The design and making of ‘objects of desire’ using precious metals and precious or semi-precious stones is riding a tide of exciting experiment that relies on new ways of retrieving, recycling and reformulating traditional materials. Our jewellery and silversmithing students are encouraged to be part of the new ethically aware trend in fine metal work and jewellery design. The College’s impressive studios that encompass traditional making and digital design media provide the perfect environment for invention. This BA (Hons) programme begins with an introduction to materials and techniques, and to design and conceptual issues, gradually leading you towards fully developed professional practice. Students are encouraged to explore processes and to challenge traditions and preconceptions through their work before specialising in one of the two areas. Steps along the way include work placements or internships and taking part in exhibitions such as the annual New Designers show. Our programme has a strong relationship with national organisations such as Goldsmiths and The Worshipful Company of Pewterers. The Jewellery and Silversmithing programme is one of four crafts subject areas, and so students benefit from the creative synergies that emerge from working alongside students of Contemporary Crafts, Ceramics and Glass. All who teach on the programme are practising makers.
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BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W721
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Second-year BA (Hons) student Chloe O’Brien did a Foundation Diploma in Bristol and worked in retail and hospitality before finding her passion for jewellery making at our evening classes. ‘I love it,’ she says. ‘I thought I could get into it without going to uni but the degree course has opened up so many new directions. I’m specialising in narrative jewellery. My take on it is that I can create interaction with the wearer. I’m using old postcards and handwriting as wearable art. I melt down jewellery to recycle the silver and make new pieces. Working alongside Contemporary Craft students is really beneficial. I think of myself as a craftsperson, not just a jeweller.’ Eniola Ajani (left) works in copper and silver to investigate kinetic energy in the natural world – how things move and what makes them move. ‘I've been looking at twigs and the different arrangements they are placed in by the weather,’ she says.
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a new aesthetic for jewellery
I’ve completed the course part-time over six years. My approach involves reusing and recycling materials so I melted down previous work to start my BA! Last year my pieces went to New Designers, and I also won a Silver Bullion Award and commission from Goldsmiths to design and make tableware – a bowl and spoon. This year I’ve been concentrating on jewellery. I had pieces in silver and copper selected for the Devon Guild of Crafts ‘Get Fresh’ show and I sold several – it was fantastic for networking. Through the Devon Guild I’ve also got involved with the Refugee Centre in Plymouth, a place where people can go for a cup of tea and to learn English. I’m setting up a jewellery workshop there to offer basic classes and I hope the College will show the work that’s made. My latest jewellery uses oxidised recycled silver and enamel paint to explore the differences between an accepted notion of beauty and something else – the search for another aesthetic.
Tracey Falvey : Jewellery and Silversmithing (part-time) 64
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Right: developmental drawings for Tracey Falvey’s piece ‘Yellow’ (finished left) show her working out the engineering for the clasp, testing colours, gathering estimates and assaying information, and putting jewellery making unexpectedly into the hands of Plymouth shot blasters S L Powder Coating. Also shown: Tracey grinding borax to make a flux paste for soldering metal.
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Printed Textile Design and Surface Pattern* BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W231
This new programme will cultivate your entrepreneurial spirit and equip you to be a first-class designer. As we stretch your creative imagination, we’ll introduce you to the commercial realities of the textile design and surface pattern industries, encouraging you to develop your own ‘design personality’ and helping you to realise your creative ambitions. Project work focuses on finding new solutions to design problems and will enable you to design for both fashion and interiors as you deepen your insight into design, style and taste. This programme embraces colour, drawing, design research, design development, CAD skills, technical knowledge of printing and professional practice. The breadth of our approach means you will gain technical knowledge, creative sophistication and an attitude of visual investigation. You’ll be based in new, purpose-built studios, generously equipped with screen printing benches and the latest digital scanners and printers. Here you can see projects through from research and design development through fabric production to finished product design. As an emerging designer you’ll be ready to start your career as an employed designer or as the owner of your own enterprise. You’ll have opportunities to exhibit and sell work in a number of international trade fairs and work on commercial projects set by manufacturing companies. Students will benefit from the creative synergies that emerge from working alongside students of Contemporary Crafts, Ceramics, Glass and Jewellery and Silversmithing. All who teach on the programme are practising makers.
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BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W233
Our graduates become: designer/makers textile designers fabric technologists public art practitioners textile conservationists and curators arts educators and teachers textile stylists fashion buyers and retailers gallery directors
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new horizons in textiles
The College is a partner in Crysalis, an ambitious European project that aims to revive and revitalise the textiles industry. At the heart of the Crysalis project are a number of crossborder activities that students and practitioners can engage with to inspire work and establish new business ideas. In 2013 and 2014 the four partners – the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester, Calais Lace Museum, the Textiles Open Innovation Centre, Ronse, and the College – will contribute to the delivery of exhibitions, skills tours, business workshops, educational resources and digital archives for the benefit of those working or studying within the textiles industry. Our students will be able to experience the project outcomes first-hand through visits to partner sites.
Print facilities : Printed Textile Design and Surface Pattern 68
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Main picture: Lecturer in Surface Pattern and print studio coordinator Emma Gribble fixes digital print on fabric by steaming it. Left: details of digital print by fashion students – a coat lining by Rosie Andrews and coat pocket detail by Brooke Tippett; Technical Demonstrator Mayada Abu-Rgheff helps students to master our Mimaki TX2 digital printer.
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Fashion BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W290
Great fashion design gets to the heart of the relationship between individual creativity and the social and political environment. It is about understanding the dynamics of social change, setting trends and pushing back the boundaries of design, while simultaneously drawing on exquisite traditions of craftsmanship and on universal fascination with the qualities of fabric, pattern, texture and colour. Our programmes will prepare you for a competitive industry in continuous flux. The design approach encompasses everything from haute couture to technical apparel, from the catwalk to making for the high street. You’ll explore and experiment with techniques, materials and ideas before specialising. Whether mastering the technical skills of pattern cutting, using an industrial CAD/CAM process or organising and styling a photo shoot, you’ll gain insight into the contextual, constructional and marketing aspects of fashion. Throughout the BA (Hons) programme, you’ll be able to explore another creative practice and work on multidisciplinary projects. The aim is to extend your understanding of the complex relationship between the creative arts and society and develop essential project management and communication skills. Many modules incorporate business skills to provide an insight into the marketing issues that affect production, design – and your own career progress.
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BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W230 Foundation Degree 2 years full-time; 4 years part-time UCAS: WN22
Our graduates become: designers merchandisers buyers retail managers trend analysts costume designers garment technologists visual merchandisers retail managers researchers and lecturers
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Left: Programme leader Alison Braybrook gives her attention to a student project.
Jess Vincent specialises in menswear. ‘I feel like I can draw, design and make it. It’s really different from womenswear – which I don’t like,’ she explains. ‘The course encourages you to do exactly what you want. My designs are traditional and use earthy colours but I’ve made dissolvable fabric – it feels papery, you stitch on to it then put it in water and the material dissolves. I’m also knitting garments for my collection and making yarn out of embroidery thread. We’re encouraged to aim high. They believe in us so we believe in ourselves. I’ve got an internship at J W Anderson in London for the whole of the summer, but right now I’m making eight garments for the end of year show.’ Crystal Bedia moved to the UK from the Philippines when she was 11. ‘I didn’t know how to draw when I came here,’ she says, ‘but I’m determined to learn to draw from life, and from imagination. Working on paper first allows me to experiment more with textures than I could if I was working directly on screen.’ Her latest work (professionally modelled, far left) translates ideas that she originally expressed in painted wash and line.
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making more from less
I’ve been snowboarding and skateboarding competitively for a few years and the sponsorship helps me to finance my study here. I first studied French and Business at uni but I wanted to do Fashion although it seemed out of reach at the time. When I first left school I did a Foundation Diploma and so I applied to do Fashion here. I haven’t looked back – but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re really dedicated. We all have different styles and we’re encouraged to find our own direction. I’m learning to be economical with materials as a designer because they’re expensive, and this year I’ve been working on recycling donated wetsuits and transforming them with print techniques. I’ve been nominated for a Plymouth College of Art award for my extracurricular activities like my skateboarding blogs which are based on going to professional events and photoshoots. My time management can be a bit hectic but it’s a good skill to learn. You get a lot of contact time with tutors here; you ask for it, you get it!
Stephanie Nurding : Fashion 72
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Pages from Stephanie’s sketchbooks show her sampling, scavenging and screen printing ideas, materials and methods; above: her clothes being modelled during a professional photoshoot at the Loft Studio in London – and (opposite) her feepaying skateboarding .
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Fashion Media and Marketing* BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: NW52
If you’re fascinated by fashion and would like a career in the industry, but you don't want to be a fashion designer, then this may be the programme for you. You will develop the skills the fashion industry expects from those working in promotion, imaging, styling, management, communication and marketing. Your assignments will see you styling for fashion shoots, and writing features for magazines, newspapers, websites and broadcasting, as well as planning marketing campaigns. You will learn how to work in a team of specialists to manage events, including runway and static shows. In the process, you will learn about trend forecasting, market research, journalism, critical writing and photography and film making, and you will develop wide-ranging communication skills. You will gain a sound knowledge of the business of fashion, including the design and production cycle, as well as buying. Other modules will cover responsible management, environmental issues, ethics, sustainability and social responsibility. You will be encouraged to submit your work for national and international competitions and for publication and you will be encouraged to undertake periods of internship and placements at home and abroad By the time you graduate, you will have a portfolio of highly relevant skills and real-world examples to equip you for the next stage in your professional career.
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Our graduates become: merchandisers buyers retail managers trend analysts costume designers garment technologists visual merchandisers retail management postgraduate students teachers and lecturers
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Brooke Tippett attended our evening classes, studied dressmaking in Bude and worked in stage management for years before embarking on her BA. ‘We’ve just done a marketing and promotion module, starting with a research presentation about a unique business model. I looked at Tom Kay’s Cornish Finisterre company and investigated local sourcing – using Devon Merino wool – and wrote a proposal to manufacture of longlasting clothing in Devon – with everything made in house. Eventually I want to set up my own business. It would be online retailing supported by pop-up shops in department stores. The course has given me a lot of confidence based on new knowledge and skills, for example in pattern cutting. I can look at 2D pieces and visualise how they will look in 3D. I really like the College atmosphere and how people get on.’ Second-year Rosie Andrews did an Extended Diploma in Art and Design before deciding to specialise in the fashion media. ‘Fashion is such a versatile subject – it involves everyone,’ she explains. ‘I went to interviews in London, but they were very impersonal; here everyone is so helpful; we get guidance and tutors are happy to spend time with us. It’s really motivating. They have experience in the fashion industry, which is very important. They arranged a professional photo shoot in London and two of my garments were photographed. In a marketing module we made a proposal for our own business idea, researching garments, pricing, competitors and so on. I researched a Japanese minimalist designer, incorpo-rating print and digital print to counterbalance the minimalism.’ Opposite: a coat from Rosie’s collection.
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making the most of a media opportunity
These Polaroid snapshots record a long wintry Good Friday when second-year BA (Hons) Fashion students spent an intense day at The Loft Studios in London, preparing their work for professional models and for photographs by Natalie Davis, a Plymouth College of Art graduate, now a regular freelance contributor to Elle magazine. Results of the shoot were included in the end of year fashion show ‘lookbook’ which was designed and produced by graphic design students Jessica Hamley and Sophie Willcox (see also page 105).
Photoshoot : Fashion Media and Marketing 76
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Costume Production and Associated Crafts BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: PW34
This intensive practical programme trains costume designers and interpreters for a wide range of careers in the performance industries. It focuses on the most sought-after crafts skills, including strong technical competence in pattern cutting and costume construction and being able to guarantee quality and durability. Our programme also teaches specialist skills in dyeing and breaking down, as well as the precision needed to design and make small props such as masks, millinery and costume jewellery. The unique strength of this programme lies in its combination of a technical focus with opportunities to experience at first-hand all aspects of the performance industry, from the innovative work of touring companies to the production values behind West End shows. Live project briefs will give you a true taste of professional experience. The programme is underpinned by the development of strong drawing skills and an introduction to professional practice and employability. It incorporates research into the historical and cultural contexts of costume as well as tuition in essential organisational and communication skills. The range of processes and media on offer here makes it an exciting place to study costume production. You will work alongside students involved in fashion, film and other creative productions, and have access to new workshop facilities including digital printing, textile technology and 3D making. This programme demands a high level of commitment and an unswerving interest in the craft of making. In return, we’ll provide a strong support network through our dedicated team of lecturers and our links with industry.
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Supporters of our Costume Production programme include the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Head of Wardrobe, Alistair McArthur, who says: ‘Apart from good sewing and pattern cutting skills, there’s always been a gap for specialist areas when training for performance, for example in costume jewellery, dyeing and breaking down and costume millinery. Today’s students need to be flexible in their skills set. This programme will give them more employment appeal.’ Sheila Snellgrove, Company Director of the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth, feels the same. She says: ‘I fully support the training of a new generation of costume and prop practitioners, and look forward to welcoming graduates with fresh ideas, enthusiasm and a good grounding in design and technical processes to our industry.’ Her colleague at Plymouth Theatre Royal, Head of Wardrobe Dina Hall, says: ‘A high level of expertise is required in the construction of costumes and accessories. This dedicated programme is a crucial step in rebuilding a necessary and valuable craft.’
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rescuing a lost stagecraft
I did a National Diploma course in Fashion and was awarded a week’s work experience at the Plymouth Theatre Royal Production Centre (TR2). I also completed a Young Apprenticeship Scheme course at the College and was invited back to TR2 to sew costumes. I worked there for two years altogether and have made costumes for 20 shows – some of them are touring in Denmark at the moment. I decided to come back to Plymouth College of Art to get more design experience and a degree qualification in Costume Production to capitalise on all of my experience. I’ve worked with a lot of designers at TR2 and they have all been costume rather than fashion based. There’s a lack of specialist theatrical tailors and lots of career opportunities.
Theatrical helmet made by professional prop maker Mike Weir. Opposite: Jerry brings his experience back into college to gain more advanced skills in making costumes such as the one shown here, part of the Theatre Royal’s collection.
Jerry Moore : Costume Production 80
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Film BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W692
Film is a practice-based programme of study providing a stimulating environment where students explore a range of practices, processes and theoretical approaches to contemporary film making. Our programme explores the connections between film and other visual, narrative and performing arts and makes the most of our unique interdisciplinary art college environment. You’ll be encouraged to embrace the role of film artist, investigating various production roles, with the aim of contributing new ideas and talent to contemporary moving image culture and the creative industries. Our aim is to support the development of distinct voices, the creation of imaginative and challenging personal film work, and the realisation of individual career aspirations. We have a comprehensively stocked film production resource, with technologies including Super16mm and High Definition cinematography; underwater film and video; industry standard audio and lighting equipment; 5.1 Surround Sound; professional post-production facilities; and software packages including Avid Media Composers, Final Cut Pro7, and Adobe CS6.
BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W620
Our graduates become: film makers directors/producers production managers location managers assistant directors cinematographers/ videographers production designers screenwriters film editors assistant editors film/broadcast camera operators lighting engineers underwater film specialists production assistants production / post-production runners
In 2012/13 our students won ‘Best Undergraduate Fiction’ film at the Royal Television Society (RTS) National Awards, screened work at the New York Tribeca Film Festival and the Raindance Film Festival, and exhibited at Prime Cuts , winning awards for ‘Best Production Design on Film’, ‘Best Comedy’, and ‘Best Costume Design on Film’. Recent graduates have joined Ridley Scott Associates, BBC Films and Two Four Productions. Others are working as independents and freelancers or have gone on to postgraduate study. Opposite: Dorian Cozens in a still from a film – about film
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in real time with film on reels
I left school at 13 and was home educated. I travelled a lot but I wanted to study locally and have always had an interest in art and film. I opened a skateboarding shop and learned about business. Eventually I came back into education because I was ready and they offered what I wanted. The facilities here are something I’d never get the chance to use anywhere else. I’ve found my direction working in 16mm documentary and hand processing, so I really understand the process and medium of film. It offers ways of telling a story you can’t get with digital, however good you are at postproduction. I work with digital film for external work, though. Because the College is relatively small it’s very intimate and you have access to all its facilities. Tutors from all subjects are happy to help – I’ve done metalwork, silkscreen and an interdisciplinary project that fed lots of new ideas into my film practice.
Tom Kirkman : Film 84
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Tom Kirkman shot his graduation show retro-documentary ‘Paraiso’ on Panchromatic surveillance film with a Bolex 16mm camera and hand developed and edited it using the College’s Steenbeck flat-bed bench. ‘The film itself was a meditation on “celluloid” as a lost medium, culminating,’ he explains, ‘in an examination of aesthetics, tactility and the relevance of endangered processes.’ The stills (left) are from a film he made for River Cottage to celebrate local producers. Other projects have included Streetdance Factory, Prime Skatepark and various mountainboard events.
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Film and Media Production Foundation Degree 2 years full-time; 4 years part-time UCAS: W690
Film and Media Production is a dynamic, vocationally focused programme based on learning by doing. It immerses students in a range of creative practices and technical processes, and in a variety of professional roles and contexts, while providing a thorough grounding in the history and theoretical study of film and media production. You’ll become a highly skilled, innovative and versatile film and video practitioner equipped to work in appropriate professional filmmaking contexts. You’ll develop a portfolio of technical skills to enable you to undertake diverse external projects, work placements and live briefs, and to contextualise the aesthetics and technologies of film and media practice – all with the aim of contributing new ideas and talent to contemporary moving image industries. You will gain hands-on experience of key production roles, become involved in critical debates to develop your own production activities, and be given guidance on selfpromotion, marketing, distribution and exhibition. In 2012/13, our students worked on a number of commissions from external clients including The Prince’s Trust, Dame Hannah Rogers Trust, Attik Dance, and Paignton Zoo. We have a comprehensively stocked film production resource, with technologies including Super16mm and High Definition cinematography; underwater film and video; industry standard audio and lighting equipment; 5.1 Surround Sound; professional post-production facilities; and software packages including Avid Media Composers, Final Cut Pro7, and Adobe CS6.
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Progression is possible on to a BA (Hons) Top up year in a related subject.
Our graduates become: directors/producers production managers location managers assistant directors cinematographers/ videographers production designers screenwriters film editors assistant editors film/broadcast camera operators lighting engineers underwater film specialists production assistants production / post-production runners
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Kan Esmer was inspired by Sergio Leone’s film Once Upon a Time in the West to recreate the suspense of a Western for his film Kesinti which he had the opportunity to shoot in Turkey. He won Best Film Award in the prestigious Primecuts Film Festival.
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an all-girl team rises above industry expectations
We’ve been working collaboratively this year and we’re comfortable sharing our opinions. Jemma does pre-production and camera, Leah manages production, camera, sound and post-production and Lucy edits. We did a live job for a client which taught us a lot about organisation and communication skills and how to negotiate timings. Even these days, an all-girl team is a bit unusual in the male world of film production – you can be talked down to by a bunch of guys, but we’ve learned to toughen up. We’re going on to the BA (Hons) Top up year next and plan to carry on working together as well as doing individual projects. If you’re interested in a variety of film genres this is a good course. One of the best things is the access to equipment. We can work with all formats, not just digital, including 8mm and 16mm, and we’re taught how to process film stock and use an editing bench. It brings everyone up to a certain level, and working with such a wide range of people with different experience is good practice for real life.
Leah, Jemma and Lucy made a film Resurgam to document the meaning of the Latin word: ‘I shall rise again’ for the people of Plymouth. It documents the life and times of a local church. They have formed a crew called Tertiam Media, and have undertaken a number of professional, externally commissioned projects. Resurgam is their final piece for the course.
Lucy Sutcliffe, Jemma Cleave, Leah Mead : Film and media production 88
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Fine Art BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W101
Fine Art continues to be the vehicle for radical argument and originality, reverberating with all of the arts. Our twin pathway programme will encourage you to develop an energetic, diverse and discursive approach to your art making and to see it in a social and cultural context. Our aim is to ensure that as a professional fine artist you will secure yourself a viable and visible position in the art world, drawing on the range of creative practices, critical insights and professional skills developed on the programme. The emphasis of the programme is on the development of a conceptual context and a curatorial approach. Critical thinking and analysis are at the core. Our team consists of a range of tutors and a programme leader who are all practising artists and curators. We also have a dynamic visiting lecturer programme to introduce you to practising international artists and curators.
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BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W100
Our graduates become: academic researchers arts managers community workshop leaders creative consultants creative events managers curators fine artists marketing and promotion consultants media and sound specialists science and art collaborators self-employed arts practitioners web and interactive designers
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Third-year student Jess Young says, ‘I’ve been really happy on this course. I took a module in curation and that experience has been important, even though I chose the Fine Art route. I’ve come out more rounded as an artist. I only applied for courses near the sea! I’m working mostly in film at the moment. I’ve always used mixed media and performative actions, and that has led me to film. I work very low tech, collecting imagery and collaging it, then running it through video, filming it, moving into digital, back to video. My work deals with themes of ambiguity, obscurity and the reflection of internal conflict on to an external landscape.’ Below: work by Robert L Gösi in the final 2013 Summer Degree Show in Studio 11.
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studio 11 – the perfect space to think and make art
I’ve lived in Plymouth all my life. I did the Foundation Diploma here in 2002 and the Saturday Arts Club. It was a gateway into the art world as my family had no connection to art. I started a BA (Hons) Fine Art here six years ago but it didn’t work out as my children were too young, so I came back and restarted the first year with new tutors and I’ve gained a lot of confidence. An environment like this has opened my eyes to new directions. I was thinking of going into teaching but now I’m considering being a practising artist. I don’t feel there’s any divide between students and tutors – we’re equals and the student peer crits are brilliant – you get to express yourself in a different way. This course has helped me develop my communication skills, talking and writing about my ideas. I’m using photographs of my children, my world, and work from them to make large charcoal drawings. I’ve got so many options now. Danielle Pugh : Fine Art 92
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Fine Art: Critical and Curatorial Practices BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W101
After experimenting in a wide range of media and curation during the first two years, you will be able to choose between pathways in Fine Art or Fine Art: Critical and Curatorial Practices. Both include seminars, group discussions and interdisciplinary activity to inspire and energise your work, but there is a variation in emphasis between individual making and project management and curation. Within the Critical and Curatorial Practices pathway, you can choose a more theoretical or a more practical approach according to your preferences and aptitudes. Fine Art Practice integrates critical thinking and analysis with creative work. So, for example, you’ll reconsider the stereotype of the artist as solitary worker and will be encouraged to set up various forms of collaboration to support professional networking. Critical and Curatorial Practice explores contemporary and historical models, including collaborative practices that test conventional relationships between the arts and their audiences. The analytical approach is as relevant to arts organisations and their administrators as it is to the work of independent artists and designers. Whatever choice you make, you’ll be able to bring your distinctive personal creative perspective to the issues and debates we’ll examine together.
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BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W100
Our graduates become: academic researchers arts managers community workshop leaders creative consultants creative events managers curators fine artists marketing and promotion consultants media and sound specialists science and art collaborators self-employed arts practitioners web and interactive designers
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Jack decided to study here because of the broad nature of the course and the access he’d have to facilities across the college. ‘I looked at Studio 11 and liked the space. I’ve found the curatorial route very engaging. You’re making work as well as getting the curatorial experience. Last year I did a lot with vinyl records and sound, and this year I’m working with big-back TVs as sculptural objects, and Devon is the location and subject matter for drawings and printmaking. Six of us just put on a research critique of artist as curator, called “Six empty chairs”, at a local gallery, Karst, with a College graduate who works there. We get a lot of support and help in working out what we want to achieve. We negotiate the use of studio space amongst ourselves and have all the resources we want. It’s really been a defining experience for me and I’m going on to study MA Curatorial Practices in London.’ Opposite: Jack's work in video and landscape installation has taken him to a variety of locations in the region – including these abandoned lime kilns on the Dartington Hall Estate.
Jack Parrott : Fine Art: Critical and Curatorial Practice 95
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making it and curating it
I came here to do an evening course in life drawing. I was building a house and wanted to keep my hand in by drawing. They suggested I came back as a full-time student, so I did a Foundation Diploma year first as I’d been out of education for a while. It was a brilliant thing to do. It gets you up to speed, prepares you to get the best out of your degree. This course has opened my eyes to process and to how you can have a career in the art world, making, selling, exhibiting, networking, going to shows – everything you need to take your art further. The curation side of things is as important as the art making. You can’t create art without considering curation – you make it to be seen and need to consider your audience. Locating your work is so important. My work is about the exploration of the object in space. I make large, monumental sculpture. I’ve just done a show with other students at Karst. I take building materials to other spaces.
Deirdre Dowley : Fine Art: Critical and Curatorial Practice 96
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Graphic Design BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W214
Graphic Design is an exciting, dynamic and expanding area of creative practice, and programmes like ours, which set the digital media on an equal footing with a range of experimental craft processes and encourage designers to make and model their ideas, are in high demand. The graphic design industry continues to play a vital role at every level of society, bringing clarity to the confusion of hospitals and transport systems, and style and elegance to the surface of ordinary things and to everyday life. Through our commitment to setting the core skills of visual communication, such as typography, print and hand-drawn illustration, on an equal footing with digital media and experimentation, we will encourage you to develop an individual style and identity. You will investigate and practise communicating your ideas through a range of design disciplines – from brand identity to magazine design and information graphics, to multimedia and web-based digital graphics. Our programme is recognised for its creative diversity and strong connections with industry. We promote individuality in all of our students, but we will also help you to contextualise your work intellectually in relation to international design history and practice.
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Foundation Degree 2 years full-time; 4 years part-time UCAS: W210 BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W216
Our graduates become: graphic designers digital artists art directors publishing designers website designers multimedia designers brand identity designers
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Third-year BA (Hons) student Sophie Willcox did a Foundation course in Bath before studying Graphic Design here. ‘I started off trying to avoid computers, but now I like to combine a number of methods,’ she says. ‘I make collages using textiles and sewing, then scan them into a digital format and work on them again using sewing, textiles and screen printing. The end product is a clean, flat surface with complex layering that can be used on paper or fabric or in publications. My final piece is a branding project. I’m art directing a fashion house producing scarves, packaging and print. I’d like to work in fashion when I graduate and I’ve been collaborating with fashion students to produce their fashion lookbook.’ Third-year Graphic Design student Matt Wilson developed a campaign to raise awareness of ‘conflict minerals’ – of the injustices surrounding the mining of raw materials for microelectronics in strife-torn areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Read more about the project on page 16.
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adding a third dimension
My work is mainly print-based, editorial and typographic design. I’m interested in grid systems and I’ve been exploring connections between architecture and 2D using folded paper. My thesis was on 3D urban grids. I’ve completed several live briefs in and out of college and at the moment I’m designing the publication for our show at New Designers. The course tutors are really supportive. They push you to develop your own visual style and allow you to experiment freely, offering guidance when it’s needed. I get a lot of face-time with tutors and we have our own workspace and studio. I started the course after spending five years in the Army. I was born in Plymouth and wanted to come back. The course has a good range of study areas, not just typography. It’s very open and there’s a good creative flow. You’re not pigeonholed. I did a Level 0 course which was helpful and interesting, giving lots of media to explore.
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Jamie Pearce’s interest in typography, the grid structures that underpin print design and the relationship between the two-dimensional space of graphic design and the three dimensions of architecture has drawn him into a series of experiments with folded and modular form, extending (opposite) to steelwork, plastics, textiles and the unusual qualities of watermarked and debossed Japanese papers. Explaining progress on his promotional ideas for their New Designers London show catalogue to student colleagues (above) is all part of the job. 101
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Illustration BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W220
Illustrators can educate and instruct, entertain and entice – all at the same time. Traditionally their skills have been at the service of commissioning customers: illustrators work to a brief, bringing to a client’s table imagination and conceptual thinking, along with their highly developed problem-solving skills. Our programme will introduce you to all aspects of standard professional practice, but it also encourages self-directed and authorial approaches to extend the boundaries of your visual language. Plymouth College of Art offers a rich experience across the range of illustration media and 2D, 3D and digital techniques. The output targets include traditional publishing, independent books, ‘zines and limited prints, through to the range of emerging and new media practices. The programme emphasises research, drawing and experimental image-making and modelling, delivered with excellent teaching support. We will help you to develop a culturally curious attitude that will keep you aware of contemporary trends and actively engaged in creative communities as you pursue that ‘spark’ of originality that will set you apart from the crowd.
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Foundation Degree 2 years full-time; 4 years part-time UCAS: WW21 BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: WW2C
Our graduates become: freelance/commercial illustrators (in publishing, editorial and advertising) independent publishers of graphic novels and children’s books illustrators printmakers designer-illustrators
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Bénédicte Barrett was living in London and teaching bilingual primary school children art before she moved to Plymouth, started a life drawing course and decided she’d like to make children’s books. ‘It’s been a very good experience,’ she says. I’ve learned new digital skills, developed ideas, and become more interested in environmental issues. I’ve been making some children’s books on a theme called Three Eco Cakes. They’re picture books. It’s a way of educating parents too! I draw first then scan. We have workshops in print and I’m really into self-authoring and publishing. I wanted to have the chance to develop my artistic side and I plan to carry on teaching and creating things for children.’ Opposite: Graduating illustrator Toby Allen created bookplates for Carlo Collodi’s classic children’s story Pinocchio, exploring the darker side.
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spinning stories from Denmark
I’m from Denmark but I’ve lived in England for twenty years. I was interested in art but I did teacher training in Denmark. I brought up my children and was busy with family life but always thought I’d like to do art one day, and when my son was looking for courses in illustration I realised it was something I wanted to do myself, so I did an access course and then applied here. I’m a mature student, the oldest in the class, but the young people have been amazing. I have to commute from near Exeter every day, which is manageable and actually gives me a bit of peace and quiet. An art degree is very hard work and you have to learn to deal with the pressure. The tutors have high expectations and I want to be challenged. I love contextual studies. We learned about the history of the moving image by researching and making a zoetrope. I didn’t even know how to pronounce it!
Top right: All Illustration students have the chance to investigate the possibilities of the zoetrope and its links with animation, photography, film and model making. Caroline Morgan’s zoetrope bands (opposite) led her to experiment with jointed models, printmaking and toy design.
Caroline Morgan : Illustration 104
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Painting, Drawing and Printmaking
This dynamic programme provides a contemporary learning environment for students who are excited by the prospect of a rigorous materials-based and process-driven education in art practice. You’ll study painting, drawing and printmaking and its materials and techniques, while learning the professional strategies of the art world. Based in new open-plan space, our studios are purpose-built with double height and north light. You will develop an ambitious working practice based on investigation of the material and technical possibilities of the three disciplines, driven by a comprehensive series of technical workshops and underpinned throughout by the teaching of drawing as a key component of your studio practice. You’ll also gain a thorough understanding of the key theories in contemporary art as they relate to your own emerging practice and as a springboard for live exhibitions and projects that prepare you professionally for your career. You’ll graduate with a deep understanding of your own art practice, its techniques and theories, and at the same time, you’ll have developed an ability to collaborate across other disciplines in the creative industries. We’ll teach you to reflect critically on your own professional identity as an emerging artist equipped to step forward into your creative future.
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BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time, with an option to study part-time evenings and weekends. UCAS: WWDF
Our graduates become: artists designers printmakers painters academic researchers arts managers community workshop leaders creative consultants creative events managers curators fine artists marketing and promotion consultants media and sound specialists science and art collaborators self-employed arts practitioners web and interactive designers
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Making plans
Extended Diploma students Bradley Doyle and Katie Shore are among students starting the new Painting, Drawing and Printmaking course in 2013. Bradley says: ‘I thought this was a really good opportunity to follow up my diploma studies. You can experiment in the first year and then choose to specialise in two areas. I’m from Plymouth and it would be hard to leave here and my family.’ ‘I feel welcome here,’ Katie says. ‘Three of my favourite things in one course! Everything I need is here – brilliant teaching, excellent equipment and freedom to do what I want to do with all the help I need.’
Bradley Doyle and Katie Shore : Moving up 108
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Photography BA (Hons) 3 years full-time; 6 years part-time UCAS: W645
This three-year programme will enable you to explore the nature and possibilities of photographic practice creatively and commercially. You’ll be encouraged to expand your technical expertise and to become familiar with larger formats and specialised location and studio equipment. The programme includes directed modules and assignments, but it will also help you to nurture your individual direction and to consider photography as a means of expression and an embodiment of concepts Visiting lecturers, workshops and exhibition opportunities generate advice and guidance above and beyond the structure of the programme and are a source of further enlightenment for personal direction. The BA (Hons) Top up Photography programme is for students who have completed an HND or a Foundation Degree in Photography. The key aims are to enable graduates who demonstrate excellence in terms of their technical competency, business acumen and entrepreneurialism to sustain their own practice, create an identity, build a reputation and promote and exhibit work in a range of contexts.
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BA (Hons) Top up 1 year full-time; 2 years part-time UCAS: W640
Our graduates become: art directors curators education officers film stills photographers freelance photographers journalists photographic assistants photographic technicians picture editors re-touchers researchers stock photographers teachers
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Final-year BA (Hons) student Nick White has been exploiting one of the College’s most unusual natural resources – the nearby wilderness of Dartmoor. ‘The idea has been to unlock a relatively unexplored narrative of the moor,’ he explains. ‘Not much is known about the military history. The first strand of my study looks at historic infrastructure, the second at ground studies, picturing one metre squares of earth, live bullets under ice, boot prints. It’s a nod to environmental conflicts. I make colour prints using a large format camera and film. It puts the viewer back in the realm of considered photography, it slows everything down.’ Below: his wintry study of Wickhams Target Shed SX5927591100 was picked up by Aesthetica magazine to showcase ‘10 of the Best’ UK 2013 Graduate Degree Shows.
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Top: Felicity Bell’s discovery of a Magritte-like puzzle on a Dartmoor roadside Eileen Long’s final year practice has taken her into some demanding situations and complex relationship with her subjects. After first-year work at an equine-assisted therapy centre, where she had to tackle her own fear of horses, she has been collaborating with an artist in Liskeard with breast cancer who wanted to have her treatment documented to highlight the need for greater pastoral support in Cornwall. ‘I photographed 21 women for the project,’ she explains. ‘I visited them at home and gave them complete freedom as to how they wanted to present themselves. Most chose to show their scars. It has been a genuine collaboration and has given me the opportunity to understand and explore the effects of illness through art and photography.’ Right: A detail from one of Matt Elliott’s studies of military training.
Eileen Long : Photography 112
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Commercial Photography
Whether it’s capturing the news in pictures or framing a dramatic fashion shot, commercial photography has the power to move people. This programme has been designed for the next generation of visually expressive commercial photographer. You’ll learn about fundamental photographic theory and practice as we guide you towards your career. You will be working with and alongside the staff team and members of the photographic industry. They’ll help you to develop the skills and the gain the confidence you will need to respond to client needs, while demonstrating excellent technical and professional competence. Our photographic resources, darkrooms, studios and digital suite give you access to industrial-standard specialist resources. You’ll work with real clients to build a strong, professional portfolio and develop the business acumen to survive in a fast-paced competitive industry.
Foundation Degree 2 years full-time; 4 years part-time, with an option to study part-time evenings and weekends. UCAS: W643 Progression is possible on to a BA (Hons) Top up year in a related subject.
Our graduates become: art directors artist/exhibitions curators education officers film stills photographers freelance photographers journalists photographic assistants photographic technicians picture editors retouchers researchers stock photographers teachers
Christopher Sutherland (top left, opposite) studied Photography A-level in Sussex and heard about the College courses through a friend who enthused about the darkroom facilities. ‘I’ve become particularly interested in food photography, he says. ‘I've been encouraged to make contact with clients, taught how to approach a brief and to promote myself and I’ve put together a range of skills including typography and design. I hope to go on to the BA (Hons) Top up year and to continue working with food and building up a client base. I came here as quite a timid student but now really enjoy meeting the challenge of dealing with clients and promoting my business.’ (Top right) a portrait study Christopher made as part of a project about the Devon fish industry. 114
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One of Andy Ford’s prize-winning band studies shows Josh Scogin of The Chariot in flight (more from Andy Ford over the page).
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Second-year student Andy Ford has had a glittering two years at the College, winning the runners-up prize in the Guardian Student Photographer of the Year award and being voted Live Photographer of the Year by the NME. ‘That exposure has helped me build a reputation and I’ve just been to South Africa to photograph Bring Me The Horizon on the road for the NME,’ he says. ‘I want to develop some large format portrait work alongside my commercial work and be more experimental. My direction is in editorial photography and it offers lots of opportunities.’ On this page, another of his prize winning pictures – his painterly study of the band Rat Pack.
Andy Ford : Commercial Photography 116
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MA Gallery space and research activity create a rich and diverse postgraduate community, with visiting artists and public lectures in addition to MA seminar series thinking. All Were Welcome?, a characteristically wry gouache by Chris Appleby, was included in a major exhibition of his work shown in the College Gallery in 2013.
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Postgraduate courses
We know that the arts, design and media generate significant cultural and social change out of the artefacts, experiences and services they create. Our postgraduate programme will give you profound insight into the contemporary creative landscape and empower you to work effectively from your carefully chosen place within it Our Masters programmes are structured to encourage debate, exchange and interdisciplinary collaboration. This is achieved through a combination of generic and specialist modules and a dedicated postgraduate suite used by all MA cohorts and alumni. With the benefit of extensive links with the College’s partners and networks in the City of Plymouth, the South West Region and beyond, you’ll develop new networks and partners. This high level of connectedness is achieved through affiliation with professionally focused college organisations, and through its network of partners in the creative and cultural industries, such as the Real Ideas Organisation, Plymouth Arts Centre, the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, Plymouth Media Partnership and the Plymouth Visual Arts Consortium. Specialist modules provide deep skills and knowledge relevant to your area of study.
Entry Requirements Normally a first degree of at least upper second class standard in an Art, Design, Crafts or Media discipline. Equivalent experience may be considered as alternative fulfilment of part or all of the requirement in individual cases. Judgements will be based on the relevance of previous art and design work. This programme is offered part-time as well as full-time and as such you will need to be able to commit to one or two days a week for the duration of the two-year programme. For course fees and information about bursaries, please see our website.
As a Masters student you are able to use all of our workshop, studio and teaching facilities. Your research interests and your involvement in our research into practice seminar programme will enable you to shape a fastevolving, ambitious postgraduate research culture. All students undertake a live external project to integrate creative practice, professional managerial and research skills in order to explore their potential to become a ‘change maker’. Current Masters students and our MA graduates have already developed new and diverse career portfolios combining a discipline specific creative practice with an increase in sales of work, commissions, paid research, publishing, lecturing and other income generating work as a result of the programme. Many external live projects undertaken with partner organisations or individual creative practitioners have translated into new opportunities and income.
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Perhaps it’s only to be expected from a fugitive Professor in Communication Engineering, whose papers deal with computer crime, intrusion detection, biometrics and identity authentification, that faced with a humble sewing machine needle he should have been doing extraordinary things. By reengineering needles with a barb so that they sew and unsew at the same time, MA Contemporary Crafts student Paul Reynolds has been restitching the identity of humble nylon gauze Might there be any cross-over connection between his artistic and scientific 120
investigations? ‘Maybe so – if one considers that the identity of those bits of material represents the class, and individual marks left by the handmade needle are its “bio-metric”,’ he says. ‘My activity in bio-metrics is entirely predicated on repeatability, but I need to investigate the role of chance in my textile manipulation to see how much of the artist as opposed to the machine is responsible for the outcome.’ As a ‘textile worker’, he’s found himself in a whole new world – with gender politics and the history of female labour to meditate on.
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MA Contemporary Crafts
Something fundamental about the act of making empowers the master as much as the student of craft. Craft engages the body, the head and the heart. Our programme is structured to cater for those who share this profound involvement in making and who are willing to take their practice in new directions. Studio and workshop will become your laboratory for research and experiment. Craft has an important role to play in the transition to a sustainable culture. By questioning and subverting aspects of mass-production and consumerism, the craft disciplines are generating experimental practices that are reshaping ideas about form and function. Contemporary craft focuses on the local, the personal, the marginal and the meaningful. If you would like to develop new ways of thinking and making or to deepen your knowledge of a specific process, technique or material, this programme will support you with structured research, intellectually bracing theory and innovative practice. We welcome applicants from backgrounds across contemporary and traditional craft practices, including glass, ceramics, textiles, metalwork and jewellery, bookbinding, print and multimedia.
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By re-engineering sewing needles with a barb so that they sew and unsew at the same time, MA Contemporary Crafts student Paul Reynolds has been restitching the identity of humble nylon gauze (see page 122). 122
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MA Creative Practices for Sustainability
The more depleted our planetary resources become, the greater society’s need for change-making creative practitioners who are equipped to lead the transition to a sustainable culture. This programme is for those who design by thinking and making – by hand or by digital means – and who are concerned about the upstream and downstream effects on our human, social, natural and economic capital. The programme provides you with a cross-disciplinary skill set for dealing with the challenges associated with globalisation, environmental degradation, societal inequalities, resource depletion and over-consumption. You will learn about emerging eco- and other technologies that change the way we conceive, make, distribute and sell, and you will be given insights into the ethical demands of the new marketplace. The programme is suitable for practitioners across the spectrum of design and craft disciplines. We also encourage applications from the applied, visual and fine arts and media.
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MA Critical Curatorial Practices
Boundaries between disciplines are increasingly blurred and contemporary curatorial and creative practices habitually overlap. Our Critical Curatorial Practices programme offers graduates and existing practitioners the opportunity to pursue a project-led examination of the underlying social and creative trends and, in the process, to develop and put into practice their own curatorial interests. The programme will introduce you to a range of creative curatorial issues, intentions and associated media forms supported by our international, national and local curatorial partnerships. You will individualise your learning through live projects appraised in relation to the matrix of local-global issues, interactions and opportunities that shape contemporary cultural conditions. The programme will allow you to hone your research, planning and logistical skills in a multi-faceted investigative context. You will have space, time and encouragement to explore and develop curatorial processes, tools and models appropriate to your needs. We welcome applications from all practitioners interested in the curatorial process and for whom the opportunity to participate in a live external project-based MA is attractive.
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Liana Rocha is in her first year of MA Entrepreneurship for Creative Practice. She has been developing a range of contemporary jewellery and accessories based on the theatrical and historical subculture of SteamPunk, which reappropriates symbolic materials, chains, clockwork and leather.
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MA Entrepreneurship for Creative Practice
This Masters programme is for creative practitioners and graduates who want to accelerate their existing practice, find a new direction or start a new enterprise. It is structured to deliver concrete outcomes that can immediately be applied to your practice, rigorously testing your critical and entrepreneurial awareness. The entrepreneurial landscape is fast changing as we re-define the traditional boundaries, perceptions and definitions of the ‘entrepreneur’ for the 21st Century. The course will challenge your intellectual, practical and creative ambitions by providing you with opportunities to showcase your work and undertake live external projects in arts and business organisations. You will be encouraged to experiment, to stretch and transform your practice with interdisciplinary creative thinking in a real world environment. Visiting lecturers and our network of industry and creative entrepreneurs provide an experiential platform to nurture and nourish your practice. The course is equally suitable for those who want to develop their career as a self-employed practitioner, as a creative entrepreneur within an organisation, or in a combination of the two as part of a ‘portfolio’ career approach.
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Ash Lawley is using his Entrepreneurship for Creative Practice MA to develop into a commercial proposition the urban graffiti light installations that featured in his third-year BA (Hons) Graphic Design experiments. This example, which was presented on the College foyer big screen – a fast changing showplace for new work – illuminates the lost world beneath the city's Marsh Mills traffic interchange. 127
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When Jonathan Brok started his MA Entrepreneurship for Creative Practice he considered himself an abstract photographer. Last year he branched out into documentary video, following the development of Peter Oswald and Sophia Clist’s’s Cultural Olympiad dance-theatre event, The World at Your Feet, about migration. This year he consolidated that political interest in an interactive non-linear ‘i-Doc’ about the life of his Latvian grandfather – focusing on his escape from Russian hands at the end of the Second World War and his journey to England. The picture shows the title shot of his grandfather as a teenage soldier. 128
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MA Photography
Contemporary approaches to photography demonstrate that the subject and practice, defined in respect of its significance in marking the industrial age, is becoming an increasingly expanded visual discipline. Photographic practitioners are continually testing and breaking the boundaries of the medium and eroding the edges of the somewhat formal and established constraints of the subject. By doing so, they are helping us to develop our understanding of what photography is, and also what it can do, in relation to its past, its omnipresence in our everyday lives and in its privileged and dominant position within creative, social and cultural practices. This MA encourages you to consider the place of photography in contemporary society, in terms of the production, distribution and consumption of photographic images, and through your research and practice to shape the subject in terms how photography is utilised and will be interpreted in the future. The programme allows you access to our excellent photographic and other specialist facilities, and provides you with a platform that engenders the development of your creative and professional practice. We welcome applications from those who aspire to become photographers who want to affect change in a range of contexts. These may include independent photographic practitioners, documentary photographers, archivists, curators, researchers, writers and educators.
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How it all works
Our Higher Education courses
The taught Masters programme
We offer two kinds of undergraduate Higher Education programmes - a three-year BA Honours or a two-year Foundation Degree. Some subject programmes offer both versions, with the option of a third ‘Top up’ year to convert a Foundation Degree into a BA (Hons). In all cases there is a part-time option of twice the length (six years for the BA; four years for the Foundation Degree; a two-year Top up).
Normally a first degree of at least upper second class standard in an Art, Design, Crafts or Media discipline. Equivalent experience may be considered as alternative fulfilment of part or all of the requirement in individual cases. Judgements will be based on the relevance of previous art and design work. This programme is offered part-time as well as full-time, and as such you will need to be able to commit to one or two days a week for the duration of the two-year programme. For course fees and information about bursaries, please see our website.
Flexible part-time study - new in 2013-14 We’ve introduced some flexible degrees studied part-time during evenings and weekends to suit your work and family commitments. The degree models have their own syllabus and points of emphasis, but there are a number of common qualities derived from our ethos. So, whichever course you choose, we give these guarantees: • we place a high value on ‘hands-on’ making • we offer you all the personal contact time with tutors you need • we teach traditional ‘analogue’ skills alongside digital ones and will encourage you to use them inventively in combination • we won’t fence you in: our approach is multifaceted and cross-disciplinary • we’ll help you develop your powers of critical insight and cultivate your individual talent • we’ll make sure your intellectual pursuits lead you towards real, creative employability 130
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BA (Hons) Degrees
Foundation Degrees
Our BA Honours programme has a consistent structure and direction. The first year is an introduction to processes and materials and to the differences, for example, between working as a freelance maker or as part of a professional team or for industry. You’ll also be introduced to contemporary issues and conceptual approaches. Across the range of programmes, you’ll develop visual awareness and communication skills. There is often a ‘Drawing Development’ module that puts a range of visualising processes at your disposal. Drawing also includes digital 2D and 3D modelling, and online networking.
Two year Foundation Degrees are designed more specifically to meet the everyday professional requirements of potential employers. The focus is more vocational.
The second year builds on these foundations and you’ll concentrate on refining your creative practice by working on live briefs, undertaking work placements or preparing for internships. It’s an ideal time to explore the potential of cross-disciplinary approaches in the studio, seminar and workshop before beginning your third-year review of your practice. You’ll continue to refine your practice in your final year and have the opportunity to enhance your practical and professional skills, culminating in an exhibition at the annual Summer Degree Show and at national student shows such as New Designers.
Take our Commercial Photography course (see page 116) as an example. Professional bodies such as the Association of Photographers and industrial manufacturers such as Nikon have been involved in preparing and delivering the curriculum, with the twin aims of encouraging talented people of all ages into a career in photography. Courses also cover key communication, problem-solving and teambuilding skills. If you’ve already embarked on a career but are able to study part-time, the Foundation Degree experience will create new opportunities and improve your earning potential. A Foundation Degree is equivalent to the first two years of a BA (Hons) Degree (240 credits) and is a qualification in its own right. Your qualification Plymouth College of Art is a fully accredited partner institution of the Open University (OU). Our BA (Hons) and Masters awards, validated by the Open University, are a hallmark of academic quality that guarantees the international currency of your qualification.
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Finding your course
This chart shows all of the Higher Education programmes we offer. Level 0 or Foundation Diploma will prepare you for degree level study – BA (Hons) and Foundation Degrees – leading to taught postgraduate Masters programmes.
BA (Hons) 3 year Degree
Animation
UCAS W61M p 42
Design for Games
UCAS W281 p 46
Contemporary Crafts
UCAS W702 p 50
Ceramics
UCAS J311
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design p 34
Glass
UCAS W771 p 58
Jewellery and Silversmithing
UCAS W722 p 62
Level 0 Extended Degree p 38
Printed Textile Design and Surface Pattern* UCAS W231 p 66
These one year courses provide an entry level introduction to all of our Foundation Degree and BA (Hons) Degree courses. UCAS codes can also be found on our website
p 54
Fashion
UCAS W290 p 70
Fashion Media and Marketing*
UCAS NW52 p 74
Costume Production and Associated Crafts
UCAS PW34 p 78
Film
UCAS W692 p 82
Film and Media Production
Programmes marked with an asterisk* are subject to validation.
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Fine Art
UCAS W101 p 90
Fine Art: Critical and Curatorial Practice
UCAS W101 p 94
Graphic Design
UCAS W214 p 98
Illustration
UCAS W220 p 102
Painting, Drawing and Printmaking
UCAS WWDF p 106
Photography
UCAS W645 p 110
Commercial Photography
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BA (Hons) 1 year Top up
Foundation Degree
UCAS W616 p 42 UCAS W280 p 46
UCAS WG26 p 46
UCAS W703 p 50
UCAS W701 p 50
UCAS J310
p 54
Masters programmes p 118 The College offers two-year part-time or one-year full-time postgraduate taught courses following any BA (Hons) Degree course or equivalent professional experience. All are designed to support and nurture your creative practice.
MA Contemporary Crafts
UCAS W770 p 58
MA Creative Practices for Sustainability
UCAS W721 p 62 UCAS W233 p 66 UCAS W230 p 70
UCAS WN22 p 70
MA Critical Curatorial Practices MA Entrepreneurship for Creative Practice MA Photography
UCAS W620 p 82 UCAS W690 p 86 UCAS W100 p 90 UCAS W100 p 94 UCAS W216 p 98
UCAS W210 p 98
UCAS WW2C p 102
UCAS WW21 p 102
UCAS W640 p 110 UCAS W643 p 114
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How to apply
Portfolios and interviews Your UCAS application will tell us about your qualifications and previous experience, but studying the arts is about more than can be captured on forms. We need to find out about your creative potential, abilities and idiosyncracies so we will invite you to show us a portfolio of your work. It’s a chance to tell us about your aspirations and is also a good moment to find out what we can offer you. We can also arrange Skype or Facetime sessions to suit you. Full-time applications Please apply through UCAS for any of our fulltime degree courses. This can be done online at www.ucas.com. There are deadlines in January and March each year, but the UCAS application cycle will still be open after this date, depending on the number of course vacancies we have. Part-time applications If you would like to study part-time, or are applying for the Foundation Diploma, you should apply direct using a College application form. You can apply online under the courses section of www.plymouthart.ac.uk
Entry requirements We recognise the value of a variety of qualifications and relevant experience and welcome applications from students who have followed less traditional routes. Please refer to the information below for our usual entry requirements and visit individual course pages on our website www.plymouthart.ac.uk for more. Also consult the Tariff Table on the UCAS website www.ucas.ac.uk Unless we say otherwise on the pages where each course is described, these are our entry requirements: • BA (Hons) and Foundation Degree A portfolio and a minimum of 200 UCAS points earned through Art and Design Foundation Diploma; A-levels; BTEC Extended DiplomaMMP grade VDA: AGNVQ, AVCE, AVS; Access to HE Art and Design; Irish/Scottish Highers/Advanced Highers; International Baccalaureate or other international qualifications. Applications are welcome from candidates without formal qualifications who can provide evidence of their creativity. • BA (Hons) Top up A portfolio plus 240 credits earned through completion of a Foundation Degree, HND or the first two years of a degree.
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Advisory interviews If you need more information than you can find in this prospectus or on our website, please ask us to arrange an advisory interview. A specialist member of the Admissions Team will talk to you about the areas of art and design that may be suitable for you and how to develop your portfolio for interview. Bring along any work you would like to show us, and come with a family member if you wish. To book an advisory interview call 01752 203434 or email infoservices@pca.ac.uk Equality and diversity We welcome applications from all sectors of the community of whatever age, gender, sexual orientation or ethnic background. Our student population is extremely diverse and it is important to us that every student is able to realise their full potential in an environment free from discrimination, harassment or victimisation. We are also pleased to receive applications from individuals with disabilities. If you have a learning difficulty or disability and would like to discuss the options available to you, please email learning disability@pca.ac.uk
Overseas applications Our Admissions Team is here to help you prepare for your stay and give you practical advice about living in the UK. We publish a guide for international students which highlights practical issues and lists organisations to contact for more help. For information please email international@pca.ac.uk . All international applications for undergraduate degree programmes need to be made through the University and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS). Please see page 134 and refer to our website for more information about fees, English language requirements, student visas and how to apply: www.plymouthart.ac.uk If you are a European or overseas student, we might ask you to submit your portfolio online or by post rather than attend an interview. Please contact Admissions for further information.
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What it costs These fees were correct when the prospectus went to press in August 2013. Please always check our website for the latest information. Masters £4,930 for 1 year full-time (at least 2 formal study days a week) or 21 months part-time (1 formal study day a week). Fees can be paid in instalments of £480 pcm for the oneyear full-time course or £240 pcm over 20 months for the part-time course. BA (Hons)/Foundation Degree £9,000 pa For current HE students continuing into their 3rd or BA Top up year the fee for 2013/14 is £3,465. The fee for part-time Higher Education programmes is calculated on a credit basis at a cost of £75 per credit. For example a 10 credit module would cost £750. Level O £6000.
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How we’re going to help you make it happen
Funding your studies
If you study part-time…
Education is an investment for life, not only financially but also personally and socially. Having a degree improves your chances of employment. Graduates earn more than nongraduates over their life span.
We want to make our courses accessible to everyone and are developing part-time courses based on evening and weekend study. And remember:
You won’t have to pay up front for your tuition fees, and you won’t have to pay back your loan until you are earning over £21,000 a year. This threshold figure is linked to inflation. If you study full-time… You may be entitled to a grant towards living costs, such as food, accommodation and travel. If your family income is below a certain level, you will also be entitled to a partial grant. And you won’t have to pay back any grants you receive. For more information, please visit www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance. If you study full-time, you may be eligible for a loan towards your livings costs. These are called Maintenance Loans and are only repayable when you are earning £21,000 a year.
• You will be eligible for a loan towards firstdegree tuition as long as you complete a minimum of 25% of the full-time course load per year. (Part-time students are not eligible for Maintenance Loans or grants.) • A National Scholarships Programme provides £6,000 fee remission (you only pay £3,000) if your household income is below £25,000. For an application form, please contact Student Support on 01752 203423. • A College Prize Scheme provides three awards each of £9,000 and £4,500 awards on the basis of past academic achievement, portfolio and presentation at interview. There is no household earnings limit. For an application form, please contact Student Support on 01752 203423.
Please see our website for up-to-date fee information before you submit your UCAS application. There are also details of discounts for graduates of Plymouth College of Art, so call us if you need help calculating or planning your finances. Call us on 01752 203434 if you need more advice. Also please visit: www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance www.slc.co.uk www.ucas.com 137
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Making the living easy
Accommodation We want to make sure you are comfortable, happy and safe in your surroundings during your studies. As well as collecting information for you from private landlords we also work closely with UNITE whose purpose-built accommodation provides a home to 42,000 students in the UK’s bigger university cities. Our agreement with UNITE means that most of our students can be housed on the same floor of student buildings and can mix and make friends easily.
Student support services Our Student Hub offers a wide range of support services, including advice and guidance on funding, careers, learning and disability support and health and wellbeing. For information on extra financial help and support for disabled students, please visit www.direct.gov.uk and search Disabled Students Allowance. To chat to someone on our team please contact us on 01752 203476.
UNITE owns and manages five properties in Plymouth. Discovery Heights and Central Point have secure fob-entry systems, on-site laundry and are just a few minutes from the College. If you choose private accommodation, we’ll give you up-to-date information from a range of letting agents in the City. You can download an accommodation information sheet for an overview of providers and accommodation prices in Plymouth from http://tinyurl.com/ozn6xnz Don’t hesitate to get in touch to talk through your options.
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For her first year as a Contemporary Crafts BA student, Natalie Franklin has been living in a six-student unit at Discovery Heights, one of the national student accommodation provider, unite’s five Plymouth properties. ‘It’s safe, friendly, comfortable and right in the middle of a great city,’ she says. ‘I was offered a range of options, including sharing with two or three or taking a studio apartment, and I filled in a questionnaire about food and drink preferences – so I feel well-matched and secure. The reception staff are very helpful and there’s an on-site security and maintenance team. I chose the course for its broad first year – I’m particularly interested in glass.’
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Where to find us
M4
Reading London
Bristol M3 M5
A303
Taunton Exeter A38
Plymouth
we are here
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Keeping in touch with us
Plymouth is the gateway to the South West. Cornwall is just across the Sound, Dartmoor is a few minutes drive and the beautiful beaches and scenery of the South Hams and East Cornwall are on the doorstep. The city is served by a main First Great Western rail link to London Paddington and by Cross Country trains north to the Midlands and Scotland. There are frequent local services to Newton Abbot, Torbay, North Cornwall and North Devon.
Plymouth College of Art Tavistock Place Plymouth PL4 8AT +44 (0)1752 203 434 admissions@pca.ac.uk www.plymouthart.ac.uk
@plymouthart
/PlymouthCollegeofArt
The M5 motorway from Bristol continues from Exeter to Plymouth as the A38 Expressway, giving uninterrupted motorway access to the city from London, Wales, the North and Scotland. Exeter airport is less than an hour away and there are ferry services from the Plymouth International Ferryport to France, Spain and Ireland.
Prospectus designed by Julie Depledge and Kevin Mount (studio@kevinmount.co.uk). Unless credited otherwise, the photographs of students talking about the College were taken by Kate Mount during the 2013 summer term. Cover shows artwork by Jamie Pearce. Printed, bound in Plymouth by Pepper Communications.
National Express coaches travel to Plymouth bus station from many areas of the UK. Disclaimer At the time of production, the information within this document is believed to be a true and accurate record. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information is up to date and a true reflection of the College. However, some changes may have been made since publication. We reserve the right to make such changes for reasons of operational efficiency and in response to circumstances outside of our control. This prospectus is a guide to the College and in no way forms a contract between the student and the College.
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Plymouth College of Art Tavistock Place Plymouth PL4 8AT +44 (0)1752 203 434 enquiries@pca.ac.uk www.plymouthart.ac.uk
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