Creative Show 2021 - Art & Design A Level Programmes

AS LEVEL FINE ART The Fine Art course at A Level provides students with the opportunity to learn and develop a range of skills in relation to drawing, painting, sculpture and mixed media. This is taught initially through a six week induction period at the beginning of the 1st year, and then through personal responses to unit themes and externally set assignments provided by the exam board.

Students produce a body of work for all units, following the art process from initial research and starting points, through development and experimentation towards a final response in the form of a finished piece. Alongside their development work, students research a range of relevant artists to gain inspiration for their own creative ideas and themes.

Students’ studio-based practice is contextualised with educational visits to exhibitions of contemporary art alongside references to work in the College Gallery and the library’s excellent facilities. Also, during the summer term, students’ outstanding achievements are celebrated in an exhibition of work at the end of year Creative Show.

The Fine Art programme provides students with the opportunity to express themselves imaginatively and creatively using a range of media. It is a demanding course but very enjoyable and rewarding.

Abigail Harrison I have been interested in art since primary school so was eager to do as fine art.

I really enjoy recording the world around me by taking photographs and sketching. I hope to improve my skills and experiment with new and exciting materials.

This course has opened my eyes to ideas I would have never of thought of. I’m drawn to vibrant colours and landscapes so tried to include this in my work as much as possible. Before this year I would normally focus on still life and simple compositions, so naturally I have tried to look at more abstract artwork to try something new.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Amara Hollinrake-Dobson I have a massive passion for the Arts, whether that be music, writing or fine art. The majority of my work is focused around the subject of nature.

This is shown especially in my AS coursework where I looked at butterflies and the reflections in their wings. I love the vast levels of topics you can look at whilst studying nature, from riversides and beaches to abandonment and decay which are both hugely contrasting. I also find that nature is a topic most people can enjoy and appreciate, it creates a sense of depth and perspective whilst also making people think about what’s around them and not take it for granted.

I have been singing all my life, it’s a huge part of who I am. I have recently taken a big step into becoming a busker which has opened many doors for me. It has helped me to grown a following on social media and to be signed to a management and label! My plan for this year is to carry on with my a levels to ensure that I can always go to university/go into full time work if I need too. Next year, my plans are to focus on my singing career, start to release my own music and grow as much as possible. It is a massive dream of mine and I hope to be successful.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Abie Hickling

Emily Welburn I’m currently studying AS Fine Art alongside my other subjects. I chose Fine Art because I’ve always loved drawing and being creative as I take pride in presentation and making things look attractive in my work. For my themes this year I have researched Decay and Abandonment, basing my art on skulls and nature, and Textured Surfaces, where I focused on man made surfaces and realism within my work. In my spare time I love painting for my family, including birds and butterflies, which I mainly paint on stones for decoration in the garden. Next year I will be carrying on with A Level Fine art, and after that year I am planning to continue to attend York College and do a post level 3 extended art and design diploma. I would love to head into the area of art therapy and possibly work for the NHS after doing art and design degrees in university.

Idun Volsnes

Lauren Taylor I have been passionate about art from a young age. I was first introduced to art in primary school doing simple pencil drawings. My art work progressed and grew a lot more in secondary school as I had access to more diverse forms of media and started to create more personal pieces within the GCSE year. Up to now in college my artistic skills have grown into more artistically acceptable and interesting pieces as I became more knowledgeable with the use of composition rules.

My increase in confident has been reflected in my work over the past few years as I have gone out of my comfort zone by using more diverse media as well as focal points that add more professionalism and complex looks to my work. My media choices have developed from basic grey scale pencils drawing to now using water couloir, pastels, inks and acrylics.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Leah Howell In my first year I focused on the theme Hidden identity, my original ideas began with makeup and then transcended into the impacts of social media and how imperfections are hidden.

My final piece then finally focused on aging and how imperfections such as wrinkles can be seen as beautiful. The piece then consisted of a daughter and a mother.

The daughter was flawless in pencil and the mother was in biro showcasing her wrinkles but still showing their genetic similarities.

Lilly Bulmer

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Lily Mathers

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Nick Clarke I’m interested in photography, cinematography and the natural world and am studying Fine Art (and just completed AS Level).

I enjoy creating mixed media pieces that incorporate my photography and allow me to explore creative media by being experimental with texture, often by incorporating a variety of media like fabric, sand and card.

Throughout the AS course my artwork I feel my art has developed, moving from one dimensional pieces to more nuanced and thoughtful abstract pieces that complement the formal elements (line, colour, form and shape, value, texture and space).

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Piper Major My college work was mainly focused on decay and abandonment as well as forgotten spaces, I focused on the decay of the mind and mental states as part of my first project as that’s something I find really interesting in art as it’s different to everyone, mental health is such a personal thing and seeing how people interpret it and how it materializes in my work is something fascinating.

Further on in this project I wanted to pick a different route for forgotten spaces, not just empty spaces but places with more meaning, and that’s why I chose sentimental and culturally important places such as grave yards and council estates as they’re very important in society at one time or another to a variety of groups and classes.

My work in my free time is usually on the female human, drawing it with fine liners and trying to kind of beautify the alternative sub culture and how it manifests for different people as it’s something I’m a part of and I hold quite close to my heart. I feel so strongly towards it as it helped me with confidence and discovering who I am. I like how putting these subcultures into art beautifies something many people frown upon, I like how it contrasts between beauty in art and the ugliness and uncertainty people feel towards these subcultures seen as the opposite of the stereotypical beauty standard.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Samuel Anderson I have been making art since GCSE after ironically retaking it, having dropped it in year 8! Discovering I enjoyed it in year 10, I frequently drew comic book characters and pop art style pieces throughout my project drawing from my love of Marvel comics and pop art artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring. I am particularly interested in the work of Jack Kirby and his time working on comics in his time with Marvel and during GCSE’ he was a particular inspiration and focus of mine. During my A level art experience so far, I have had to push myself out of this comfort zone by delving into themes such as decay, abandonment and forgotten spaces and placing more of a focus on creating work from primary photos I have taken in my surrounding environment, considering a piece’s atmosphere and the connotations of the pieces and the photos from which they have been drawn from.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Abigail Hall I am a sixteen year old artist who focusses mainly on painting. I enjoy creating oil paintings of nature landscapes that I see on walks, layering up the oil paint in a nonrealistic way so that I can create more of an atmospheric piece than a piece that’s trying to be simply realistic. Sometimes I will use a mixture of both acrylic paint and oil paint, using acrylic paint to create extra texture by combining it with things such as sand, and just generally using it for things that I want to dry quickly. I also like to use gouache paints and watercolour paints, though prefer to use them for smaller or more focussed subjects.

I like to experiment with combining lots of different art techniques and materials, and usually work on either A4 or A5 paper as I find that for me it’s more enjoyable to add details on smaller pieces.

Aiden Carey I’m an aspiring brand marketing designer that has an appreciation and passion for art, film and photography. I enjoy creating fine art pieces in various forms using physical and digital media as demonstrated in my most recent AS Fine art projects. However, my favourite media to use when creating practical pieces is acrylic paint. I have enjoyed using various media forms but this one is by far my strongest and my favourite, I have created numerous pieces varying in scale in a successful fashion in AS art and in my own time. In my first AS project I investigated hidden identity and the idea of hiding your real self through the form of an emotional and a physical mask, my final piece was an A3 acrylic painting of a composition I created myself. As for the second project I dived into Perfections vs imperfections and looked into the idea of perfectionism through consumerism as well as old vs new. I looked at how consumerism has shaped our perception of consumerism. This led to a final piece that I created on my iPad that considered this theme and the idea of new vs old.

Although I enjoy art, my heart lies with fashion branding and marketing using digital media. Me and a friend have been working on creating our own clothing brand over the most recent lockdown and I truly believe that it looks as premium as any other designer brand and that you would not know it was made by two 17 year olds unless you were told so. The brand is called “Accord Apparel” and will offer limited edition collections for men and women with our first collection coming out in early July. My ambition is to move to London and study Fashion communication and marketing at central St. Martins.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Charlotte Armitage I’m incredibly happy that I pursued Art into my A-Levels. In high school you’re generally quite restricted with your expression of themes and ideas. I love the freedom of exploration that A-Level Fine Art suggests, I find it addictive to delve into my own thoughts and not have to stop at any point, because it’s encouraged that you get as far down the rabbit hole as you can! Excessive thinking works against me usually, but once my sketchbook’s open it works perfectly in my favour. Freedom to express my work how I’d like and using techniques not dictated by anyone else is incredibly satisfying in a way I never really imagined it would be. I can see myself thoroughly enjoying my second year because I know everything, I pursue is up to me, and having the first taste of it during AS Fine Art has only made me ecstatic to start A-Level. I’ll be carrying on my three subjects (Art, Business, and Maths) to second year, but after than I’m relatively unsure. What I do know is that whatever I do, it’ll be art-based.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Eleanor wilson I am currently studying fine art at AS level along with textiles, biology and psychology. Within art I have explored hidden identity, imperfection and perfection throughout this year. I have discovered many new techniques, from building texture, to refining details to completely transform a piece!

I love to practice and improve in my free time, I have created 2 canvasses and built my knowledge of using coloured pencils effectively. Over the year I completed 2 final pieces. The first one was very successful in communicating the theme through not only the imagery but also the media used as black ink juxtaposes the coloured acrylic really well. For the second piece I created lots of texture through sand to give the effect of an old brick wall, whilst portraying perfection through simple line work. I have learnt how my personal way of working fits with different media to create unique outcomes.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Francheska Petkova Hiya I am Fran, an A-level art student.

I have studied art since high school and will continue to study it into the second year of college. In my first year I have looked into the theme of Decay and Abandonment in a symbolic way by drawing on my personal experiences. I decided to look into how I could show a person who has been abandoned and how that has caused them to decay in a single painting. Next year I will be carrying on with my art course, I will also be studying sociology, and I will hopefully be taking AS product design, which would lead me nicely into taking graphic design in the University of Huddersfield .

Grace Blake This year I have formed a project surrounding the theme of ‘hidden identity’.in year 12, I have primarily created portraits, I think that portraiture has been the most successful when achieving ‘hidden’ identity as the viewer may find elements of my art such as eye contact and movement more striking and personal. This year I have greatly enjoyed using medias such as acrylic and tonal pencil.in terms of my first final piece, the style was carefully considered through development in my book; this outcome is one of my favourites and explores the impact of ageing on a person’s identity. Alongside this piece, I have additionally enjoyed mixed media works, experimentations of formal elements such as colour, and the use of various canvas’. Techniques I explored helped me to respond to ‘hidden identity’ very well, i.e., using tissue paper and glue to represent wrinkles. For me, colour was the most exiting formal element I explored.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Hannah Preston This academic year I based my project on Decay and Abandonment and took inspiration from Ian Murphy and Jemma Gunning. From this I created collaged pieces and worked on top with biro or print making to create a dramatic outlook. I explored wet media techniques and textural techniques and particularly liked cling film resist, impasto and sponging. I also adopted using poly filla to create a slightly 3D outlook to my work. I particularly enjoyed working on top of collaged, raised backgrounds aswell to add character and create a more ages look. Next year I will be continuing with A Level Art, Photography and Psychology.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Harvey Williams I am a student at York College, I study Art as one of my A-Levels. I like to take inspiration from many artists, locations, and objects in order to better my work’s detail, colour palette, texture, and mediause. In my work I enjoy showing textures in various ways, some raised ways I like to show textures are by impasto, torn/ crumpled paper, masking tape and sand in acrylic paint. Other visual non-raised ways I like to show texture is through different backgrounds like book/newspaper pages or tea-stained backgrounds. One of my favourite pieces I have created is the barrel top acrylic painting as my use of texture techniques give the painting great visuals and dimension’s. The best part of Art for me is that it’s a great way to escape reality and express your inner creativity with patience, practice, and determination anyone can be good at it.

In the future my dream is to become a tattoo artist so continuing a-levels allows me to better my art abilities in order to pursue my dream job.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College Social media @harv.eywilliams

Jasper Dodds-Aston I am a AS student who did fine art.

In my AS work I mainly used Acrylic as a media. I started my projects with the titles ‘Hidden Identity’ and ‘Passage of Time’. I enjoyed my exploration of Hidden Identity as I was able to create some visually pleasing pieces with strong meaning. I was also able to look at artists with moving work and strong stories to push the work further such as Kim Noble. In ‘Passage of Time’ work I was able to explore media and ways to create with them.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Libby Croft I’m 17 years old and ever since a young age I’ve been interested in art and experimenting with different medias throughout both secondary school doing GCSE art, and in college studying AS level art. I’m especially interested in working with medias such as biro pen and acrylic paint and I also have found a passion for printmaking such as dry point printing and monoprinting. I am interested in linking in my surroundings into my art to form and develop strong outcomes.

I enjoy working with human form and linking in deeper, psychological connections into my art leaving behind a message. A few artists that I’ve been interested in throughout the first year of my art a level study have been Lionel Smit and Jessica Rimondi and in my earlier education I researched and was inspired by Ian Murphy and Banksy throughout my studies. In my future, I want to keep art as a hobby alongside a future career in marketing using my art skills and knowledge to help with the advertising side of marketing. Whilst I’m studying at university next year, I want to further improve my art skills by experimenting with new medias and continuing to research new artists.

Lilli Sempers At home, I enjoy working with a more illustrative style using digital media.

When I started Fine Art, I began to continue that style, but as I developed my first project, I began to move towards a more detailed, realistic style. It has been interesting looking at different art styles, and my skill at using acrylic paint (that I’ve never really used before) has definitely made a huge improvement. I’m looking forward to continuing Fine Art next year and developing my skills with this more realistic style. I like using the human form and portraiture as a subject matter, although I’m beginning to consider exploring other themes like nature or still life in future work.

I’ve enjoyed developing my skills at traditional media’s like paint and ink and I think that, in the future, I would like to continue with what I’ve learned in college, as well as the digital media and illustrative style I developed in high school and at home.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Lily Davison I am currently studying Fine Art, Combined English, Film studies for AS and a btec psychology. In art we have been focusing on specific subjects; I chose to do Decay and Abandonment. In this project I explored rust and things falling apart. This made it interesting when creating my pieces as the rust added bright colours. It was completely opposite to my original idea of Decay and Abandonment as I thought it was all going to dark and gloomy. My favourite media to use is acrylic as you can do many things with it such as, blending, impasto and layering it to make textures. The artist that has inspired me the most is Jonathan Alibone. His work is full of mystery and a sense of discomfort as there is no proper explanation for what the paintings are/are showing. He links into the key ideas of my project very well and I have included element of his style in my work

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Oliwia Skakun Hi, I’m an AS fine art student possibly moving onto A2. I enjoyed studying the theme I chose this year, which was decay and abandonment as I could investigate different textures and subject matter which linked to the theme. I’m very interested in architecture so I tried to include it in my project this year. Furthermore, I like to explore new techniques and ways of linking dry and wet media together. If I continue next year I would love to lean more into architecture and buildings in my project, as I am planning on pursuing this in the future in university.

This year I enjoyed experimenting with the printmaking techniques we studied in college as it was a completely new experience which in my opinion was very fun. Next year I am definitely going to continue with DT - product design, maths and physics so I am still unsure about studying art for A2.

Robin Turnbull I am an As Fine Art student at York College who has a keen interest in my chosen subject.

In my project my key theme was the idea of Decay and Abandonment. This theme allowed me to explore it thoroughly as I had many initial ideas to choose from, with this clear development in the progression of my work. You can see the main focus of this was the gothic architecture, and the many themes that came along with studying these abbey’s and monasteries.

Artists of great inspiration in my project came from Turner and Ian Murphy. Turner has a fluidity in his impasto creations, and the way this created movement in the piece whilst maintaining that textural impact. Murphy’s work is deeply inspiring as I aimed to achieve a similar effect to his, he has a juxtaposition between the romantic watercolour washes and the harsh textural media application.

In my final piece you can see the inspiration from Murphy’s work in the use of my dry point and water colour.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Trinity Bruines I am currently studying AS fine art at York college as I find it as a creative outlet for me while studying essay-based subjects, and it allows me to find my own art style through exploring different styles and techniques. I started my art portfolio with a more realistic style of portraiture yet, through artists such as Jonathan Yeo, he inspired me to experiment with a more abstractrealism style, where I am able to show my own expression and interpretations. A technique that I have used multiple times is the dry-brush painting technique, which is interesting to create a visually rough technique. Next year I am carrying on with Fine Art for an A level, then I would like to stay on at York college Art and study the Design Foundation Diploma (post level 3) at York college. For employment I would like to look into teaching for A level Fine art

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College Social media @art.tjb

A2 LEVEL FINE ART The Fine Art course at A Level provides students with the opportunity to learn and develop a range of skills in relation to drawing, painting, sculpture and mixed media. This is taught initially through a six week induction period at the beginning of the 1st year, and then through personal responses to unit themes and externally set assignments provided by the exam board.

Students produce a body of work for all units, following the art process from initial research and starting points, through development and experimentation towards a final response in the form of a finished piece. Alongside their development work, students research a range of relevant artists to gain inspiration for their own creative ideas and themes. Students’ studio-based practice is contextualised with educational visits to exhibitions of contemporary art alongside references to work in the College Gallery and the library’s excellent facilities. Also, during the summer term, students’ outstanding achievements are celebrated in an exhibition of work at the end of year Creative Show.

The Fine Art programme provides students with the opportunity to express themselves imaginatively and creatively using a range of media. It is a demanding course but very enjoyable and rewarding.

Alessandro Larxe The work of mine being showcased is a collection of work that reflects ideas I wanted to portray, these ideas stemmed from selected themes I have chosen at both AS and A level Fine Art. My work at A level aimed to explore the idea of abandonment in response to the theme ‘rugged and refined’. Through research I discovered the effects abandonment can have on a community such as an increase in crime rates and an abandoned building acting as a source for more abandonment in an environment, similar to the effects a virus can have on a population. To reflect this effect, I explored a dark mood in a couple pieces of my work, I also focused on the exclusion of human interaction with an environment to display abandonment. These were just a few ideas in which I interpreted abandonment and looking at my work puts you inside a moment of feeling absence in an environment. In both courses, I maintained a focus on the subject matter of architecture and the built environment, I have looked to explore this subject matter through different art processes, techniques and media. This has really helped to widen my understanding of architecture on a whole and has influenced my own personal aspirations. Hopefully with this selection of work you can see a variation of different interpretations and perspective towards the subject matter, Architecture.

Progressing to studying Archetecture at University of the Arts London

Annelise Pype Hi, my name is Anneliese and I am 18 years old. From 2019-2021, I studied at York college and completed A levels in law, English literature and fine art.

In my spare time I go to the gym, and I also enjoy going on runs around my town/local area, as well as spending time with my college friends. In relation to my final art project, I decided to choose the theme of ecosystems and most of the art I created was based around trees, vegetation and rocks which I thoroughly enjoyed painting. I explored this theme in more depth and decided to focus on the ideas of healthy/ well-working ecosystems and how different elements work together to ensure this, which helped to create more interesting and varied ideas.

Calen Jones My name is Calen Jones. I chose to progress with psychology, film studies and fine art in my final year of college and I think this was the best decision I could have made. Studying psychology and fine art in a-level gave me the opportunity to develop a passion for psychology and has also given me the knowledge and drive to explore the relationship between art and psychology - at the moment, that has extended itself to looking at a career in art therapy or even teaching either of these subjects in the future. I have really enjoyed the past two years at college and loved the freedom I was given to express myself on this course.

My preferred medias, as of right now are painting and drawing specifically oil paint and biro pen drawing. For my final year at college, I decided that I would look at a mixture of the themes Memory and Rugged and Refined; my project started off small, however, gradually, I began to think big and started to look into shape, size and media in much greater detail than I did in my AS year.

Progressing to studying BA (Hons) Fine Art at Norwich University of the Arts

Connie Martin

Erin Harris My project was a combination of Rugged and Refined and Memories (AS) and Chaos and Order (A Level). I really enjoyed studying all of the topics and exploring the different aspects and interpretations of them. I also loved looking at individual artists, especially in A Level. The artists Francis Bacon and Carne Griffiths being huge inspirations throughout my work. I also enjoyed looking at and experimenting with different art techniques and focussing on different methods to achieve different outcomes. Overall, I have really enjoyed studying this course and developing my knowledge and skills.

Progressing to studying BA (Hons) Media & Film at Hope University Liverpool

Georgie Carter

Jazmine Wright

Karla Robbins

Leah Palmer

Liffy Wilson I am an A-level student studying Fine Art and Textiles and have included artwork from my AS and A2 Art projects. Within these projects, I have primarily focused on the natural world, specifically the importance of the ecosystem. My first project focuses on the decay within the natural world which is vital for other organisms and for my second project, I wanted to focus on the growth within the natural environment caused by fungi and the decay process. Through studying the more unnoticed plants within the woodland undergrowth, I feel my appreciation of the complex structure of the ecosystem has grown and continues to inspire my college artwork and my own work.

Progressing to studying Foundation Diplomain in Art and design at York College

Tabitha Whittaker

Yefei Shi (Sabrina) I am a student from China and I have spent two years studying in York College. In the first year, I tried different styles, techniques and media. And in this year, I tended to semi-abstract expression, the abstraction and use of colors, and the expression of the content of the work. For some of the work, I used a combination of digital pictures and hand-painting.

The result of the interaction between architecture and event is what I present in most of my works.

In this regard, I also did research on “roaming”. Pete Monaghan, Richard Diebenkorn and Mauren Brodbeck are all subjects of my research.

AS LEVEL PHOTOGRAPHY This course will allow students to learn a variety of creative techniques and processes in art, design and photography.

Photography provides students with an opportunity to engage with the world and the people in it through expressing themselves and their ideas. It is a challenging course but a hugely rewarding one.

Students will be taught a variety of creative techniques and processes in art, design and photography. Students will be taught how to use camera equipment, studio work, computer software presentation skills, bookmaking, building a portfolio and sketchbook of creative ideas and personal project work.

Amy Rice I have been practicing photography for nearly 5 years and have just started to experiment with product photography. I usually take architectural photos when travelling and prefer to shoot in a lowkey setting with harsh shadows. I adapted to this specific style during gcse when majority of my photos were black and white and had Chiaroscuro lighting. I also learnt majority of my editing techniques in gcse and from work experience with a wedding photographer. Next year I’m carrying on with a-levels (business/photography/film studies) then hopefully afterwards I can get a job doing something evolving around photography.

Daisy Jones My name is Daisy Jones and for my AS photography project I looked at the theme ‘Urban’. I looked at several sub topics throughout my project; urban graffiti, empty spaces, dusk reflections and finally urban landscapes. I really enjoyed the journey I went on, looking at how the sense of a place can be changed by time, lighting and portrayal of the subject.

My project changed paths several times, however maintained a continuous flow throughout as my ideas developed and matured. I struggled at times with shooting in low light, however focused on the camera settings and produced some images I was pleased with. My favourite images are mainly within the theme of ‘urban day’ as this is when my ideas and execution of ideas came together and I produced work I was proud of.

Eliza Outlaw Next year I will be studying photography, English literature and music technology. Photography is one of the best expressions of art because it can be used to portray things unseen by others and opening it for interpretation which is one of the reasons I chose to study it. Throughout my project I studied artists like Deborah Turbeville, Sarah Moon, Lee Miller, Francesca Woodman and Duane Michaels. I found they tended to tell stories through beautiful imagery and subtle hints. The idea of telling stories behind a piece is fascinating and I attempted to reflect this in some of my work as well as using darker jewel colours and heavily shadowed black and white images. My project was mainly about contrast which I attempted to represent with the bright lighter colours against heavy darks of my photos and my imagery of model against backgrounds.

Eliza Walmsley I started photography when I did GCSEs and continued with this subject at AS because I thoroughly enjoy the experience of photography, the shoots, refinement, the inspiration and appreciation of others work, the creativity, the editing and the publishing. I feel inspired by aspects of everyday life and wanted to express that through photography. During my project, one of my major themes, that was most inspiring to me, was the four elements and the roots of nature that we often take for granted. I would like to achieve the grades I need to eventually study photography at university and see where it will take me.

Emma Hastings Photography has always been something I was interested in, constantly wanting to take photos of the people and things around me. One thing I never enjoyed was having my photo taken. Going into this project I had a lot of different ideas, but because of covid it was more difficult- especially when I started getting into portrait photography. I started to do self-portrait photographs halfway through my project, and it left me to become more confident and comfortable in front of the camera as well as being the photographer.

Photomontage was also a large part of my project and was something I had enjoyed before starting the course, it was a more abstract way of editing and messing with my work and enjoyed the creative freedom that I gained from it.

Hannah Bettam I have thoroughly enjoyed this AS photography course; I am hoping to continue with A level photography and explore my creative side further. In the duration of my project I have focused on the everlasting expansion of modernism in architecture. I believe that my project has been successful overall despite the lack of access to huge cities with lots of modern architecture. The final outcomes that I made where the highlight of this project, I am glad that I got the opportunity to come back into college and make these after months of online school. It has been difficult to stay passionate about one theme of photography for so long, and towards the end of the project it was extremely difficult to find new buildings to photograph however, that said, I have managed to take some strong images and am glad to be starting a new project now in which I will study fluxus.

Henri Robinson I have always loved photography from a young age, and AS photography allowed me to develop and explore this passion further. For my project i developed on the idea of the human body and the uniqueness of its natural features. I faced many bumps in the road during the unit, and lots of challenges with the technical application of turning my ideas into final pieces. I plan on continuing the course into a2 and challenging myself with new experimentations and ideas.

Honorata Hryciak I’ve always been interested in art of all sorts though the medium changed throughout my life. From drawing to fashion and now to photography. I particularly love gritty, candid portrait photography which includes street and documentary elements. I’m also interested in literature, music and film.

Throughout this project, I aimed to explore different aspects of the urban environment. I tried to look above and beyond the stereotypical landscape of a city and looked for inspiration in unconventional places- like behind a barber shop. This led me to some interesting outcomes, such as a grid inspired by literal rubbish. I especially enjoy taking symmetrical images as I think that I have a pretty good eye for them, and they usually turn out pretty much exact. Next year I plan to continue with A-Level Photography, Film Studies and English Literature.

Social media insta’ @honoratahryciak

Kali Mcstay I’ve always had a passion for photography since I was younger, it’s something that I found helps when expressing myself as I can create something of my own. My work is primarily based around portraits, I find that they’re most fascinating especially when using the human body as ways to express my own feelings through photography using the human form. When beginning I just stuck with black-andwhite photography but as I have learnt to experiment more, I delve into colour and love to see how that can change an atmosphere of one photo. My main inspiration is society and how society sees certain people and ways that it categorises them. I try to always think of a message behind my photos for example the tape measure has a powerful meaning when you see it for the first time, on the surface, it can be represented as how the society shapes women into what they should look like, but it can also have deeper meanings and perceived however the viewer wants to perceive it just like my other images. I include my grandma she creates more of a sentimental and personal series of images and the viewer can see a bit into the artists (my) life.

Progressing to studying A2 levels at York College Social media instagram kalimc

lilli Sempers My project ‘experimental portraiture’ focuses on combining portraiture with aspects of surrealism, abstract and collage. Throughout my project, I have looked at a variation of artists and techniques, and have taken the most influence from the work of Barbara Kruger and Bill Brandt. I began the project looking at surreal, digitally edited images and artists, and as I progressed through the project, I found I began to use more simplistic edits and explored some more physical experimentation. I really like my work with light trails, I like how the images are unedited and the light trails were created by hand. I think that overall, one thing that has flowed through the entirety of my project is looking at and using colour in my images, and I think that I have been successful in my use of hues. In this project, I did a lot of studio shoots in controlled environments, and given more time, I would have looked at taking portraits in natural settings without studio lighting and backgrounds.

Lottie Evans My name is Lottie, i’m currently studying English language, media, french and photography. For my AS project, I focussed on documenting public spaces. The project began with looking at light and shadow, but as the project developed, I started to focus more on the subjects I in the later shoots. I still wanted to incorporate an element of light and dark within the photos so I decided to edit them into black and white. Throughout the project, I took a lot inspiration from the New Topographics movement from the 1970s, this worked well with the black and white. I mainly photographed outside spaces such as: streets and the outside of people’s houses and public venues where people can meet.

Hollie Brind Photography and film are ways in which we are able to uncover the very real, candid acts in society. I’ve always loved the idea of capturing people in the moment as there is no posing and no forced expressions, it is documenting unplanned moments that are full of life and emotions. I’m also drawn to photographers like Edo Zollo and Mark Broyer who capture cinematic scenes while the rest of the world sleeps, I love the eery mood that falls naturally into the locations that manages to tell its own story after hours. Their cinematic masterpieces that utilise fog and illuminating shop lights inspired these photographs as the movie set esc images encouraged me to look into using different perspectives.

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Tessa Rhodes My main theme in my project was looking at urban environments, lighting, with a combination of portraiture and a range of distortion techniques such as pixelation.

Generally the connotation of urbanism is mainly focused on buildings, however, I wanted to explore the theme with more depth, taking inspiration from neon lights and zooming in on lines and corners. My favourite shoot I have done is definitely the one where I used lighting gels to create a blend of vibrant colours that reflected on the model’s face. Using this technique in my shoot allowed me to manufacture a neon light-like glow that is heavily nfluenced by urban nightlife. As my project progressed, using pixelation was a new idea, as I was inspired by the series ‘Black Mirror’. This gave my later shoots a dystopian look to them, with a futuristic vibe that’s heavy on the exposure and brightness

Abi England My project throughout was based on the theme of light and shadow. My work explored a wide range of approaches in terms of subject matter, but much of my work was of natural forms. I picked this genre out of all of them because I thought there was much more scope and the main object of focus in the picture could be anything.

I love black and white photography as I feel it brings out so much emotion within the image and can transform the feel of the object.

For example, a coloured picture of a flower can give off happy emotions and links with celebrations, however if you take the same photo of the flower and put it into black and white it changes the atmosphere and emotion into sadness and loneliness which I think is really effective.

Eleanor Kimberley This year I focused on portraiture, taking inspiration from the work off Matt Wisniewski and later Olivia Rodrigo’s music videos when I experimented with film as a medium. I wanted to explore textures and colours that were hidden in everyday life, trying to give some pieces an almost ethereal quality through layering and different blurring techniques. My project started off with very restrained fashion style portraits of one person and their daily life, taking inspiration from Kaylynn Deveney, but as I took inspiration from a wider variety of sources such as music videos and films my work became much more diverse, experimental and freeing. I looked further into the theme of everyday life to really pick out the nuances and variety of textures, lighting and aesthetics within life that are often overlooked.

Eli Cartwright-Taylor My project over the past year had a theme of decay.

My intent for this project was to show the death in nature and that all things in life will eventually go down this same path of decay. I decided that I could portray this idea of decay through subjects such as buildings, food and animals, as I was able to shoot the process of these subjects as they decay. One of my favourite artists that I researched for this project is Simon Ward. Ward digitally scans animals and turns them into artwork; he scans his pieces to create a wire-like detail to them and his subjects show a lot of detail which I particularly liked. I took inspiration from Ward and used taxidermy birds to achieve my Simon Ward inspired shoot, using both a scanner and a camera, however, in the end the camera was my best choice.

Hannah Ferdinando I chose my project to be based around the broad idea of ‘life’. This led to me to the vast contrasts in people’s lives, from urban to rural living. Coming from a rural background, some things normal to city life were different from my own knowledge, such as the extreme noise at all hours and overcrowded areas. I wanted to capture this disparity.

I achieved this by taking photographs in different styles, street photography to documentary to landscape photography, in various areas. My street photography was inspired by Saul Leiter who is considered one of the best street artists with his bold colours and brilliant composition. I used a filter to distort some of my images, as well as using long exposure for light trails to exacerbate the intensity of urban life. Marjolaine Ryely gave me the idea to shoot documentary about my grandmother, as I grew up spending a lot of my childhood at my grandparents’ farm. Ansel Adams inspired my natural landscapes in black and white as without nature life would not exist.

Flora McCallum The majority of my work focuses on the use of depth of field and exposure to create blur and make things brighter. At first I worked more at night wanting to focus on the theme of light and shadow but narrowed mythinking and mainly photographed things like street lights at night, focusing on the contrast between light and dark, then branching out into how to use light to the cameras advantage. At first I didn’t want to include people in my work because it was something I hadn’t done before, but eventually I did a shoot with my grandparents and it worked really well and showed a lot of development in my project.

Hannah Preston This academic year I looked at the natural forms side of photography and experimented with influential factors (such as light sources) and how they affect the viewers experience and observation. For example, many of my edits were portrayed in black and white as I experimented with how colour can distort the viewer’s experience. I adopted this technique from Edward Weston as it engages the unconscious mind and requires the imagination to ‘fill in’ the colour palette. I also looked at studio work, inspired by Billy Kidd which involved portraying beauty where it is not presumed. To do this I explored different variations of photography (macro, long exposure etc) and different perspectives. Next year I will progress my photography to A Levels and possibly look at landscape/ industrial photography.

Izzy Chantry For my AS photography project, I chose to study the coronavirus pandemic through the lens of urban photography.

This led me to explore the urban landscape of York city centre and the visual influence that covid has had on this environment.

I focused on conveying these influences in an abstract and artistic way and so experimented with using atmosphere, colour, and reflections to represent the feelings of isolation, loneliness, and separation that the ghostly scenery I was photographing portrayed. My project culminated in a series of outcomes that I created, including a sculptural book and a gallery wall. My gallery wall also incorporated the Japanese concept of kintsugi as I ripped up my pictures before gluing them back together and embellishing them with gold paint. The idea behind this was to symbolise the positive effects that covid has produced, in amongst the negatives.

Jasmine Oxley My AS Photography project began with the intention of sticking to my love of light and shadow. I kept this theme running for a while, but eventually branched out into more abstract photographs and stuck to editing my photos in black and white. This then became more of a fixed style. I liked the idea of having work that was simultaneously simple and complex – a simple concept with a complex look. Although I’d branched out into different styles, I still loved my initial light and shadow photographs and will continue to integrate elements of that in my future work. A main influence for my work was Ryo Ohwada, as his mirrored style of photography really boosted my project and gave a new perspective to branch into.

Jordan Van-loggerenberg AS Photography student, studying Business and Film Studies alongside Photography. The first three photos were taken at Wetherby at a factory site, the main themes that I focused on for these photos where the theme of open spaces. I edited some of the photos to black and white for an artist copy of Lewis Baltz who also takes photographs with theme of open spaces. I think that these photographs are effective as they look pretty good while being a fairly minimalistic photo while still looking like an effective photo that looks fairly professional. The bottom two photographs were also taken at Wetherby at an old abandoned factory, I didn’t edit these photographs to black to black and white as I thought that they were effective as they were however I could have edited them to black and white to see what it may have looked like as edited to black and white.

Lilly Carr I chose to study the feeling of nostalgia and how it develops within dream-states for my AS photography project.

Nostalgia was inspired by my initial ideas for reflection which developed into themes of guilt within my work. My most successful shoots focused on hand washing, which symbolises guilt within dreams; I experimented with lighting and projection to enhance these ideas in my images. This was most successful through long exposure with flash, which allowed me to create an atmosphere of movement in front of the projected images. When experimenting with light in my project and the depiction of dreamstates, I created an installation that reflected the previous themes and subject matter of my work, and conveyed the atmosphere of nostalgia to the viewer. The purpose of the installation was to create an atmosphere in which the viewer could immerse themselves, whilst viewing my work in a book. The book was a hard cover, soft spine, and contained images from all of my shoots; it also contained acetate pages which added an element of light to the work and enhanced the overall feeling of nostalgia in my project.

Marta Murawska My work that I did was based around architecture, and looking at different ways that it can be perceived, projected and manipulated to the viewer. I looked closely at the textures of architecture and the space around buildings as well. In the end, I was most interested in the manipulation of buildings, so I did a few different editing techniques to achieve this. Within this I really enjoyed looking at the Artist Brad Sloan as I really liked the black and white aspect, the inverted and the manipulation of the viewing of the image and the building in general.

Millie Rhodes My work explores subjects such as the human psyche, death, dreams and human emotion.

For example, this year I explored themes such as psychopathic traits, schizophrenia, how the soul leaves the body when we die, and interpretations of dreams. I am largely influenced by photographers and artists such as Roger Ballen, Francesca Woodman, Egon Schiele and David Shrigley. I love to work with texture, such as overlapping photographs and marking my photos with tools such as knives and sandpaper, as well as using mixed media to combine my photographs with sketches, paintings and other materials.

Next year I will be continuing Photography for A Levels. I am unsure as to what I will focus my next project on! However, I am excited to start a new project.

Progressing to studying A2 Levels at York College

Rosie Sturt Over the past year my photography project has been centred around the theme of nature. I wanted to showcase the beauty of nature in all forms and aspects. I did this in several ways including closeup photos, photomontages and long exposure landscape photos. My favourites have definitely been the close-up shots as I feel as though they capture the most detail and reflects the type of photography that I like to portray the most in my project. My main artist inspirations for the majority of my project were Aaron Siskind and Michael Kenna. I really loved both of their photographs as I feel as though even though they both look at different things for examples textures and shadows, I feel like both of their art matches my project well and matches my initial intent of my project.

Shannon Cade My work has been mainly focused on the woodland and abandoned places. However, my initial ideas at the beginning of the project were of landscapes, light and shadow and natural form. I decided to include images from my initial ideas so I could show where I started and how I developed throughout the project, and how that resulted in my final outcome. The last picture is from a reshoot of shoot 3 that I did quite recently and it shows how much I have developed since my initial ideas and how my shoots have changed since. For the next year, I would like to change my ideas from pictures of the woodland to images that focus on the sky. Therefore, it will still link into the theme of landscape, but it can also link more in to my initial ideas at the beginning of my first project.

Jack Magson With my outcomes I want people to view nature as something more, because I think we take it for granted and due to the circumstances of climate change, I think it is important to show people our world in another way.

Throughout the project, my ideas developed from close-up shots of nature, to landscape shots of nature. I feel as though this was the correct path for me to go down because smaller photos are much more limiting in what you can do with them,I drew a lot of inspiration from Mona Kuhn’s photography. She was kind of like the starting point of where my ideas started to take off, and so her work inspired me to keep on the theme of nature. I really loved the dark atmosphere she created within her photos, and so I wanted to do the opposite with my outcome considering I want my work to be viewed within the theme of climate change, it brings more light to the situation.

A2 LEVEL PHOTOGRAPHY This course will allow students to learn a variety of creative techniques and processes in art, design and photography.

Photography provides students with an opportunity to engage with the world and the people in it through expressing themselves and their ideas. It is a challenging course but a hugely rewarding one.

Students will be taught a variety of creative techniques and processes in art, design and photography. Students will be taught how to use camera equipment, studio work, computer software presentation skills, bookmaking, building a portfolio and sketchbook of creative ideas and personal project work.

Alana Gibson My work from this year explores the concept of minimalism. I chose to look at this subject because I enjoy looking at the world from up close and stripped away of the chaos. I mainly explored the relationship between light and shadow, and how an image has an effect on different people depending on their personal perspective. I enjoyed working with minimalism and exploring camera handling techniques such as macro photography and playing around with different camera settings. It opened my eyes to a new view of the world, and it is something that I hope to explore much further in the future. Overall, my favourite theme for photography is natural forms and being able to explore that in a minimalistic way was very interesting.

Progressing to studying BA (Hons) Music and Sound recording at York University.

Social media twitter.com/johnsmith instagram.com/johnsmith

Alex Eaton-Watts My favourite subject to photograph is natural forms and wildlife. I specifically enjoy these because I think it’s very interesting to see how different parts of nature interact with each other and why. when you capture a moment in the wild it gives a sense of achievement as it’s something not many people get to see or experience. I chose to do natural forms this year as I wanted to explore my favourite themes of last year more. I started to take pictures of crows as they are very interesting birds and also have an ominous presence, this fit perfectly with me as I also enjoy bird watching so it was relatively easy to find them.

Aram Alharthi For my A level project I explored how codes and conventions are used in movie posters and scenes to present the thriller genre, as I find it the most enticing and mysterious genre, therefore it was fun to explore. I have chosen this theme as the use of mise en scène and colours in movies to create meanings interests me and I always aspire to create meaningful work; I had really important turning points and theme developments throughout the project and I am satisfied with how my project has progressed from taking shots and stills to filming to making film posters meanwhile managing strong links between all themes.

As I will be doing architecture in university, I will have to use my photography skills, however, as I have a genuine passion for photography, I will develop my skills and style in my free time in the future

Cody Powell During my second year studying A Level Photography, I created a project which was based around the idea of Identity. It began with exploring how the lack of realism affects our Identity in which I explored different methods of distortion- digitally using Photoshop and also physically using paper. I then progressed on to something much more simplistic over the course of lockdown- meaningful places, natural states within the household, environmental portraits (people in their natural environments) and documenting family life. Although my ideas at the beginning of my study completely differed to the ones at the end, I can easily say that lockdown changed and developed my project successfully. The final stage of my work focused on documenting the life of my Nan- not only do I feel this was the most successful point in my project, but it was also a point that I felt most proud of!

Progressing to studying Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at York College.

Asha Mistry The inspiration behind this series of images was taken from the concept of exploring the current pandemic our country is currently tackling and ways in which I could visually capture the effects. I wanted to portray how there has been a massive impact to all aspects of society such as economically through the closure of high street shops, this was to prevent the spread of the virus and consequently an influx in online shopping occurred having a knock-on effect to the retail industry, but not only this but the digital and physical effects of the population being encouraged to wear a mask; all these elements of the pandemic I wanted to creatively photograph to form an consensus view of the current problem.

I chose to solely base my project around the Covid-19 pandemic because after researching and reading into various articles and news spreads it was becoming apparent that the virus was taking over all aspects of society in some format and not all of these were being highlighted in the same way, I wanted to focus people’s attentions on these rising areas but through a creative and visually attractive layout therefore used an French binding book format as my final outcome so I could collate all my images together into an powerful representation.

Progressing to studying Studying criminology at University.

Ollie Price I am Ollie Price, originally from Caerphilly Wales, but I now live in North Yorkshire and enjoy travelling widely.

The work that you are viewing is a range of my favourite images. While being in lock down during the Covid-19 pandemic, I have captured a range of different and interesting landscapes in my local area including panoramic and 360’s. I have also included images taken earlier in the year as part of my A Level photography course. The artist that as inspired me the most must be Andrew Brooks as he inspired me to experiment with panoramic images and I now feel that this is my favourite way to capture the environment, I am interested in how it morphs the landscape and is a more creative way of documenting the space around us.

Another Photographer that has inspired me has to be Stephan Crasneanscki this is because he got me to experiment with splitting my panoramic. I found this an effective way of presenting my images. Overall I have loved this project and enjoyed the way it has evolved all the way through!

Fran Partington In my Project ‘The Media’ I talk about the effects the media has on peoples understanding and beliefs of certain topics, the impact the media has on people’s lives especially social media and How stories are portrayed by the media. When using the term ‘Media’ I am referring to the news, social media, radio, newspapers and television, most of which I include in my project to show the different types of media. Initially I had a plan to start off focusing on individual people on a microscopic scale to highlight their struggles with the media, starting with simple portraiture and then as my project progresses to move to a larger scale with protests and political movements however due to circumstances involving covid I went in another direction by focusing closely on social media as this became a big fascination of mine and I decided to stay in the studio with portraiture.

Experimenting with portraiture was my main goal trying with black and white portraiture and colour portraiture, all of which I loved.

Tom Forrest

Grace Palmer Within my project this year, I explored the topic of nostalgia and memory. I photographed many different subject areas such as important objects within the home and spaces which will evoke memories within the viewer. I particularly wanted to try documentation-style photography and I did so throughout the course of my work. Luckily, it was easy to work on my project throughout the lockdowns as most of my shoots focused on my home and local area. Photographing in this environment was crucial to creating a nostalgic feel in my photos.

My favourite shoots were my ones in response to Marjolaine Ryley, Peter Mitchell and the Brothers Quay. I feel they are the most successful of my project and I have included photographs from these shoots. Next year I am going on to study audio engineering and production at Future works in Manchester.

Hannah Docker I’m an A2 Photography, Drama and Psychology student. My photography project focused around relationships and family. I thought this would be interesting to do as it tied into a section of Psychology that we were learning. I started with predominantly shooting portrait photos, but as my project went on, I started photographing still life and objects around my house. This was to give the audience an insight into my family’s private life and how different objects/rooms can say a lot about a person. The object shoots were inspired

by Marjolaine Ryley. These photographs shown on these pages were inspired by the Irish drama television series ‘Normal People’ produced by Catherine Magee. I took the inspiration from how they filmed Normal People and how they purposefully used angles/distance between each character to show the relationship between one another.

Sarah Tunstall Since starting the course, I became more confident in my own style and loved mixing the creativity from my other courses into my photos. I loved finding similarities in the renaissance movement and modern culture for this project, taking a lot from mythology too - as seen in some of these Hades and Persephone inspired photos. I’m taking a year out after the complications in the pandemic, taking the time to travel and document; looking for work experience in the photojournalism and/or performance photography area (mostly I just want to finally pass my driving test!) After, in September 2022, I’ll be starting my English lit degree at Edinburgh in hopes of graduating into a career in publications and photojournalism.

Joss Salton My project originally started around the idea of portraits, however, as my idea developed, so did the actual direction of the project. I went onto my shooting important women in my life, starting with my ex-girlfriend, and finishing with my mum and sister. The last two I could delve into specific events and life experiences that have shaped me and them. Additionally, I added lots of description explaining my thought process, and why I shot things in a certain way.

For me, I am greatly in love with cinema, and the the processes surrounding the industry.

This love and obsession benefitted my project, occasionally meaning my ideas and plans weren’t for the best interest of the project, but once back on track meaning I had an abundance of clips, photos and experiences to show.

Overall, my project is reflective of my respect for important women in my life, but it’s also reflective of my passions and ideas in a controlled environment.

Mollie Foy My name is Mollie Foy and I am 19 years old. I am an accomplished equestrian and compete regularly and this also helped inspire my theme of equestrian sports and the industry that I photographed in my first year studying photography. My images tend to focus on the horse and rider in harmony or close up, cropped images of a horses features and anatomy. I also focused on different disciplines found within the sport. As I am involved within the sport on a day to day basis, it was nice to be able to take a step back from all of the action and capture the small moments that I usually tend to miss when being so involved with it and has really opened my eyes to appreciate every little detail and help to give others an insight to the sport too.

Liv Maxwell I am a second year A level photography student, and these images are taken from my most recent project centred around the concept of human identity. My aim for this project was to investigate the different components of human identity and find ways of using portraiture to represent these different components in their own unique way. This project involved a multitude of indepth research relating to both identity as a concept, as well as interesting ways to use portraiture to convey certain themes of identity. As stated, each shoot I made represents a specific component of identity and is presented using an editing style suitable for that theme. This makes each one of my shoots extremely unique to one another, at first, images from different shoots may not appear to present well together however this was deliberate as I wanted my project to reflect identity in the sense that no two identities (or shoots) are the same.

To increase relatability to the themes of images I implemented lots of alternative research into my work such as doing interviews with models about identity (which later became the basis of my final outcome) and allowing real people and their identity to authentically guide the direction of my work.

This was a challenging project to complete however it was also the most personal and genuine projects I have made and one which I enjoyed producing.

Toby Robinson In my work I looked at skate culture and the different styles in skateboarding photography for example experimenting in different ways to capture action shots for example with slow shutter speed or rather the fashion and style of skate culture and looked at the advertisement of skate clothing and brands. I have taken shoots in both colour and black and white for the documentary style photography look and created lots of things from magazines to brand advertisement posters using these shots. I was inspired by photographers such as Glen E. Friedman, Ray Barbee and Glen Luchford to use what they have but also making it my own. When I presented my work in my final outcome I wanted it to capture the birth of skate culture and take you back to the 1960-70s when skateboarding was first created. I feel as though I fully capture the essence of what skateboarding is all about in my shots

Lottie Murray

Sophie Perrin I’m an A2 Photography, Drama and Psychology student. My photography project focused around relationships and family.

I thought this would be interesting to do as it tied into a section of Psychology that we were learning. I started with predominantly shooting portrait photos, but as my project went on, I started photographing still life and objects around my house. This was to give the audience an insight into my family’s private life and how different objects/rooms can say a lot about a person. The object shoots were inspired by Marjolaine Ryley. These photographs shown on these pages were inspired by the Irish drama television series ‘Normal People’ produced

by Catherine Magee. I took the inspiration from how they filmed Normal People and how they purposefully used angles/distance between each character to show the relationship between one another.

AS LEVEL TEXTILES The course provides students with the opportunity to learn and develop a range of skills in relation to felt making, silk paper making, hand and machine embroidery, various methods of print and surface decoration, fabric manipulation, pattern cutting and garment construction.

Students are given the opportunity to learn and develop a range of skills in relation to felt making, silk paper making, hand and machine embroidery, various methods of print and surface decoration, fabric manipulation, pattern cutting and garment construction. This is taught initially through a six week induction period at the beginning of the 1st year, and then through personal responses to unit themes and externally set assignments provided by the exam board.

The Textiles programme provides students with the opportunity to express themselves imaginatively and creatively using a range of media. It is a demanding course but very enjoyable and rewarding.

Agnese Mazzardi I am an International student from Italy and the textiles course that I have been taking since September has allowed me to experience a totally different method of learning from the one I am used to. At the beginning I struggled to follow and understand what I was asked to do, both due to the different language in which I followed the lessons and because of my total lack of knowledge of the subject. However, with time and effort I began to develop skills that allowed me to increase my understanding.

I was inspired by my artist research and considered several ideas, however by sampling various techniques I decided to create a design based on coral. Colour was an important element of my design, and I decided to go with a bold red and white palette with an emphasis on the finishes and edges of the garment. I made a Toile and used this to adapt and refine my design

Eleanor Wilson The theme for this project was organic forms. Throughout my AS textiles journey, I have developed my ideas thoroughly, my ideas from fungi came from spotting mushrooms during winter walks through lockdown. I am very inspired by the natural beauty of the planet and the environment around us which is shown through primary images I have collected. Giambattista Valli influenced many of my decisions within my work through his use of ruching and creating a three-dimensional structure which links well to fungi. As an artist I found the textures within my final piece fascinating by the way they give the mind an illusion of a fitted silhouette on my corset. I also feel the fabric manipulation evokes a sense of gills under a mushroom. Within the year I have explored different branches off from organic forms from leaves to flowers resulting in fungi.

I think my perfectionist, intricate personality led me to such a thought through piece of work. I included an image of my toile corset compositional design which shows the amount of development and progress I have made from then until now.

Eliza Walmsley My work throughout the year has evolved through sampling, research and experimenting with ideas. Our theme was to explore natural forms and I initially wanted to focus on gardens and weather. My inspiration for my final corset was through literature, I had read the poem

by Alfred lord Tennyson “the kraken,” and took great inspiration for my own work. I decided to focus on the mythical aspect of the sea. I was inspired by the textile artist Ali Scott and her use of vibrant colours in each of her pieces and this led to a consistent focus on colour throughout my project, I enjoy incorporating diverse colour schemes into my work using a range of media such as: paints, fabrics threads and buttons. Another artist that inspired my final corset was Laura Edgar as her deeper use of colours in her seascapes was more appropriate for my own work. .

Emily Pickford Throughout AS textiles I have investigated and explored the theme of organic forms, to develop my ideas thoroughly I decided to focus on plants, I mainly focused on flowers and the leaf of a plant, I also incorporated tree trunks into my final piece. Using samples, I tested a range of different techniques, colours and textures that I could use going forward in my corset. The artist research I did throughout the year really inspired me in my own work and helped me to make informed decisions, one artist who inspired me was Lindsay Philip Butterfield, the use of a soft colour palette where all the colours are like one another influenced my decisions in the colours I chose to use on my corset, Lindsay’s colour palette worked amazingly as the colours complimented each other well, they also created an image that looked put together. Another artist who inspired me was Lesley Richmond, her realism in her work created by her choice of colours or textures used also heavily influenced me in the choice of colours I used, I wanted to convey the realistic aspects of nature like she did, I used my knowledge of fabric properties and free-hand machine embroidery to manipulate the fabric and create texture into my work.

Grace Blake This year In AS textiles i explored the theme ‘organic form’s’. I investigated techniques, researched artists and evolved my ideas to lead me to focus my project surrounding seasonal change. To portray how organic forms contrast through my chosen seasons, autumn and spring, I found ways to convey realistic natural elements. A prominent technique was free motion embroidery, I explored the formal elements, colour, shape and line. My primary images and observational sketches highlighted to me the importance of colour in naturals forms, I considered this when conveying ‘spring’ to ensure a visual interest and accuracy. Portraying tree trunks has been a significant focal point within my project. My corset final design was radically altered at points. My corset composition evolved in unison with my use of new fabrics; the fabric tyvek enlightened me to an entirely new imitation of tree bark. Rigorous sampling showed which media’s work best for the theme. contextually next year I plan to take forward my found knowledge of designers and techniques.

Hennie Soug I am an International student from Norway.

I was inspired by several artistsincluding Nancy Blum, who makes drawings and sculptures of flowers. She takes inspiration from 16th and 17th century botanical images. That inspired me to mix the veins in a leaf and the Dalia flower based on my own drawing and photographs.

I learned lots of techniques and produced many samples to create the look I wanted.

When I mixed the different fabric together on the corset I managed to create volume and texture. I hand painted the fabric before I made them, so every flower is uniquely coloured by creating an ombre effect which reflects the Dalia flower in nature.

Verity Ranby Inspired by all the chaos and change this past year has caused, my corset juxtaposes the organic epithelial rhythm of natural forms with the harsh lines and structure given by a traditional corset. I developed my knowledge of multiple textural techniques including fabric manipulation and ways of creating contrast with colour- being heavily inspired

by Joanna Vasconcelos who used pattern and colour in a bold, maximalist way that highlights shape. Shape was very important to my composition to reflect the many forms found in nature. I also created different additional forms within a traditional corset structure. These included a multilayer ruffle and striking piping that adds balance to an otherwise diverse use of techniques. I think the juxtaposition of these techniques emphasising nature’s everchanging ways and highlighting the texture of moss or foliage. I wanted a less than literal visual experience as I believe nature is means something different to everyone.

A2 LEVEL TEXTILES The course provides students with the opportunity to learn and develop a range of skills in relation to felt making, silk paper making, hand and machine embroidery, various methods of print and surface decoration, fabric manipulation, pattern cutting and garment construction.

Students are given the opportunity to learn and develop a range of skills in relation to felt making, silk paper making, hand and machine embroidery, various methods of print and surface decoration, fabric manipulation, pattern cutting and garment construction. This is taught initially through a six week induction period at the beginning of the 1st year, and then through personal responses to unit themes and externally set assignments provided by the exam board.

The Textiles programme provides students with the opportunity to express themselves imaginatively and creatively using a range of media. It is a demanding course but very enjoyable and rewarding.

Cody Powell During my second year studying textiles, I fabricated an entire project based around the idea of Fashion and Architecture. It began with something quite abstract and then progressed onto something much more structural and three dimensional.

Consistent throughout my project was a neutral and monotone colour palette which along with the extensive range of textures and materials, obtained a large proportion of the visual interest in my work.

Another sector of the textiles industry I particularly enjoyed working in was fashion design. This allowed me to bring all my initial ideas to life through the use of simple yet intricate sketches.

Emma Plews My project this year was heading towards focusing mainly on free machine embroidery, inspired by Wendy Dolan. However, since my final exam was cancelled due to Covid, I was able to develop my project further by experimenting with tea staining and different ways to my print photos onto a range of fabrics. I think that this extra time I had to develop my project allowed me to increase the standard of my work and expand my knowledge. Next year, I am planning to go on to do the Art and Design Foundation Degree that the college provides. This will allow me to develop my skills and find the area of art that I enjoy the most so I can be certain which direction my next steps will be.

Progressing to studying Foundation Diploma in art and Design at York college.

Helen Mason This year I started by exploring what it meant to not know about my heritage and how many years of having mental health issues have led me to masking how I’m feeling.

My project took an about turn when I thought about using offcuts of fabric to make a memory quilt or similar. The project then became a celebration of what I gained April 2020, when I made contact with my father for the first time, and subsequently with my step-mom, 3 half sisters, their husbands and 5, then 6, nieces and nephews.

My ‘new’ family have accepted me, meeting my sisters, and their families via zoom, was like meeting old friends I haven’t seen for years. I feel so lucky to have been able to find them after decades of searching, and even luckier that there is a joy in the finding, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Liffy Wilson I am an A-level student, studying textiles and Fine Art. The textile work I have chosen to include is from both my AS and A2 textile projects. Throughout the year, my textile work has be en inspired by the natural world, focusing on the varying textures as well as the more subtle details within nature (such as moss and lichen on tree bark as well as plants in the forest undergrowth.) Through exploring the tactile elements and easily overlooked details of the natural world, I wanted to show the importance of the ecosystem and the smaller plants and organisms which are vital within it. This project was interesting as while it progressed, my appreciation of the natural world increased and the more closely I looked, the more interesting textures, shapes and colours I saw within the environment.

Progressing to studying Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at York College.

Social Media @liffy.katya

Megan Hayward My initial starting point was street fashion, but I had a real interest in print, surface decoration and fabric manipulation too. My dad loves the Beano and after taking inspiration from Pop Art and the work of Roy Lichtenstein, I experimented with ways to create benday dots and repeat patterns in a comic book style. I really wanted to keep my designs mono tone and simple, so I experimented with gathering and quilting to add texture to my final piece jacket.

Progressing to studying Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at York College

Megan Lloyd I started my project with a focus and interest in textures and the detailed surfaces found in nature and the environment but as my ideas and practical work developed, I moved towards urban environments. I started documenting graffiti; looking for comments, slogans and slang words, but also areas of interesting block colours and shapes. I explored a range of print and surface decoration processes which resulted in a set of work using my photos as a base, layering fabrics and textures up and doing reverse appliques.