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.”
Applications are invited for the 2023 – 24 academic session.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 5pm Thursday 22nd June 2023 (Successful Applicants will be notified week beginning the 15th August)
The Artist in Residence programme (AIRetc…) at Edinburgh College is an innovative scheme which provides recently graduated / professional artists who has previously studied at Edinburgh College with the opportunity to develop their creative practice in a dedicated studio space and gain knowledge, skills and experience in Art education.
Now in our 13th successful year AIRetc… are currently looking for 2 artists to participate in the 2023-24 academic programme.
Please download the information and application form below.
In the distant pre pandemic past it was always with great excitment that we would visit the degree shows across Scotland and on occasion, south of the border, to see whats happening in the various schools our graduates are going to or will be applying to. Keeping up to date with what is happening in the art schools is an essential part of what we do on CAP as it keeps us up to date with contemporary thinking and practices at undergrad and Masters levels. However it also gives us a chance to catch up with some of our own amazing graduates who have gone on to degree study. This year was the first opportunity since 2019 for us to get out into Degree Show land, so excitment was high as we jumped at the chance to get away from the screen and out into the world.
This year the majority of exCAPers were graduating from Glasgow School of Art’s Sculpture & Environmental Art course and we begin there with Niamh Mairead Cullen Dunphy:
Next up Rachael Watson who responded directly to the restrictions encountered during the pandemic with a series of interventions into various public spaces using hand made posters to raise questions of authority and compliance.
Coire Simpson‘s practice navigates a fear of the unknown, finding meaning through storytelling. She is interested in the ways in which we come in and out of being, drawing upon both personal and collective narratives of grief, loss, and healing. Recent work moves between physical and digital environments, using 3D animation and installation to explore the ambiguos nature of memory between virtal and real life spaces.
Nirver Kaur’s pots, clad in colourfully paterened knitted cosy’s conjour ideas of the domesticity and craft adopted and adapted by many during the pandemic.
Heading beyond Scotland this year we had our first graduate from the University of the Arts London Camberwell School of Painting. Reueben Sian de Gourlay has produced impressive large scale allegorical works reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelites, however asRohena West explains in their review of Reubens work they go beyond any direct comparrison.
Unfortunately this year we were not able to get to all the degree shows we would have liked to for various reasons but here are some of the other works that caught our interest at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee:
DJCAD Dundee: Although there were no CAPalumni graduating this year Ben and I did catch up with wonderful exCAPers now living, working and studying in Dundee.
Earlier this month 4 of our CAP1 Artists presented recent work in the hubCAP gallery. The physical gallery had been closed for over two years and the new programme of events does not start until after the summer so the opportunity arose or the current committee to cut their collective teeth in the space by inviting colleagues to show some work from this year.
4 artists took part and exhibited the work below:
James Byrne: Izi Avison: Reece Nicol:Jagoda ZwiernikJagoda Zwiernik
contemporaryartetc.com 