Department of Fine ART Autumn/Winter 2014
Fine Art Newsletter Welcome!
Kent Fine Art Graduate wins PLATFORM 2014 Award
Fine Art at the University of Kent
Congratulations to Sophie Dixon (Kent Fine Art graduate, 2014) who
continues to go from strength to
recently won the prestigious PLATFORM 2014 Graduate Award. Sophie
strength.
(pictured below, going up to receive her award) was chosen out of five
With great results in the recent Guardian League Tables 2015, new facilities and equipment, a superb line-up of internationally renowned visiting artists, a successful interim show and one of our Fine Art graduates winning the prestigious PLATFORM 2014 Prize and much, much more; we are having a great year! We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter, which tells you about some of these developments and gives you a flavour of our department. Steve Klee Lecturer in Fine Art & Fine Art Admissions Officer mfaadmissions@kent.ac.uk
shortlisted graduate artists, each nominated from one of five participating South East visual arts organisations. As this year’s award winner, Sophie received a £2,500 bursary from Platform and a year of mentoring from an experienced art professional. The Platform Graduate Award aims to support graduate professional development and nurture emerging talent from universities and colleges in the South East region, working as part of CVAN South East. Working with video, Sophie Dixon explores the complex dialogues created between ourselves and our external environment, dialogues which are constantly reshaped as we traverse the fragile spaces of memory to find our own sense of belonging in the present. www.sophie-dixon.com
Fine Art
Ranking Art & Design at the University of Kent has recently polled very impressively in the Guardian University guide 2015 league table. We are ranked in the top ten University Art departments in the UK, which speaks volumes for the investment made by the University and the dedication of the entire staff team to make this a high quality and student-centered Fine Art course. The University of Kent also scored highly and remains one of the top 20 HE institutions in the UK.
“Imitation #1” by Nadeen Abdalla, Final Year Fine Art student SHOWROOM interim show 2014
Interim Show Winter 2014 In preparations the 2015 undergraduate Fine Art Degree Show our final year students this year have already exhibited new work at their interim show having created a pop-up gallery within a large vacant retail space during December. Fine Art student Georgina Wilcox commented that “this ‘work-in progress’ student collaboration was an opportunity to test prospective ideas, challenge our practice and respond to the physicality of the space we were inhabiting”. This practice run also gave the students further insight into the mechanisms of the public show including venue selection, advertising, fundraising, curation and of course the Private View. Supported by Lecturer in Fine Art and final-year lead Tim Meacham, the group-show titled SHOWROOM was a great success and promises great things for the Final Degree Show in May 2015. The exhibition featured work in painting, site responsive installation, sound, sculpture, photography and video. For updates about FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2015 see www.kent.ac.uk/smfa All newsletter recipients and applicants for 2015 entry will receive an invitation to our 2015 Degree Show.
Fine Art
WELCOME TO NEW STAFF The Department of Fine Art at Kent has been delighted to welcome two new members of staff to the team this year. Dr Andrew Conio (top right) is a writer and artist. His moving image and script writing explores subjectivity and he writes on a range of topics from language to the moving Image, from economics to painting and has published in a range of academic journals. He currently leads the Fine Art team and contributes to modules including Practice and its Publics. Adam Chodzko (right) is an artist whose multidisciplinary practice explores the interactions and possibilities of human behaviour, in the gap between how we are and how we could be. Exhibiting work nationally and internationally since 1991, working across media, from video installation to subtle interventions, and with a practice that partly is sited within the gallery space and partly within the wider public realm, Chodzko’s work explores our collective imagination by wondering how, through the visual, we might best engage with the existence of others. Adam runs the MA and contributes to the lens-based pathway in the Fine Art degree programme. www.adamchodzko.com
VISITORS The School of Music and Fine Art has welcomed a number of acclaimed professional artists this term as part of our Visiting Artists Talks programme. Artists give a detailed presentation of their work, share their experiences and may also give one-off tutorials. These talks provide a fascinating insight into the practice and work of fellow artists. The artists participating in this programme this term have included Kirsten Glass (‘Collage 1’, pictured right), Jananne Al-Ani, Hayley Newman, Hannah Rickards and Fiona Boundy.
Fine Art
NO PLACE LIKE HOME Our Fine Art students are now all housed within the Engineering Workshop on the Historic Dockyard. In addition to three large refurbished studio spaces, the Engineering Workshop includes a large digital printer & scanner, dark room and a photographic studio, equipped with lights and a green screen backdrop.
KENT CULTURAL BATON The School of Music and Fine Art has recently secured the long-term loan of a rare 1950’s
Get in touch!
converted Air stream caravan. This is a mobile exhibition / performance / workshop space that
If you have any questions or would like further information,
will extend student activity beyond the studio, in
please contact us:
order to engage with the wider Kent community.
School of Music & Fine Art The Old Surgery University of Kent, Chatham Historic Dockyard Kent ME4 4TZ tel: +44 (0)1634 888980 email: MFAAdmissions@kent.ac.uk www.kent.ac.uk/fineart Twitter: @UniKentMFA