Congratulations to Edinburgh College CAP Alumni Jenny Souter on the film she made in partnership with the Guardian, Screen Education Edinburgh (formely Video in Pilton) and the people of North Edinburgh.
Click on the image to watch the film on the Guardian Website.
Jenny’s connection to the area dates back to 2010 when she started studying at Edinburgh College’s Granton Campus. During her final year on CAP Jenny participated in “Local” a project we developed with the North Edinburgh History Group and North Edinburgh Arts Centre. The project began with meetings between our CAP 2 artist and the members of the history group who showed films, shared stories about the social history and activism of North Edinburgh and gave the students a guided tour of the area. In response the students made a range of creative responses which you can see in the post below from 2012.
The project came about through a chance encounter with legendary North Edinburgh activist Willie Black and a conversation about my own connections with North Edinburgh through my Granny Holligan and Uncle Charlie who remianed in the area until the start of the redevelopment in 2008/9. Willie played a key role in the entire project and it is great to see him feature in this new film.
Jenny’s response to the project 10yrs ago was aslo a very successful moving image work titled “Sysiphus” , below, which was developed in reaponse to archive footage of local women featured about the seemingly futile battle with the damp in their houses.
Jenny Souter: “Sysiphus” 2012
It is wonderful to see that 10yrs later Jenny has returned to the community and made this fantastic new film. We cant wait to see whats next!
Two Edinburgh College HND CAP students are getting ready to fly across Europe after being selected to take part in a prestigious contemporary art professional development opportunity in the Italian city of Venice this year.
HND Contemporary Art Practice students Chloe McHardy and Kirsten Grant have been selected to work at the Venice Biennale, a series of exhibitions curated around a specific theme representing the cream of global contemporary art.
This year there are 213 artists from 58 countries taking part which can be seen across the city of Venice from April to November and is one of the most prestigious cultural festivals in the world and a celebration of art and architecture.
Edinburgh College’s HND Contemporary Art Practice (CAP) course is celebrating the first year of a partnership with A-N (Artists Newsletter), The British Council, and Scotland + Venice, meaning two fully-funded places were available for CAP students to take part in Scotland + Venice’s Professional Development Plan.
After a competitive application process, Chloe and Kirsten were selected to be the first successful CAP recipients of this prestigious professional and career-defining development opportunity and will spend four weeks living and working in Venice.
During their time in Venice, Chloe and Kirsten will gain invaluable hands-on experience and will draw from the rigorous training programme they have already undertaken. This programme has included learning about the day-to-day running of a contemporary art gallery whilst working closely alongside Scotland’s representative artist Alberta Whittle.
Scotland + Venice was originally founded in 2003, identifying itself as distinct from the British Pavilion, a place that could celebrate the unique and independent space that Scotland has within the global Contemporary Art World.
Edinburgh College Art & Design lecturer Jennie Temple said: “The HND Contemporary Art Course is absolutely delighted that this partnership has been established and we celebrate the significant recognition from Scotland + Venice, the British Council and A-N that our students are rightfully valuable and highly capable contributors to the Professional Development Plan.
“The CAP course works continually hard to ensure that students are provided with a meaningful, appropriate, and active learning experience that sets solid foundations for both continuing education and working within the art industry. We are very proud of all of our students, and the work that both Chloe and Kirsten have put in to successfully achieving their well-earned places on Scotland + Venice’s PDP stands as testament not only to themselves but the course itself.
“Well done Chloe and Kirsten, we are incredibly proud of you, and we look forward to the CAP community benefiting from your first-hand experience and the ripples of your time in Venice reaching the distant shores of the Granton Campus in North Edinburgh in the coming months.”
Norah Campbell, Head of Arts, British Council Scotland, and Scotland + Venice partnership board member said: “The Scotland + Venice programme has had a hugely positive impact for those taking part over the years, and I’m sure this year will be no different. The invigilators will have a unique opportunity to build lasting global connections, grow their professional network, experience a vast range of contemporary art, and most importantly – to generate ideas for their own work and practise.”
Edinburgh College School of Artand Design presents their annualend of year exhibition, showcasingwork from Graduating HigherEducation Diploma students
May 2–22 2022
Edinburgh College:Graduate Diploma Show
it was a pleasure to be able to go in person for the show.
I was impressed totally by the work, hard work of all the students.
Attending to the shows allows me to be surrounded by the artistic world and to have opportunity to talk to my colleagues , lectures and to talk through some future opportunities like UNI.
It was really uplifting overall.
Fruitmarket gallery, Edinburgh,Scotland
Rachel Hughes
“This project was based on me discovering myself through my cultural identity.
Throughout this project I explore bringing together Scottish and Malaysian culture to create something new that helped to represent me. I looked at art techniques, national flowers, fabrics, dances , and music from both countries” – R.Hughes
After 2 years of online learning and teaching it was an absolute pleasure and a privilage to return to an in person Graduate Showcase. Despite our live online presentations in 2020 & 2021 being a fantastic exeprience for us and a huge success it was with great relief on the part of myself, Jennie and Colette that this years presentation was at the prestigous Fruitmarket Gallery.
You can see the work presented in the galleries new warehouse space below:
Vera Bartolozzi:
My practice explores archetypes and gender with the use of found objects, sculptures, performance, and installation. After considering the universal symbols of the circle, source of life, and the pilar, activating power, in prehistoric art around the world, and then considering some of the main archetypes of Ancient Greece, I have inverted the features of some goddesses and gods from the Greek pantheon, and created screen-prints of the two renewed archetypes. On the floor, one vulvic and one phallic circle of sculptures offer the stage for an imagined ritual of integration.
Vera has direct entry offers for both Glasgow School of Art (GSA) and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) at Dundee University
Barbara Di Tucci:
Shifting and floating. Clouds are the greatest protagonists of this arduous world. Teaching us how to endure and persevere, without changing our true nature. I am a huge lover of those ethereal and yet powerful elements. I define myself a “clouds hunter”, often looking for the most captivating moment to capture their immense beauty. Life is already hard as it is, and our constant worrying accentuates and influences defining portions of it. Just like clouds do, our thoughts are constantly flowing, and “following” us throughout our daily existence. A perpetual cycle that powers itself through the ongoing emotions seasoning our life. In often cases, it hides distressful circumstances, which are merely visible when getting closer to knowing others.
Barbara is returning to her home town in Italy after several successful years in Edinburgh.
Kirsten Grant:
‘Living Quietly’ is a project about the day-to-day life, the mundane tasks that can build up when suffering from mental illness. For the past couple of months I have been documenting my life through a visual diary and how the pandemic has affected me post lockdown.
Kirsten is returning to their home town of Brighton to develop their art and music practices.
Rachel Hughes:
This project was based on me discovering myself through my cultural identity. Throughout this project I explored bringing together Scottish and Malaysian culture to create something new that helped represent me. I looked at art techniques, national flowers, fabrics, dances, and music from both countries. The piece I have on display is a multi-purpose piece of fabric, currently being used as a tablecloth but could also be used as a kilt or shawl. Accompanying this is a short photo montage video with music from both countries playing.
Rachel has direct entry offers for bothe Glasgow School of Art (GSA) and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) at Dundee University
Tammy McMaster Stewart:
‘I know this place but it doesn’t know me’
Tammy has been offered has direct entry for Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh University, Glasgow School of Art and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at Dundee University
Sean Obrzud:
The inspiration behind these artworks grew from the idea of creative rekindling. Relearning, trusting, and nurturing creative intuition. Each composition feels like an ode to growth, snapshots into a developing meditative practice of creative self-confidence.
Sean has direct entry offer for the Painting School at Glasgow School of Art. (GSA)
Caitlin Porteous:
This portrait serves as a reflection of my relationship with femininity and an invitation for the audience to think about what ‘feminine’ means.
The various expectations of women – young, attractive, hairless bodies – and the need to conform to the unachievable is instilled into girls from an early age. I am using this work as a means to reflect on how I view and present myself in everyday life.
Caitlin is currently looking for a studio to develop her painting practice in Edinburgh.
Finlay Warner:
In this project I wanted to show the loss I felt at the demolition of a city’s historical buildings and to combine that with the inspiration and colour of the architecture of Spain. I achieved the feeling of the loss of structure by creating an abstract piece which has allowed me to represent the feeling and drama in the loss of the historical buildings and cityscape. (This is a work in progress)
Finlay has acheived his dream of gaining entry to Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) at Dundee University.
Ben Wilson:
My ritualistic gown was inspired by traditional pagan costumes and 70s folk horror films, and the small offerings are based on ancient methods of treating epilepsy or the ‘falling sickness’, for example the Romans used peony roots and hare’s stomachs and continuing on from that I included natural substances that I believe helped like turmeric and ginger. The performative ritual shown in my film would be to ward off unwanted epilepsy spirits or demons.
Ben is our prize winning artist for outstanding studentship over the last 2 years. As a result of his hard work and dedication he has received offers from Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), GSA, DJCAD and Goldsmiths University, London
Murdo Wilson-Watt:
For this piece of work I wanted to capture the streets of Edinburgh as I have found myself walking them in their almost never ending, winding paths of asphalt and cobbles. With this collage piece I have strayed away from my initial intended idea how ever I feel the collaged work highlights the multi levelled nature of Edinburgh’s layout and housing as a whole.
Murdo is taking a year out to further develop his portfolio.
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“Damn her, the old witch; she has lived too long. Let her burn” – Patrick Sellar, Factor of the Earl of Sutherland, 1814.
Coming from a family who have experienced the generational trauma of forced displacement, the personal accounts of the Highland Clearances are painfully relatable.
In particular, accounts from the burnings of Strathnaver have driven the need to create this series of works.
It is important to me that history be actively remembered and engaged with; and this pattern of displacement is arguably still perpetuated today, with the majority of land in Scotland owned by nationals of other countries, not resident on the land owned.
This is a matter of course not limited to Scotland, as we can see specific groups of people the world over being forced from their ancestral lands again and again.
Just back from the Learning Resource Centre (LRC) where our amazing Art & Design Subject Liaison Jennifer Ouson has a display of all our new acquisitions to the collection and the latest additions to the fabulous Zine Library!
I think its safe to say the collection at the Granton Campus is one of the best in any UK FE college!
contemporaryartetc.com 