FINE ART 2019
university of sunderland
fine art University of sunderland
degree show catalogue 2 0 1 9
2019 Fine artists Jess Avery . Liam Beaney . Connor Bell . Abigail Betteney . Jordan Butler . Kirsty Charlton . Areti Chatzipavlou . Jean ColdwelL . Holly Cowan . Lauren Crane . Tamas Csanak . Caitlin Daley . Brett Dickson . Sharon Douglas . Danielle Gales . ALEXANDRA GOULD . Sarah Hedley . Krysta Hudspith .Connor Jackson Sharp.Rachel Jefferson.Hannah Johnston . alex Jones . Karen Kaveney . Davika Kergon . Kate Kneen . Laura Lambton . Lorraine Lawler . Chris Leedham . Sophie-Anne Mitcheson . Heidi Moorfoot . Rayanne Noble . Andrew Parkin . Shaun Pemberton . Emma-Louise Phillips . Philipa Popay . Pamela Pygall . Brett Richardson . Kevin Rudkin . Linzi Saunders . Ines Bento Serrano . Charlotte Stewart . Emily Thurlow. Dara De Melo. Emma Wallace. Jessica Watson . Shannon Waugh . Cheyenne Williams . Katherine Wright .
Studio to Public Show
The Fine Art BA Hons Degree show celebrates a wealthy plethora of creative practice. For many of our students this is their first major public exhibition. A time to step back and applaud the outcomes of many hours spent working in their studios. The exhibition also represents a significant transition in an artist’s practice as work leaves the secure studio for an exposed public space. This is a move away from the familiar working environment and a departure from a busy studio space shared with lecturers, technicians and fellow artists. As the painter and printmaker Philip Guston said of the studio “there are a lot of people in there with you”. The degree show breaks free from this space. The public exhibition has the excitement of a stage debut, where work has to stand alone and speak for itself. Importantly the exhibition offers our graduating artists a new experience, the chance just to look, from outside the making environment of the studio, simply now to observe and savour their work from an audience gallery perspective. The Fine Art programme at the University of Sunderland introduces and expands critical understanding of Fine Art study, through an emphasis on studio centred practice, theoretical debate and live outcomes. All students are allocated generous sized individual studios with access to additional project spaces and excellent well equipped workshops in digital, printmaking, woodwork and metalwork. The overall aim of the programme is to help students build an individual artist practice, helping towards making a living within the broad Creative Arts Industry in the 21st Century. The Artist Tess Jaray describes her Art school experience “as learning to understand a real seriousness behind the making of art, and what it might mean to spend one’s life believing in its importance in the company of others who felt the same”. The programme’s focus is to prepare graduates to go confidently equipped with the skills and the knowledge required to succeed in whatever art-related practice career they wish to pursue. So congratulations to all our students with the launch of the 2019 Fine Art Degree show. Peter Wolland, Programme Leader, BA(Hons) Fine Art
Jess Avery
email: jess_94@live.co.uk Instagram: @jesslouavery Artist statement
I have been inspired by the symbology found in the illustrations of tarot cards, particularly the recurring theme of animals. Using paint and colour to investigate the forms of animals led me to think of how humankind apply meaning to animals, and how this can help communicate both personal feelings or political ideas. After exploring interpretations of the household cat and other animals, I began to take the direction of my work away from tarot cards, trying to find a way to include other subjects I feel strongly about. Looking at Andy Warhol’s ‘Endangered Species’ series of animal prints inspired me to investigate the ways in which I could take subjects and inject messages into my work, alongside and in contrast to the domestic animals that lots of people draw comfort from.
Dissertation title: Memes as Contemporary Art, The Internet as a Gallery Space
‘Obi’ acrylic paint on paper 90 x 100 cm
Liam Beaney
email: beaneybeaney9@hotmail.com Instagram: @beaneyart Artist statement
My work is cathartic, allowing me to express my thoughts of negative energy in a creative way. The negativity caused from past personal experiences, but also from recent events in the media. I have started paying more attention to what is happening in the world around me. When, creating my work I have a topic and an argument in mind. I portray my feelings and opinions using a magazine collage format, then digitally editing the collage so the mood of the argument is captured. The mood of some pieces can be quite dark and unpleasant including topics such as bigotry, animal testing and mental health. However, I also want my art to showcase the brighter future I envision for the world. Not only is my work a reflection of the world, it is also a reflection of who I am.
Dissertation title: Why has LGBT+ identity been so controversial in Fine Art, and how have the artworks created by queer artists differed over time?
Untitled paper collage 29 x 21 cm
Connor Bell
email: connorlydon@hotmail.co.uk Artist statement
The exploration of human anatomy was the driving factor in my project, the power and miracles the human body is capable of was what I wanted to symbolise. The concept for my process was developing interesting pieces referring to the wonders of medicine and functions of the human form. I used the organs as a starting point of experimenting by demonstrating the statement of everyone has the same organs but everyone has a talent or gift that makes them different. I proceeded with pursuing the untapped potential of the human body and constantly evolved my work to a more symbolic statement. I was fascinated with the internal organs and the sheer importance of their purpose. The heart, liver, lungs, kidneys etc, was used by involving literature into my work with writers like Edgar Allen Poe, H.P Lovecraft, Ernest Hemingway.
Dissertation title: The influence of Leonardo da Vinci’s prestigious works in Milan during his time and its significance during societies evolution of the modern day 21st century
The Beating Heart ink on bristol paper 30 x 21 cm
Abigail Betteney email: abibetteney1@hotmail.co.uk Instagram: @abis_artbook Artist statement
My artwork stems from trying different ways to manipulate a simple portrait of the head and shoulders. I have developed a series of expressive paintings, sculptures and drawings of these heads often depicting different emotions or phrases. Some even involve insults and swear words in many different languages to maximise shock factor. I also create little clay face pieces, which were fun to make using different expressions and colours, which I decided to give away for free to anyone who wanted one as it tends to make people happy when they receive one. My latest sculptures take a bit of a different turn, exposing what some people want out of life as their biggest flaw. These ideas are expressed in my sculptures through the depiction of the seven deadly sins, which show characteristics that represent each sin. My entire body of work this year was largely inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat and his Neo-expressionist pieces.
Dissertation title: Are celebrities and creative people in the public eye more prone to drug abuse?
The Desire Within acrylic paint on wood 32 x 28 cm
Jordan Butler
email: jordanbutler2015@outlook.com Artist statement
The subject of my work explores a contemporary vision through a series of sculptures, inspired by various ancient mythological stories. It is a series that expresses my passion for mythology and depicts my favourite myths and creatures. My sculptural pieces are constructed using a variation of mediums including recycled wire, newspaper and natural materials, such as sticks, leaves, tree bark and reeds. Working on a larger scale allows me to add more intricate detailing to my final sculptures, making them individually unique. The colours I have chosen are bold and signature to my previous work, using specific bright and intensifying colours match the distinct mythical themes. Overall the materials, colours and mythical themes create a contrast of emotion, allowing the viewers to create their own perception on the idea of myth and what it can entail.
Dissertation title: Mythology: In The World Of Contemporary Art
Untitled found objects 180 x 60 x 60 cm
Kirsty Charlton Artist statement
My work explores the influences my family have had upon my life whilst growing up, and how this has made a bigger impact upon me than I initially thought, contributing to who I am today. Different art pieces all link to family, whether it be immediate or other members. I live in my mother’s house with my step dad and step brother, so I am constantly surrounded by family. My ideas have developed through trial and error, using materials such as cardboard, photographs and paint. I have referred to many artists work including Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, Vasily Zvyozdochkin for his Russian dolls and Marjolaine Ryley for her photographic images of family objects. I also like to recycle parts of work from previous ideas, incorporating them into new pieces to make them more interesting and refined.
Untitled acrylic paint on canvas 60 x 50 cm
Areti Chatzipavlou email: aretoula_95@yahoo.gr Artist statement
I work with both painting and sculpture, often taking ideas from one medium to the other. I am interested in materials and colours, collecting everyday recyclable materials that can be found at home such as plastic bottles or general plastic waste and cardboard boxes. Usually I work in a series, pushing myself to find new compositions and elements to attach to the paintings and sculptures, in order to present an awareness about environmental pollution, with the help of abstract organic forms and curved shapes that come to life with the use of colour. Accepting every mistake as part of my practice, I connect painting and sculpture using different methods but within the same concept of using or reusing recyclable materials. I express my feelings or a situation that comes from within me in order to create a vibrant and dramatic sense.
Dissertation title: The Beginning Of Abstract Expressionism And The Use Of Art For Governmental And Corporative Interests.
Plastic Sea plastic, gesso, acrylic paint on canvas 50 x 25cm
Jean Coldwell Artist statement
My subject is landscape painting inspired by my passion for walking in the countryside, especially the Lake District. My imagination is captured by seeing how the scenery reflects contrasting light conditions created by the ever-changing weather. The paintings I create are an emotional response to nature. I use acrylic paint on canvas and sometimes like incorporating collage. Collage can add extra texture to my composition defining the character of a subject’s surface. By using bold brush strokes and a vibrant contrasting palette of rich earthy colours, I recreate the atmospheric conditions I have experienced, allowing me to capture the sensory qualities that the natural environment brings to mind. I am currently focusing on the close-up detail of an image which helps portray the mood of the elements, thus allowing me to feel the energy and vibrancy of the landscape being depicted.
Dissertation title: An Examination Into The Cultural Importance Of Walking and The Impact It Has Had On Contemporary Art
Untitled acrylic paint on canvas 60 x 60 cm
Holly Cowan
email: hollyscowan97@gmail.com Instagram: hollycowanart Artist statement
My subject is landscape painting inspired by my passion for walking in the countryside, especially the Lake District. My imagination is captured by seeing how the scenery reflects contrasting light conditions created by the ever-changing weather. The paintings I create are an emotional response to nature. I use acrylic paint on canvas and sometimes like incorporating collage. Collage can add extra texture to my composition defining the character of a subject’s surface. By using bold brush strokes and a vibrant contrasting palette of rich earthy colours, I recreate the atmospheric conditions I have experienced, allowing me to capture the sensory qualities that the natural environment brings to mind. I am currently focusing on the close-up detail of an image which helps portray the mood of the elements, thus allowing me to feel the energy and vibrancy of the landscape being depicted.
Dissertation title: Has Electronic Media Improved Accessibility for Artists, the Public and Galleries?
Untitled acrylic yarn 41 x 33 cm
Lauren Crane Artist statement
The evaluation of the aesthetic and moral values of art has been debated by philosophers for many years. Ethical tensions can emerge in how we choose to show or reveal our subject matter or issues we aim to highlight through art interventions. These tensions can raise concern’s regarding issues of representation and permission of some individuals, and at what point do they become a figure of exploitation. My art work takes an analytical view on social deprivation, mental health issues but most importantly self-destruction, My work explores current pieces of work made through art forms such as realism and photography. I am very interested in how art can portray such factors as social deprivation, drug use and depression, by in many cases exploiting peoples miss fortune. I have created familiar visual installations influenced by artists such as Sally Mann, Richard Billingham and Nan Goldin. I have been applying a variety of materials and processes in each piece of work such as paint, repeat patterns and line drawings. I enjoy being able to express my interests through story telling using realistic imagery therefore have included myself and family in my work to make my work more authentic.
Untitled inkjet print 80 x 80 cm
Tamas Csanak Artist statement
Drawing and painting for me is the physical realisation and representation of my thoughts and feelings. I tried to create something that is not alien to me, even in new technical approaches. Mainly my compositional skills have evolved, more courageously combining pastel and vibrant colours. Usually I use mixed street art techniques and materials like spray cans, stencils, markers, posters, stickers, etc
CA$H acrylic paint installation 230 x 600 x cm
Caitlin Daley
email: caitlin.daley97@gmail.com Instagram: caitlindaley_art Artist statement
Through the process of painting, film making and photography my work aims to show the negative impacts modernity has on youth culture. I have always been infatuated with cinematic sequences, so formulating my own stylistic touches has been very exciting. My goal is to highlight and instil an awareness and understanding of what it’s actually like to be a young person in this society, showing how issues including politics, environmental crises and social media can destroy humanity and have an impact on mental health in young people. In this postmodern age, exhaustion is the word I would use to describe young people because of the pressures forced upon them, some often turn to alcohol and smoking as coping mechanisms, or struggle in silence. I’d like to think my work acts as a ‘wake-up call’ for viewers to really think about the world they’re in right now and make them want to make changes for the better.
Dissertation title: Exploring the pivotal themes in the works of Frida Kahlo and Tracey Emin and seeing how psychoanalysis can help us better understand them.
Modernity Has Failed Us video installation dimensions variable
Brett Dickson
email: brettdickson.art@gmail.com Artist statement
The thing I adore about painting is the freedom it creates. Its allows an artist to find answers to questions while leaving them with another two questions by the end of a painting. The blue fox series within my practice are all selfportraits in my eyes. I use it as a way to look inwards. They answer the questions of why I am an artist. Who, what and which places have influenced me in my choices? They draw from my history and heritage while cloaked in a shroud of symbolism and narrative. Although I strongly believe narrative within painting adds depth in a painting I refuse to make mine obvious, allowing the public eye to read and interpret the paintings for themselves.
Dissertation title: How have artists used animals and their images to influenced art and what was the impact?
Sands of Time acrylic paint on canvas 76 x 51 cm
Sharon Douglas email: sdouglas2010@live.co.uk website: sharondouglas.weebly.com Artist statement
I had never made sculpture before, until starting work on my Fine Art Degree. My current work is based on light and transparency. Naturally I was inspired by water and the way that light effects the look of it. I decided that I wanted to try out sculpture to explore this theme. I used Epoxy resin, because you are able to colour it, shine light through it and it is mouldable. This means that I could form it into the rhythm and movement of water. I was also able to immerse items in the resin while it was still wet. This gave me texture and more surfaces to reflect light. I make my own silicone moulds to pour the resin in to. I used Vynamold, which was also an exciting product for me to experience working with. I am always wanting to learn how to use new products and technical processes. This current work has made me do that. It has well and truly made me jump out of my comfort zone. Being disabled means that it is often extremely difficult to construct sculptural works, but my passion for my work makes me determined to problem solve, until I get what I want from my chosen materials.
Dissertation application title: Painting the Light Around Britain
Untitled acrylic resin, pigment dimensions variable
Danielle Gales
email – daniellegales97@gmail.com Instagram - @stuck.in.ambivalence.art Artist statement
As an eleven-year-old, you struggle with how to understand what you’re seeing, you avoid it, you repress it. In light of this, a lot of my memories are foggy from this time period; I can no longer remember what her voice sounded like, but I remember the scars on her back from having a thoracentesis and the smell of her perfume. When creating this body of work I wanted to reflect upon my fragmented sense of memory and how the good and the bad are intertwined, but also reintroduce her to myself, by introducing her to the public using references from family photos, including videos and audio recordings from the time in her life before she was sick.
Dissertation title: How have contemporary female artists changed the perception of femininity in modern art from the 1970s in the form of radical realism and how has this paved the way for the current third wave of feminism and in turn affected 21st century art in a digital age?
untitled paper collage 45 x 65 cm
ALEXANDRA GOULD email: alexandragouldart@gmail.com Instagram : @alexandrag_art Artist statement
My artist practice explores movement and reflection of emotions and the environment through the use of fabric whilst exploring and incorporating the use of other materials and medias such as light, photography, video, audio, painting, drawing, various fabrics, reflective surfaces such as mirrors as well as items found in nature. I work on a large scale, creating site-specific installation works that often invade large areas of a space; I do this by nailing or stapling achromatic fabrics to the structural elements of a room. The use of an achromatic colour palette creates a neutral atmosphere that allows the viewer to create their own interpretation of emotions and meaning whilst the minimalistic visual aesthetic highlights the folds and shapes created within the fabric through light and shadow; this also means that I am able to re-use my materials, reducing waste.
Dissertation title: How Has The Development Of Technology In The 20th And 21st Centuries Impacted Artists?
The Nature of Fabric white muslin cloth dimensions variable
Sarah Hedley
email: sarah_hedley@outlook.com Artist statement
This year I have been looking at my relationship with personal possessions and colour. It all started when I moved out from my childhood home into my own place. I wanted to capture my bed room using acrylic paint. I started looking at still life for inspiration, particularly the works of Vanessa Bell, Mary Fedden and Giorgio Morandi. I also began looking at furnishing and interiors, inspiring me to make clay furniture such as chairs, a table and a bed. Creating these clay miniatures led me to look at the artists Alberto Giacometti, Diego Giacometti and Franz West. These artists helped me progress more sculpturally, allowing me to be more hands on with different material then I intended. Artists Milton Avery and William Scott also inspired me to collaborate my sculptures and paintings together which is where my current practise is now.
Dissertation title: Were the Bloomsbury Group a bunch of entitled bohemians who played with the arts or did they make a important contribution to British Art?
Clay Chair acrylic paint on canvas 70 x 60 cm
Krysta Hudspith Artist statement
Distortion through the use of water and light has always been a primary interest of mine, when working throughout my art practice. Reflecting light through dimensions of colour and texture and projecting figurative images was the foundation which built up my exhibition. The element of darkness was used to elevate the projection of light and colour which simplifies yet adds depth to my work, highlighting anomalies as well as the beauty within light. Leading up to the exhibition I experimented with translucent acetate with a hint of colour and used them as a filter to shine spotlights through. Using acrylic paint, I drew figurative images to block out the beam of light further projecting the shape and colour to adjacent walls. The use of mirrors as a reflective surface to refract the light created new boundaries to which light could be manipulated.
Untitled acrylic paint on mirror 30 x 30 cm
Connor Jackson Sharp
Everything Will Be Okay ink jet print 21 x 21cm
Rachel Jefferson
email: racheljefferson30@gmail.com website: racheljefferson.portfoliobox.net Instagram: @racheljefferson30 Artist statement
Perhaps dreams are just our brains processing memories or perhaps they have a deeper, supernatural meaning, whatever the reason we may never know, so we may as well just laugh at the erratic stories our minds create. My work is greatly influenced by dreams, as I believe they can reveal a lot about ourselves and are a rich source of creativity, because they give us an outsider’s perspective into our own thoughts. I like to leave the story behind each piece open to interpretation so that it encourages viewers to uses their imagination; making it an inter-actable experience. When I wake from a dream, I write them down, sketch them, and talk about them: I’ve found that after doing this regularly my dreams become more complex, and easier to remember. This allows me to make more accurate representations. I am inspired by artists such as Salvador Dali, Joan Miro and Henry Fuseli because of how they painted dreams. However, their paintings were visually very different from one another, and this motivated me to paint dreams in my own way. My reason for doing this is to create a visual display of the unconscious mind, to show the humour that can be found in our dreams and even nightmares, and to show how our dreams make us unique as no two dreams are the same.
Dissertation title: How Dreams Have Been Represented in Art and How has this influenced Artists in todays society
Title of Work acrylic paint on canvas 42 x 59 cm
Hannah Johnston Artist statement
In my paintings I love to explore different ways to show and express emotions. I create large scale figurative expressionistic paintings, using watercolours and inks. Recently I have started to create close up portraits with acrylic paint, using brighter, flatter contrasting colours, to explore emotion. I mainly work from primary source photographs, taken of peers and friends, which I then scale up to make the watercolour or acrylic paintings.
Dissertation title: Is there a right and wrong way to express emotions throughout art, like sadness?
Untitled acrylic paint on canvas 70 x 50 cm
alex Jones Artist statement
My practice focuses on contextualizing the urban experience, examining the connections between people and places; how our emotional and physical engagements differ within a space, and the ways they can be altered. Using mainly video and sound, I form installations that engulf the viewer; generating a distinct atmosphere that immerses them in unconventional ideas. This year I have investigated skateboarding as a creative practice, how it is used as a tool for free movement and expression. Being an active member of the subculture, I am interested in how skaters perceive their environment; redefining architecture through physical interaction, generating new meanings and functions for urban spaces. Situationist concepts such as psychogeography and the dérive have been highly influential in conveying these ideas, as they demonstrate that naturally engaging with a city, through its physical and emotional characteristics, can further its purpose as one that encourages creative endeavours. In the same way that painting teaches you to embrace the canvas, skateboarding teaches you to embrace the concrete; long live the wooden toy.
Dissertation title: ‘Rhizomatic’ - A Discussion of Urban Subcultures
Untitled video 3 mins.
Karen Kaveney
email: karenkaveney@outlook.com Artist statement
I am influenced by the grid street plans of New York, and through colour, space, shape, form and pattern I produce work that represents my experiences and feelings of New York. I am fascinated by using materials in my work such as wool, ribbon and wire. Through the use of different textiles like weaving, knitting and French knitting (on a spool) I am able to create an alternative outlook to my work. Creating these textiles, I have seen new patterns emerge that has enabled my work to go in a new direction. I am currently working with curves and curls that materialized from a piece of knitting I made, placed into a canvas and photographed. Colour has always been essential to my work, but since my research into colour theory it has become even more so, by looking at the many different nuances and shades of colours and how these colours merge and work together. I am working on paintings using individual colours which are influenced by Josef Albers ‘Homage to the Square’.
Dissertation title: Colour Theory: Is there such a thing or do we as individuals have our own colour palettes within us?
Blue acrylic paint on canvas 50 x 40 cm
Davika Kergon Artist statement
I am inspired by photography and the use of mixed media. I find it fascinating how artists combine different media, turning their materials into one form in one piece of art. I focus on portraiture photography, because each image has its own story. The photographs allow me to look closer at the individual and their emotions. Each piece of art has a powerful feeling of expression. I use the photograph as a base, then add paint to capture deeper emotions. I use colour and brush marks to express these emotions. The theme for my work is all about expression, masking and revealing my subjects’ individual emotions through the use of mixed media.
Untitled acrylic paint on injet print 60 x 90 cm
Kate Kneen
email: kate.kneen98@gmail.com Instagram: @kate.kneen Artist statement
Within my work practice I use a range of drawing and sculpture to create a narrative around themes of nature and culture. Derived from a focus in animal welfare, my practice is influenced by the relationships formed between animals and humans. I use case studies of scientific research to explore the importance of animals in advances in science, for example the history of the space race, and animal use in laboratory research. I create fantasised sculptures with wire and fabrics that are absurd in appearance. Representing historical events through animal form to create a fabricated reality using far-fetched historical content. The use of deliberate empty space within my drawings is designed to create a sense of loss and shared empathy between audience and represented subject. My combination of sculpture, drawing and ready-made elements such as glass bell jars, all work together to amplify the feeling of curiosity to an audience.
Dissertation title: How Can Art Be Effective as an Instrumental Tool For The Benefit Of Animal Advocacy?
Sputnik 2-5 Ink, sketchbook, readymade glass bell jar, wire, faux fur 48 x 20 x 20cm
Laura Lambton . Artist statement
Having had alopecia since I was only 1 year old, I quickly learnt just how important hair can be to many people. I want to express this to others in my work by using drawings, photographs and hair. I think it could be interesting to look at multiple aspects as it is such a broad subject; how do people express themselves through hair, people that are recognisable by their hair and hair loss. I have a long history with it in both negative and positive ways. I want to express how demeaning the treatment I experienced was; from unsettling staring at a child who was almost completely bald to the downright rude comments and questions people have directed at me in the past, all the way through to how I deal with it now entering my twenties. Overall, the experience has given me a thick skin, insults no longer harm me as I have found confidence in myself and I want people dealing with alopecia or other forms of hair-loss to find faith in my work that their journey may be hard now but they will find peace. As for those with a full head of hair, I don’t want them to pity us in anyway, I want them to think about how one small ‘subtle’ look or a seemingly ‘innocent’ question to you may be the beginning of a downward spiral into self worth and doubt for us.
Dissertation title: ‘Personal narratives in art and how they apply to the public.’
Going Bald, 2019 Biro pen on paper 30 x 21cm
Lorraine Lawler website: lorrainelawler.wordpress.com Artist statement
Having two Autistic children in my family unit, effects how we interact and communicate as an organism, how they cope in the outside world and how routine influences the everyday. Daily life must be broken down to a comprehensible form. This way of life affects my perceptions and how I grasp the concepts of simplifying forms, yet deliberately suppressing the obvious with a need to embrace a nominal feeling of emotion. I look to propagate marks onto material and surfaces; which implements a dialogue between the form of gesture and the mark made onto a material plane, consequently creating a continual investigation into exploring how the surface reacts within its space. A reduction of the form becomes non-objective and an amalgamation of both abstract and minimalistic influences are created by intuitively seeking to endeavour, to create paintings that can hold an emotion or sensation when observed by the viewer.
Dissertation title: Can Agnes Martin be categorized between Abstract Expressionism and Minimalist Methodologies?
Untitled Series acrylic paint and graphite on canvas 90 x 90cm
Chris Leedham
email: chrisleedham@supalife.com Artist statement
I am interested in the human face and figure and how this is represented in paint. Painting largely family and friends from iPhone portraits and ‘selfies’, I try to capture something of the essence of the person and convey that emotion via the handling of the paint and colour. Lately I have become less concerned with painting accurate representations of the people I paint but more focussed on what the paint does to the image not what the image does to the painting. In dealing with a traditional subject and in the light of the current craze for the ‘selfie’ (‘From Selfie to Self – Expression, Saatchi Gallery, May 2017) there is also the issue of ‘making’ – a concern with exploring painting mediums in an attempt to make the paintings relevant and contemporary. Like Matisse, Hockney and Joffe, the use of colour is what gives my work its structure. I believe like Renoir that it is ‘colour’ that ‘controls the structure of a painting… not the line.’ I am becoming more and more aware of the ‘spatiotemporal’ complexities of the paint and how this can keep the viewer engaged - rather than any attendant theories or socio-political ideas surrounding the subject matter.
Dissertation title: Self-Portraiture: Facing the Subject in the Age of the ‘Selfie’
Rachel and James oil paint on canvas 61 x 51 cm
Sophie-Anne Mitcheson email: sophieanne_m@hotmail.co.uk Instagram: @xoxsophannexoxo
Artist statement In my work I use a range of drawings, paintings and mostly sculpture as my mediums. I have a strong interest and obsession with nature, mainly focusing on the beauty of plants, preserving and making my sculptures interactive. With my focus on plants it has led me to research my practice further by looking and learning more about bees and their decline. They play a big part in our environment as well as our lives. Being curious about the species has made me want to learn more about what role they have, and how the beekeeper and bee relationship works. Raising awareness and getting people to become more curious about the bees from looking at my work is an important aspect of what I am trying to achieve.
Dissertation title: How can activist Artists raise awareness about Environmental issues?
Bee linocut on paper 29 x 21cm
Heidi Moorfoot
Untitled spray paint on found object 70 x 70 cm
Rayanne Noble email: xrayannex@hotmail.co.uk Instagram: @rayanne.noble.art Artist statement
Exploring the elements of line, shape, colour and pattern, my work takes formation through sculpture. I create a combination of non-figurative, loose, abstract, colourful, expressive and geometric forms. In my work I focus on using high quality found materials reclaimed from industrial and domestic locations to represent the concept of transformation - making art from something that would otherwise have been discarded. Inspiration comes from my feeling and moods that become expressed in chaotic pieces with repeated shapes, the materials stacked on top of each other and balancing as far as they can possibly go. Bright colours are highly important, and the colours chosen for each work are intended to change the weight of the piece by influencing how the viewer perceives it and responds to it. I often select a single colour for a piece in order to convey a particular mood and feeling. By placing the sculptures on different coloured textures creates contrasts between the colours and the tough metal to the soft fabric.
Dissertation title: How has Conceptual art developed and what is its relevance now?
Title of Work powder coated steal 100 x 100 x 100 cm
Andrew Parkin Instagram: @andyparkinartist Artist statement
My journey with art started at the grand age of 52 when I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. My community practice nurse suggested trying art as a therapy. I’d never even contemplated art before in my life, being an ex-boxer, bricklayer and debt collector. Since then art has drawn me in and it has been a very emotional journey, and extremely rewarding. It has taken me down many roads and opened many doors. With the support of my wife Juin and my family, they have encouraged me to grow as an artist. Since starting to work at the art studio in Hendon and now studying at the University, I have expanded by practice from just drawings to paintings, installations, sculptures and making videos. I have achieved things that I would never have dreamt of. Now I feel that I am ready for the world to experience my unique style of art. “Free the artist within” Charles Salvador
Dissertation title: An Investigation into the influences around Salvador Dali
PTSD plaster, mixed media 30 x 30 x 30cm
Shaun Pemberton
email : pemberton-shaun@hotmail.com website: pemberton-shaun.wixsite.com/artblog Instagram: @pemberton_shaun Artist statement
The work I produce is methodical and precise. Sharing similarities to many of the Minimalist artists from the 1960’s; I work predominantly within sculpture but have explored various different medias such as painting, installation and tonal drawings. Inspired by the ideology and methodology behind the movement, I have been focusing on vessels and how displaying them in different variations such as rows and columns, to make repetitive patterns, changes the aesthetic and desirable outcomes. I work mostly in fine casting plaster and acrylic to create geometric vessels in monochrome and tonal colours which I then frame within hand-made, craft orientated structures made from wood. The way I display them in different variations aims to change how the audience perceives and interacts with the objects. The material quality is an essential aspect of my sculptures, experimenting with different surfaces and shapes of the vessels to evaluate how it effects the perception of the work.
Dissertation title: Is Minimalism Relevant in 21st Century?
Monochrome Variation #1 plywood, acrylic plaster casts 120 x 80 x 14cm
Emma-Louise Phillips Email - emmalouisephillipss127@gmail.com Instagram - By.Phillips
Dissertation title: Nudity In Art. The Past. The Present. And It’s Surrounding Controversy
Philipa Popay email: philipapopay@gmail.com Instagram: @pippapopay Artist statement
I don’t set out to produce work about one subject or another, I like to take influence from pretty much anything and everything, leaving the outcome to decide itself, which I always look forward to. Primarily when making my work I like to focus more on the process than the outcome, because I enjoy making the art and the journey of discovery it necessitates. Creating my cyanotypes is an enduring process of correctly mixed chemicals and experimenting with exposure times, meaning I don’t have full control over the outcome, but I like the uncontrolled irregularities. The imprints left behind after exposing the selected readymades, I find leave a lasting impression on the material. My work is a display of the phrase “the more you look the more you see”. The intricate details continue to depict these selected objects’ stories.
Dissertation title: If Any, What Influence Has Photojournalism Had On Art/ Artists?
Countercurrent cyanotype on cotton material 220 x 260cm
Pamela Pygall email: pampygall@yahoo.co.uk Artist statement
My love of nature, all things spiritual and in particular water, in whatever form - sea, rivers, snow or ice, the constantly changing patterns of the spirsalling, rushing, meandering water captures my heart and soul. The light reflecting an image – distorting it into a myriad of swirls and patterns, the dazzling colours and the way the images are abstracted all inspire me to paint water. My artwork has explored a variety of mediums. The experience of my work in nature is becoming defined more abstractedly and I work best when I feel I am spiritually connected to the subject.
Dissertation title: How have 20th/21st century artists explored dematerialisation in relation to spirituality and aesthetics – and why?
Untitled acrylic paint on canvas 200 x 94 cm
Brett Richardson email: wazor-brett@hotmail.co.uk website: bh02un.wixsite.com/thevoid Instragram: @losafka Artist statement
The art forms that occur within my artistic practice grapple with the expressions of identity, and the societal forms that produce the constructs of gender and represented masculinity. Due to the nature of the oil and household paint that I use to create my paintings, I can achieve the freedom that I need within the application of the material. This allows me to replicate the illusion of flesh and the sensation of the human form that is integral to how my work is visually received. The pigment within the paintings reflects the desire that I imbue into the works, to experience the human form. By using sombre reds, fleshy pinks and deep solemn, blacks I’m able construct a physical and psychological representation of the subject through societal forms.
Dissertation title: Painted Men: What is the Significance and to What Extent is Masculinity Represented within the Works of The School of London and Painting? Considering Critical Theory and Gender Studies with the Application of Fine Art.
Abstracted Softness acrylic and emulsion paint on canvas 50 x 40 cm
Kevin Rudkin
email: kevinrudkin1998@gmail.com website: kevinrudkin.portfoliobox.net Instagram: @kevinrudkinartanddesign Artist statement
Growing up in a city you see lots of architecture. You start to become accustom to your surroundings, you forget details about places you pass every day. Sometimes its small details, graffiti, a fence around it, or a plaque carved into a building. Sometimes it’s a larger architectural detail, or a steeple that you never noticed. My aim is to explore these features by taking photos of these places I have visited, but don’t really remember. Working across painting and printmaking, I make various sized cut-outs of these places, leaving simplified outlines of the buildings. By using a screen-printing technique I am then able to lean my art work towards a more abstract architectural form.
Dissertation title: What are early photographic processes and are they still a viable way to produce images?
Untitled acrylic paint and paper on canvas 101 x 81 cm
Linzi Saunders email: linzisaunders@live.co.uk Artist statement
In the 22 years of my life, organ donation has saved my life three times. I feel extremely lucky to have received my transplants, which include a bone marrow, a heart and a kidney. I now find it partly my responsibility to promote the importance of organ donation, as it has changed my life on more than one occasion. My inspiration comes from my own medical experience. I use art to express my emotions, I do so by using photographs to motivate my paintings and sculptures. I recreate the memory of the photograph in my own painting style, I like to think of them as little windows of my life which I am revealing to others. This project is based on what goes on behind closed doors. And show what exactly the hospital patient is going through emotionally, mentally and physically. Before, during and after transplant.
Dissertation title: The minds of creative geniuses
My Kidney Donor acrylic paint on canvas 40 x 25 cm
Ines Bento Serrano Artist statement
As a painter, I explore being human in a technological era. We live and learn through a screen. Ask google: an average person spends over 5 years in social media, and with ever-growing innovative features and apps this problem is expected only to get worse. We are reaching an era where humans and machines will become hybrids, and I want people to reflect on the future, if they think it’s cool or if they are afraid? I myself am a compulsive user: the first thing I do when I wake up is to check my phone. I publish almost everything I do. Most of the art I see is previously filtered by my preferences. I even ignore my physical present friends sometimes to reply to a message from someone not present. The phone is an unnatural element that is so naturally fixed in our life. I chose to paint devices alongside with people to emphasise this invasive and contrasting nature.
Phone Sex acrylic paint on paper 92 x 75 cm
Charlotte Stewart
email: charlotte.megan.stewart@hotmail.com Instagram: @charlottestewart_art Artist statement
My art is heavily influenced around the ideas of death, decay and nature. I like experimenting with the idea that nature always finds a way to grow, even in unlikely places. I’m interested in how despite the damage we as humans do, nature is always stronger. I have used a lot of portraiture throughout my project and one element which has been consistent is colour, incorporating strong contrasts of violent reds and blues to signify the natural decay of humans. Unlike past assignments, I have experimented with more materials and sculpture, using found objects to paint on rather than just painting on paper. I have discovered different concepts of art and have grown more confident to take more risks. We as humans struggle to understand the concept of death. In my work I want to show that in the grand scheme of things, we are insignificant. Nature is always the winner.
In Death Us Do Part mixed media dimensions variable
Emily Thurlow
email: emily.m.thurlow97@gmail.com Artist statement
“Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one’s sensations.” – Paul Cézanne. To me being inspired by nature is more than recreating your environment. It is about colours, textures, lines and marks, but most importantly the emotional use of the senses. Creating an emotive reaction to the sensitive moods an environment can generate. For my exhibition I am recreating characteristics of a handful of my favourite landscapes from the Lake District. Through nature walks, observation and photography I create my own perception of my environment in my head, which I begin to put on board and glass using acrylic paint. In my exhibition space, as the light moves throughout the day the glass pieces will reflect in different ways highlighting the colours I have used.
Dissertation title: Investigate the concepts of art therapy whether painting and drawing in particular can facilitate those individuals who suffer from mental illness, and/or have had a traumatic event. Explore and examine how patients work through their experiences and issues.
Untitled acrylic paint on canvas 60 x 60 cm
Dara De Melo email: daralp97@gmail.com website: m-darart.tumblr.com Instagram: @dar.y.art Artist statement
“Yellow is vagueness and luminousness, both” – Alexander Theroux No other colour holds as much ambiguity as Yellow. It is described as bright, cheerful, and lively. The colour of summer and the sun. Yellow is also ominous. It represents fearfulness and insanity. An unspoken uneasiness. It is connected to mental instability, to madness, to anxiety. Yellow’s intense luminousness is both energetic and disquieting. Drawn from my personal experience with colour and mental illness, this body of work explores the duality of yellow in a series of abstract paintings, based on Van Gogh’s devotion to yellow, and the visual work of contemporary artist Heater Day. All paintings capture a singular moment or feeling, visually represented through circles, lines and colour, with yellow as the common factor in all pieces. Each piece has a unique composition despite the continuous repetition in patterns, forms and figures, necessary to keep a minimalistic, yet peculiar, aesthetic. The individual symbolisms of the paintings are left ambiguous and undisclosed, open to personal interpretation of the viewer.
Dissertation title: Yellow - A study on colour psychology and perception.
TEVA 6308 acrylic paint and coloured pencil on paper 42 cm x 29.7 cm
Emma Wallace Artist statement In my current artist practice, I have explored a variety of media, such as drawing, painting and sculpture. Mainly focusing upon geometric abstract art and how the use of shape builds up an image with the use of coloured threads. Using a range of mediums, I have produced work with many different textures, depths and tones to produce similar outcomes; using architecture as my subject matter. I focused specifically on man-made structures such as bridges. This being my main starting point, I wanted to look beneath the surface of the original structural appearance of the bridge. I used numerous coloured threads to minimalize and deconstruct the original image, of which lead up to the final exhibition. I have experimented with both plain and coloured wood as my base, while using string and wool to build up images and create 3D effects.
Dissertation title: How Pop art culture has had an influence on modern 21st century art.
Beneath the surface. nails and coloured thread. on wood 35 x 30 cm
Jessica Watson email: jessica_watson_97@hotmail.com Instagram: @idiotic.watson Artist statement
This project has been my attempt to show a visual representation of my emotional connection to my environment. I am particularly interested in natures influence on our emotions as well the spiritual connection we have to nature. My art features colours and forms taken from flowers as I have the most emotional connection with them. I have used acrylic as a medium in my art as it’s plastic qualities contrast the natural elements. Recycling used materials is also a key part of my practice. We live in a single use culture that only contributes to the destruction of the planet. I aim to show how materials and mediums can be repurposed for a variety of uses. Boxes can become canvases to paint on, paper can be repainted or used in multiple collages, old items can be used as sculptures or plinths. It is only the artists imagination that holds them back and stops them from repurposing their old materials.
Dissertation title: How have women artists contributed to and explored forbidden and taboo subjects in art and why?
Nature’s Glory acrylic paint on paper 59 x 42 cm
Shannon Waugh Artist statement
At the beginning of the course my main focus was film, in particular horror film. The first piece of work I painted was heavily based on the film ‘Hannibal’. It progressed from a series of film stills from certain scenes in which I felt a connection with as a viewer. The film still of Mason Verger was used to create the painting ‘That’s Entertainment!’ on wood panel. In the image I left the film stills fragmented on the wood for reference and also to show the process of the work in progress. I opted for a larger surface area of raw wood with exposed grain, left untreated. In doing this it gave a feeling of vulnerability whilst I was painting, layering wash after wash of cold flesh toned structure. I wanted to make the work visually look uncomfortable, along with the subject.
Cheyenne Williams email: cheyennefrancescax@hotmail.co.uk Instagram: @mrslightskin Artist statement
Growing up as a person of colour, I always felt out of place, no matter what I did or where I went. I remember hating my hair, my skin and everything about myself. One day I said to my father “I wish I had nice straight hair like everybody else.” To which he responded, “You don’t want to be like everybody else.” Even until my mid-teens I didn’t believe him. But as my first year of college was coming to an end I finally understood his words. I love my skin and my hair. My project is a depiction of these feelings. My self-loathing to my self-care. How my skin colour affected other aspects of my life, my relationships, my sexuality and my internal dialogue. Being one of four persons of colour in a year group of over 300, I told myself daily, I was going to die alone and I’d never meet anyone, because nobody wants to be with a brown girl. It’s sad that a toddler had to feel this way and carry the emotional burden until their late teens, but I am glad for it, because it made me appreciate my complexion more, and I want to be able to portray the bad and the good aspects in my project.
Lovers On A Mission oil and acrylic paints on canvas 81 x 101 cm
Katherine Wright
email: katherinemary.wright1997@gmail.com Artist statement
The starting point for my current work was the unexpected death of my father. This shows the many challenges we all face in life. My art focuses directly on the darker events that life throws at us. I want to portray my opinion that selfbelief, living a contented life and that no matter the obstacles put in your way, you can overcome them. I apply a wide range of mediums and colours in my work to challenge the perception on how an art work is viewed. The piece explores the various stages people go through while grieving the loss of a loved one, which I have compressed into one image.
Dissertation title: What influence did Guernica have on the art world?
Your Comments permanent marker on paper 10 x 30 cm
Fine Art at Sunderland Fine Art has been studied in Sunderland since the 1860s. This long tradition gives the programme a rich inheritance and association with the proud history of art education in the UK. The Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art has a fifty year history in Sunderland and has recently opened in a brand new space in the University. The a-n Artists’ information company started in Sunderland as The Artist’s Newsletter, more commonly known as “an” magazine. The University of Sunderland was one of the pioneers of Practice-led PhDs in the UK, with a strong cohort of art and design PhD students who are today creating new knowledge and ways of thinking for contemporary practice. Previous Lecturers and Alumni include Robin Crozier - the internationally recognised Concrete Visual Poet and Mail Art Network artist; the nominated Turner Prize Fine Art graduate, photographer Richard Billingham, renowned sculptor and Emeritus Professor of Fine Art, Eric Bainbridge (named recently as one of Britain’s top one hundred sculptors), Emeritus Professor of Fine Art Brian Thompson and painter Virginia Bodman. The current Fine Art staff have a wealth of national and international exhibiting professional practice and subject expertise, which includes the painter Lothar Goetz, Associate Professor and Reader in Fine Art andProfessor Mike Collier artist and curator.
Fine Art: Contacts BA Programme Leader: Peter Wolland peter.wolland@sunderland.ac.uk (0191) 5153776 MA Programme Leader: James Hutchinson j.a.hutchinson@sunderland.ac.uk (0191) 5153774 Admissions Tutor: Marcia Ley marcia.ley@sunderland.ac.uk (0191) 5152138
Enquiries: student.helpline@sunderland.ac.uk Fine Art Department University of Sunderland Priestman Building City Campus Green Terrace SR1 3PZ (0191) 5153000 www.sunderland.ac.uk www.sunderland.ac.uk/degreeshows
OPENING EVENT Friday 16 June 2017 5.30pm - 8.30pm Opening speeches at 6pm Priestman Building SR1 3PZ
SHOW DATES
BA (Hons) Fine Art; Priestman Studios Open to the public: Saturday 15 June to Friday 21 June 10am - 4pm (closed Sunday)
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