Newcastle Visit

The images above are from our recent day trip to Newcastle with our colleagues from the HND Vis Com Illustration course. First stop was the Fine Art School at Newcastle University where we were greeted with light refreshments and an excellent introduction to the courses and facilities by admissions tutor Gavin Robson.

After a quick lunch the next stop was the Workplace Gallery which has re-located to new premises in a former post office. The gallery can be found in the shadow of the iconic Gateshead multi storey car park designed by Owen Luder Partnership 1964 and was made famous in the classic 1970’s british gangster flick ‘Get Carter featuring Michael Caine. Workplace is a commercial gallery run by artists and it represents a portfolio of emerging and established artists through the gallery programme, curatorial projects and art fairs. The current show FEEDBACKER by Peter J. Evans features drawing, sculpture and performance over 3 floors and is very much worth a visit before it ends on 20th Dec 2008.

On then to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art for an introduction to the institution and the George Maciunas Fluxus exhibition which brings together the largest collection of Fluxus work ever exhibited in the UK. The extensive exhibition continues till 15th Feb 2009 and is supported by a range of online resources available through the Baltic Archive.

Finally we herded back on the bus for a moonlit and frankly baltic pit stop at the Angel of the North our final destination on the itinerary before our return to Edinburgh.

ContemporaryArtETC.com at Edinburgh’s Telford College would like to thank everyone who contributed to a great day out of the studio Mike from Hunters Coaches of Loanhead who’s good humour and patience was very much appreciated.

For more information regarding the places we visited click on the links above or visit the recently added Art e-Map of Newcastle in the links panel.

Visiting Artists: Dean Hughes

Students and staff at ContemporaryArtETC.com would like to thank Dean Hughes for providing an insight into his practice as a contemporary artist. Dean presented and discussed a range of work dating from his early years at Chelsea College of Art & Design in 1993 right up to his most recent body of work which was recently acquired by the Saatchi Gallery.

Dean utalises the language and media of the every day to bring fresh perspective to our often unnoticed daily routines. From the re-embroidery of London bus seats through the re-hydration of waterless puddles to the re-interpretation of the fundamentals of the pre-paperless office using A4 paper, hole punch and staplers he quietly and skillfully intervenes into pre-existing givens.

Dean will be returning to Edinburgh’s Telford College in the new year in his capacity as head of the Intermedia dept at Edinburgh College of Art to talk to HN CAP students about the Intermedia degree programme.

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/artpages/dean_hughes_shelves1.htm

http://www.dicksmithgallery.co.uk/ga/bio/bio_dh.html

http://www.doggerfisher.com/artists_ex/artistdetail.php?id=85

Art e-Facts 77: Langlands & Bell

In 2002 theyĀ were commissioned by the Imperial War Museum to research the War in Afganistan. As a result of their the pair produced a trilogy of works including The House of Osama bin Laden, an interactive computer animation of the house occupied by Osama bin Laden in the late 1990s. The work, which utalised state of the art gaming technology of the day allows the viewer to move through digital landscape seeking that which is no longer present.

In 2004 the work won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts award (BAFTA) for Interactive Art Installation. The work also featured in their Turner Prize nominated show at Tate Britain in the same year. A second work in the trilogy Zardads Dog which documented the trail of Abdullah Shah, nicknamed Zardad’s Dog because of his penchant for biting his victims before murdering them, was withdrawn from exhibition amid fears that it may be held in contempt of court during the then trial of Afghan warlord Faryadi Sarwar Zardad.

Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh as part of the Langlands & Bell Films & Animations 1978 – 2008 exhibition until December 13th. OtherĀ notableĀ works in the exhibition include 2008’s ‘Departure a ‘Guerilla Website’ linked to wallpaper.com and ‘Kitchen’ their first film collaboration from 1978.

The staff and students of ContemporaryArtETC.com would like to thank Zoë Fothergill and the Talbot Rice Gallery for the excellent talk and tour we received at the exhibition.

www.langlandsandbell.com

www.wallpaper.com/art/langlands–bell-digital-exclusive/2369

www.trg.ed.ac.uk/

ContemporaryArtETC.. graduate, Ruth Barry, to work at Guggenheim NY

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Despite early set backs to her artistic career Telford Fine Art graduate Ruth Barry has been awarded the kind of opportunity she once only dreamed of. Ruth has beaten off international competition and will move to New York this month to take up post at one of the most iconic modern / contemporary art museums in the world. Ruth who is originally from Inverness, graduated form the Fine Art dept at Edinburgh’s Telford College in 2005 will move to New York next month to take up post in the museums Education Dept. Galleries and museum play a significant part in Ruths own artwork and she is hopeful that she can bring new thoughts and ideas to the Guggenheim program as well as influencing her own practise and taking her work to new levels.

This will not be Ruth’s first encounter with Gallery Education,

ā€œI’ve been working in the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh for a couple of years now and I was given the opportunity to assist on an educational workshop for young people I was able to apply both my critical and creative knowledge to the program, allowing participants to develop & explore alternative viewpoints on contemporary art.ā€

Degree Show Installation

Fragments of Demeter/Recalling Poseidon (2008)Degree Show Installation

Ruth has been passionate about art since an early age and was determined to study at Art College. After a couple of unsuccessful degree applications she spent a very successful period on the Fine Art Foundation and HND courses at ETC and gained direct entry to the 2nd year at Edinburgh College of Art from where she graduated this year with 1st class honours.

ā€œThe tutors at Telford were incredibly supportive I found them to be energetic and highly influential encouraging me to keep going and not give up on my goals. Being taught by a team of practising artists in an environment which is as close to any art college as possible gave me a solid platform from which I could progress. I gained entry to Art College most certainly as a result of completing the HND in the Fine Art Deptā€

RSA president Bill Scott with Ruth Barry

Ruth with Prof. Bill Scott (President of the Royal Scottish Academy)

As well as her appointment at the Guggenheim Ruth has also been selected for inaugural Royal Scottish Academy New Contemporaries exhibition, which will take place in February.

The Guggenheim Museum New York was designed by iconic American Architect Frank Lloyd-Wrightt to house the modern art collection of wealthy New York industrialist Solomon R. Guggenheim. The museum opened to the public in 1959 and has been followed by two further museums in Berlin and Bilboa, the later designed by another superstar of the architectural world; Frank Gehry and which is hailed as reviving the reputation and fortunes of the Basque region.

http://ruthbarry.blogspot.com/

Contemporary Art ETC 1st Year Exhibition

Contemporary Art ETC in association with North Edinburgh Arts Centre are delighted to announce the opening of Page 1 of 2 the first year exhibition.

The Exhibition runs until 13th of June and is open dailly between 10 am and 5pm.

” To exhibit in such a well respected and professional community based art centre is a fantastic opportunity for the students to engage their practice with the local community ”

Alan Holligan (Course Leader)