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Author: cap_benjamin

Rythmic Structures: #AIRetc at Modern 1

Published March 26, 2015

“New works by Julie Duffy developed during her Residency in the HND Contemporary Art Practice #AIRetc studio.

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Julie’s new work for Pig Rock Bothy at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is the result of a 5 month residency at Edinburgh College, Granton Campus.  Julie spent this time researching the collaborative work of Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg alongside Oskar Schlemmer’s ‘Das Triadische Ballett’.  The work explores the formal qualities of dance, with the purity and severity in the movements of Cunningham’s choreography, juxtaposed with the extreme colour palette and costumes of Schlemmer’s ballet. The Bothy will be home to a screen-printed floor, hanging drapes and delicate sculptures made from felt, card and expanding foam. The final phase of the work will see dancers from Edinburgh College’s BA Hons Dance take-up residency in the Bothy. This residency will give the dancers the opportunity to choreograph a piece in response to Julie’s work. Speaking about the installation SNGMA Curator Julie-Ann Delaney said:

“The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is delighted to be working with Julie Duffy on the presentation of her ambitious new installation within Pig Rock Bothy at Modern One. Julie’s work has transformed the internal of the bothy, and the culmination of the project – which will see a newly choreographed dance work made by Edinburgh College students – will further this by bringing the space to life in a manner unlike ever before.” Julie-Ann Delaney. Curator, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

The AIRetc… programme was launched in 2010 and is an innovative scheme which provides recently graduated / professional artists with a dedicated studio space within Edinburgh College as well as access to specialist resources and facilities. The programme is open to practicing Artists who have previously studied Contemporary / Fine Art at Edinburgh College Granton and who wish to develop their practice and gain experience in learning and teaching in Further Education.

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Talking about the AIRetc experience Julie said:

“Working with the lecturers and students on the Contemporary Art Practice HND has been really stimulating. The AIR residency at Edinburgh College has been a wonderful opportunity to develop a new body of work in a creative and supportive environment. Showing my new work in such an internationally significant institution wouldn’t have been possible without the AIRetc programme.”

AIRetc coordinator and Contemporary Art Lecturer Alan Holligan added:

“Julie’s show at in the Bothy is a mark of the quality of the artists graduating from the HND Contemporary Art Practice Course who then return as Artist In Residence.  Julie’s contribution to the course has been excellent and her influence on students is clear. I’d like to thank the Scottish National Gallery of Modern art for their support.”

AIRetc Coordinator and Contemporary Art Lecturer at Edinburgh College Alan Holligan went on to say:

Julie Duffy graduated from the HND  at the former Telford College in 2008 and went on to gain a 1st class BA Hons Degree in Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD).  She is our eighth resident in the AIR studio with previous AIR’s having exhibited at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop and Creative Exchange.

Since graduating from DJCAD in 2011 Julie has developed new work and has exhibited regularly throughout Edinburgh including solo exhibitions at Summerhall and group shows at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. As well as developing her solo practice in sculpture Julie has more recently been developing collaborative practices with Hayley Mathers who, as well as being a former AIRetc…. is also a graduate from DJCAD.

Julie is also an active member and former studio holder at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop where she has developed a curatorial role as a member of the 2 person TANK committee which is responsible for the programming of the TANK project and exhibition space at ESW.

Julie has already made a fantastic contribution to the HND CAP course by getting involved with studio / project crits and we are all really looking forward to the working closely with her over the next few months.

In August 2015 Julie will move to Glasgow to begin the Masters course at Glasgow School of Art.

Thanks:

Julie-Ann Delaney, Curator, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Staff and students HND Contemporary Art Practice Edinburgh College

http://julieduffy.wordpress.com/

https://airetc.wordpress.com/

https://contemporaryartetc.com/

Au revoir Julie Duffy AIRetc

Published February 3, 2015

Goodbye is so very hard to say so as its au revoir to artist in residence Julie Duffy whose tenure in the AIRetc studio came to an end last friday. It has been a fabulous 5 months working alongside Julie and we are all extremely grateful for the contribution she has made to the CAP course so far. Although Julie will be around the college now and again as we prepare for her exhibition at the Bothy at the National Gallery of Modern Art next month it seemed appropriate to mark the end of her residency on Friday when she moved out of the studio. So it was juice & custard creams all-round courtesy of the students.

Further info on Julie’s exhibition will be posted soon but in the meantime you can take a look at her blog postings made during the residency here: https://airetc.wordpress.com/tag/julie-duffy/

Tutorials at GSA

Published February 3, 2015

Over the last few years we have been developing a successful relationship with the Sculpture & Environmental Art (SEA) dept at Glasgow School of Art. There are a lot of #exCAPers currently studying across years 2,3 & 4 and several have graduated from SEA in recent years. Last year Jennie and I spent a day in dept discussing applications, progression, course structures and participating in Year 2 crits which was a fantastic opportunity for us to benchmark the courses and establish closer ties.

Last week we returned along with 5 current CAP2 students who have applied to GSA SEA for next year. In the morning we took part in Year 2 project tutorials which included Subie and Shareen who graduated from CAP last year.

After lunch we went to  695 Gallery which is within the site of the 3rd Year Public Art Project. The students including #exCAPer Heather Lane, were hanging their exhibition and we were able to discuss some of the projects and find out more about the 3rd year course.

Finally we went with Heather and Elizabeth, our fantastic host, to the Savoy shopping centre to see G-Unit a fantastic public engagement project /programme by another #exCAPer, Rachel Simpson and her collaborative partner Hannan Jones. During the project G-Unit is running a series of workshops including screenings and book binding / production.

It was a fantastic day and great so see and hear how well all our former CAP colleagues are getting on at GSA and we look forward to seeing how their work continues to progress.

 

“For Reasons Unknown to Me”

Published January 31, 2015

The images below are from the opening of “For Reasons Unknown to Me” a group exhibition at Edinburgh’s Whitespace Gallery that featured new paintings by Beth Carey of CAP1 and sculpture & performance video by ex Foundation student Michael Kay.

Artists: House of Lords debate

Published January 22, 2015

The question of government support for individual artists, including visual artists, writers and composers, was the subject of an hour-long debate in the House of Lords this week.

The debate covered a variety of themes including the contribution of art to society, individual and state funding of the art and artists and whether or not art production is becoming a preserve of the rich.

A full transcript of the debate can be found HERE and the following extract relating to art education is taken from a fuller article on the a-n website HERE

A key theme picked up on by a number of peers was the importance of education to the wider debate around the diversity of artists and the value of art in society. Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (Liberal Democrat) said: “It is essential that the status of the arts in the classroom is properly recognised.”

“Have you noticed that whenever an important person visits a school – a prime minister or a president – the first things that they are shown are the paintings of the children? The next thing they are invited to do is to listen to the singing of the children. I rest our case.”

This week the Secretary of State for Scotland visited Edinburgh College to speak to students about votes for 16-17 year olds:

Luc Tuymans guilty!?

Published January 22, 2015

The Art Newspaper reported yesterday:

The Belgian artist Luc Tuymans was found guilty of copyright infringement in a legal dispute over a portrait he created in 2011. A civil court in Antwerp ruled on 15 January that Tuymans’s painting A Belgian Politician—a dramatically cropped image of the MP Jean-Marie Dedecker—borrowed too heavily from a photograph taken one year earlier by Katrijn Van Giel, a photojournalist for the Flemish newspaper De Standaard……

Read the full article here: http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/Tuymans-found-guilty-in-copyright-case-involving-political-portrait/36825

Commentary from todays Guardian by Adrian Searle: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jan/21/luc-tuysmans-katrijn-van-giel-dedecker-legal-case

Up town top rankin. TAXI !!

Published January 17, 2015

It was a day on the town for CAPetc today. Talbot Rice Gallery to start where assistant curator James Clegg gave us an introduction to both the galleries current shows. First up was The Beguiled Eye, Christopher Orr’s first solo show in Scotland, bringing together new and recent paintings and featuring, for the first time, the artist’s remarkable sketchbooks.

‘Orr’s oil paintings and watercolours offer enigmatic glimpses into other worlds where modern characters appear within expansive environments, laden with drama. The intriguing scenes derive from an appropriation of images from a vast range of visual materials, including National Geographic magazines, scientific manuals, 1950s snaps, art historical images and Super 8 films.’

Also on at the TR is gap in the air: a festival of sonic art which is “a celebration of music and sonic art in Talbot Rice’s Georgian Gallery, including performances by experimental musicians and artists, work by staff and students, workshops and academic discussions. The programme is dedicated to the experience of sound, the neo-classical space of the Georgian Gallery becoming a sounding-box for the most prescient themes in contemporary sonic art”

Next up was a quick walk up to Edinburgh College of Art for a talk by Mark McGowan aka The Artist Taxi Driver. As anticipated the talk was excellent and Mark gave us all a great deal to think about in relation to politics, culture and the role & responsibility or art & artists in contemporary society. Below is one of Marks videos which was playing as we took our seats in the lecture hall.

Thanks to Rhubaba Gallery & Studios for organising the event and for inviting CAP.

http://youtu.be/piHUpmIlU5w

EMERGING ARTIST RESIDENCY @ SSW

Published January 13, 2015

Residency opportunity for groups and individuals at Scottish Sculpture Workshop: Closing date 26th of January 2015

Visiting Artist: Catherine Street

Published December 5, 2014

It was great to be joined today by Edinburgh based artist Catherine Street who gave a fantastic talk about her work and some of the key influences on her performance practice this morning. Several #CAPers also took the opportunity to have studio tutorials with Catherine.

Take a look at Catherine’s website here: http://catherinestreet.net/

 

Changes: Settlement Projects

Published November 27, 2014

In yet another foray into the community CAP2 recently embarked on a project in collaboration  with the Settlement Projects community shop in Leith Walk. Participants in the project were tasked with selecting an object or objects from the shop and through a process of research and development effect a change in relation to their chosen object.

The intention of the project was to bring a new, alternate or enhanced understanding to the selected object. The change could be physical, conceptual or contextual.

At the end of the project the transformed objects were represented in an exhibition organized by the participants.

We would like to thank the Settlement Projects Shop for their assistance, patience and continued support for the Change Project and we look forward to working with them again in the future.

The Edinburgh Settlement is a multipurpose organization with a rich history spanning more than 100 years of active local involvement. They are part of the international settlement movement; a global network of social action centres which aim to work closely with communities, representing and responding to their different needs and aspirations to promote social and environmental welfare and help bring about effective and lasting community development.

Find out more: https://www.facebook.com/settlementprojectsedinburgh/info?tab=page_info

CAP1 ESW Residency

Published November 24, 2014

A few weeks ago it was the turn of CAP1 to take up residence at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. Although an annual event for 7 years this was only our 3rd year in the new Bill Scott Sculpture Centre as part of our formal partnership with ESW. Since the new premises opened in June 2012 ESW and the college have had a formal partnership which has ESW designated as an Edinburgh College Employability Centre. The partnership allows students to undertake their Introduction to Sculpture course in a purpose built professional studio & workshop environment for the research, development and production of sculptural practice.

As well as the formal sculptural practice developed during the residency a number of Professional Practice events took place including wood workshop induction and a talk by ESW Curator of Research Dan Brown who spoke to the residency participants about the facilities, history & philosophy of ESW as well as the education, exhibition and residency programmes. Other events included a studio visit with studio holder Kate Ive and a talk by RSA/ESW International Residency winner Norbert Delman whose exhibition Sweat / Suffer / Success was open in the gallery space. All the talks took place in the new multi function research space at ESW which is flexile enough to have round table talks and discussions as well as presentations. Having access to the space and resources meant we were able to have our annual Moving Image event curated by #exCAPer and regular guest lecturer Benjamin Fallon which was held over two evenings at ESW.

Next May we will return to ESW with CAP2 for their Diploma Exhibition by which time the second phase of the multi £million capital project ‘Creative Laboratories’ will have been open for 6 months and we are looking forward to spending a week working and exhibiting in the new spaces.

Click on the links below to see  blog posts by CAP1 ESW Residents:

Szabolcs Fricska:  http://sfricskacap.tumblr.com/post/101630305745/the-week-that-we-spent-at-the-edinburgh-sculpture

Yulia Vitten: http://iuliiavittencap.tumblr.com/post/101836631621/my-final-sculpture-from-the-week-at-esw-and-small

Magdealen Gunkowska: http://mgunkowskacap.tumblr.com/post/101166933302/my-experiments-with-plaster-and-construction

http://mgunkowskacap.tumblr.com/post/101171457022

Elena Cheltsova: http://echeltsovacap.tumblr.com/post/101429925954/esw-day-3-modelling-with-plaster-thought-of

Freya Taylor: http://freyataylorcap.tumblr.com/post/100831352454/collaborative-installation-lots-of-fun-i-was

Art School, Smart School

Published November 23, 2014

Is this the end of the British art school?

60s-Art-School

Last week BBC Radio 4 aired the programme Art School, Smart School which featured contributions from Brian Eno, Tracy Emin and Grayson Perry as they lament the creative freedom afforded by the British post war art school experience and share fears about the increasing commodification and the increasing need to legitimate study y demonstrating market relevance. You can listen to the programme by clicking the link below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04pr1w2

Art School, Smart School, was produced by Isabel Sutton, and first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 22nd November at 8pm

As well as producing the programme Isobel Sutton has also written the following article for the New Statesman first published on the 20th Nov 2014.

When the Great Exhibition opened its doors in 1851, Britain’s reputation as the workshop of the world was on the wane. Few visitors would have known it at the time, but the exhibition signified the high watermark of British manufacturing. French design and Prussian engineering were already edging ahead. In 2012, London hosted another event designed to present Britain to the world – one which referenced the upheaval of the Industrial Revolution by featuring towering smoke stacks and beating drums.

Danny Boyle’s Olympic opening ceremony represented British history as a creative blossoming that started in the nineteenth century but seemed to reach its zenith in the twentieth century when fashion, film and pop music boomed. And yet it seems to me that Boyle’s Olympic opener – just like the Great Exhibition – was telling a story about Britain that had already ceased to be true. The circumstances which made it possible for artists to thrive in Britain during the twentieth century are rapidly disappearing. And perhaps one of the most essential changes is in our art schools.

Name any one of the UK’s most famous designers or musicians, never mind artists, and they are likely to have set foot in an art school at one time or other: David Bowie, Pete Townsend, Brian Eno, Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano. I could go on and on. Economist Hasan Bakhshi of innovation charity Nesta says that he is frequently asked about how we run our art schools by educationalists abroad. Art schools are perceived by many as the key to our creative success.

Yet art schools have changed dramatically over the last 20–30 years, causing many to question whether they will, in the future, cultivate the innovators we so badly need. Art schools used to be havens for students who, for whatever reason, had not found their niche in the traditional academic system. Now prospective art students very often have to prove their academic credentials to compete for a place at the most prestigious colleges. Once on the course, art students have to submit an increasing volume of written work, arguably a distraction from practical skills and craft.

Tuition fees have made higher education in Britain more expensive than anywhere else in Europe, and art schools are no exception. This means that the social and economic mix is disappearing (students from poorer backgrounds being less inclined to take out a loan for a non-vocational subject such as fine art). What’s more, art schools are going out of their way to attract foreign students for the extra income they bring. Unsurprisingly, there is deep concern among many artists and teachers that the age of the art school is – to quote Sir Christopher Frayling – “over”.

Frayling was, until 2009, dean of one of Britain’s most venerable art schools, the Royal College (RCA). But as I walked its corridors with him recently, he admitted that even this renowned institution has suffered from the same damaging developments as art schools around the country: workshops for ceramics, printing, and metalwork have been replaced by computer rooms, digital expertise is prioritised before craft; student numbers are rocketing and teaching hours are sinking.

Read the full article on the New Statement website: 

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/11/end-british-art-school

Bothy Residency at SNGMA

Published November 16, 2014

In late September #CAPetcY2 undertook a 5 day residency in the Pig Rock Bothy at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Located within the grounds of the gallery Pig Rock Bothy is the 3rd of 3 residency spaces developed and produced as part of the ongoing Bothy Project. Having the opportunity to develop and produce work in such a prestigious location was daunting for all of us but despite what felt like significant pressure to make productive use of the space a decision was made to take creative risks and adopt a fluid and responsive approach to the residency.

A loose skeletal plan was developed by staff for each of the 5 days with each day beginning and ending with a group discussion around the table in the bothy. This allowed for the days activities to be developed collaboratively and for reflection of the days events. It was quickly established that the source for the weeks work would be the location, context and content of the gallery. The resources provided were purposely limited and basic in order to reflect the residency experience the bothy will offer when relocated thus stretching the participants to produce innovative and creative responses. Throughout the week a variety of group and individual responses were made to exhibits in the gallery including, sculpture, drawing, photographs, creative writing, installation and performance.

On day 5 the residency culminated with a full day of installations, performances and presentations developed over the week all of which were open to the public. The particular highlight for all the participants was the performances made in response to the works in the galleries by Charles Avery, Graham Fagen, Roderick Buchanan, Lucy McKenzie and Ross Sinclair which were performed live in an around the works often to the delighted surprise of the public who believing they were in a particularly busy room of fellow contemporary art enthusiasts found themselves in the middle of a live performances examining the nature of art and our relationships with it.

The entire week was thoroughly documented, some of which is shown on this post but much, much more including sound recordings and video documentation can be found on the tumblr blog created by the CAP2: http://etccapbothy.tumblr.com

We would like to thank the Scottish National Galleries, The Bothy Project and in particular Julie-Ann Delaney Curator at SNGMA for supporting and facilitating the project.

Surveillance Gallery at NEA

Published November 15, 2014

Film by Electric Lime Productions

The Surveillance Gallery is a project conceived and developed by local artist, film maker and #CAPetc graduate, Bob Winton in collaboration with North Edinburgh Art Centre.  Just a few hundred yards from us at Edinburgh College the gallery project provides an exciting new public exhibition space the heart of the Muirhouse community of North Edinburgh. Nestling neatly in the public walkthrough space between the Pennywell shopping arcade and North Edinburgh Arts Centre Surveillance Gallery launched with an exhibition featuring a range of work from artists at varying stages of their careers including Erin Colquhoun, Mariola Albinowska & Georgia Thornton all #CAPers past and present.

All the works were pasted or painted  directly onto the exterior walls of both the Art an shopping centres enlivening an otherwise blank seldom considered space with a variety of 2D artworks. In mid september we took a walk round the gallery with Bob and Kate Wimpress, Director of North Edinburgh Art Centre, both of whom gave really informative and enthusiastic talks about the centre and the Surveillance Gallery project.

The Surveillance Gallery is an ongoing and we are really delighted to have been asked to continue with out participation and support for the project.

Skinny Review CAP @ESW

Published November 9, 2014
Jay Easton ESW
Extract from FEATURE BY ROSAMUND WEST.
PUBLISHED 04 JULY 2014

“The Contemporary Art Practice course has a fine art focus, offering students the environment to experiment, to investigate processes and challenge themselves. Says lecturer Alan Holligan, “We offer a very broad range of contemporary practices so people can specialise in sculpture, 2D practices, 3D practices or mixed practice. Usually they make decisions based on the courses they specifically want to go to, wherever that might be. They’re encouraged to work into areas that we as lecturers don’t necessarily have expertise in. I think in some courses they’re supposed to stay within the knowledge of their lecturer, which is why there’s often an emphasis on painting, an emphasis on sculpture, whereas we’re very clear that the students’ ambition shouldn’t be set by our skillset. They need to outreach that and often we have to keep up with them, which is good for everybody concerned.”

This year’s class first exhibited in the working professional environment that is the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, before transferring a pared-down version of the show to Summerhall. They’re a mixed bunch, exploring a wide variety of disciplines with varying degrees of success. Still at an experimental stage in their practice, this is to be expected. However, some students display a striking level of ambition, notably Jay Easton, who delves into the realms of technology to present work which aims to pose challenging questions. In ESW, two iPhones communicate with one another, displaying the mundane chatter between a couple. With the human protagonists removed from the equation, the relationship is reduced to two screens interacting eerily.

In Summerhall, Easton displays two QR codes, one on a slate (redolent of history, sculpture, early man) and one on a box afixed to the wall. A hasty download of a QR scanner (the technology seems a bit retro already, ironically) reveals the works to link to texts on his blog meditating on the dangers of an unconsidered embrace of technology, and the parallels of Pandora’s box, respectively.

He’s now off to GSA to delve further into his research. Like many in the Let’s Glow showcase, Easton is at an interesting point in his development. The bright prospects each has before them suggests this will not be the last we hear of them.”

Read the full article here: http://www.theskinny.co.uk/art/features/308272-edinburgh_college_lets_glow

Anjila’s Glasses: 2014 Diploma Show ESW

Published November 9, 2014

It has been a while but finally we’re getting round to some blog updates. Although there have been a few updates over and since the summer there are a few gaps that need filling so we’ll start with some images from the 2014 Diploma Exhibition Anjila’s Glasses which took place at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop in late May. The exhibition was fantastic of course and extremely well attended on the opening night and the following days is was open to the public. This year the exhibition was shorter than usual, open only 2 days for public viewing but that was due to the need to relocate much of the work to Summerhall as the students were taking part in the general Edinburgh College Creative Industries HND Diploma Exhibition at the city centre arts venue.

A week into the Summerhall show an additional room became available which allowed our CAP1 colleagues to show a work each from their recent projects and you can see them installing in their work in the image below.

CAP1 Summerhall

You can see more of the CAP end of year exhibitions and the openings in this slide show:

New AIRetc: Julie Duffy

Published September 25, 2014

JD3

Julie Duffy & Hayley Mathers: A Birthday Party for Lee Miller

The AIRetc…. Contemporary Art Team are delighted to welcome our new Artist In Residence, Julie Duffy. Julie, who graduated from the HND at at the former Telford College in 2008 went on to gain a 1st class BA Hons Degree in Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD), is our eighth resident in the AIR studio.

Since graduating from DJCAD in 2011 Julie has developed new work and has exhibited regularly throughout Edinburgh including solo exhibitions at Summerhall and group shows at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. As well as developing her solo practice in sculpture Julie has more recently been developing collaborative practices with Hayley Mathers who as well as being a former AIRetc…. is also a graduate from DJCAD.

Julie is also an active member and former studio holder at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop where she has developed a curatorial role as a member of the 2 person TANK committee which is responsible for the programming of the TANK project and exhibition space at ESW.

Julie has already made a fantastic contribution to the HND CAP course by getting involved with studio / project crits and we are all really looking forward to the working closely with her over the next few months.

Julie will be blogging throughout her time as AIR and as always you can follow her progress on the AIRetc website. In the meantime you can find pout more about Julie and her practice by visiting her website:

http://julieduffy.wordpress.com/

http://airetc.wordpress.com/