Welcome Leeds College of Art is proud of being one of the few remaining independent specialist art and design institutions in the UK. The College has a culture of engaging with ‘live’ external events promoting a professional and outward looking ethos amongst its students. The BA (Hons) Fine Art programme recognizes that the students should be prepared intellectually, practically and professionally and this year’s graduate exhibition celebrates the conflation of these qualities. Students on the programme explore drawing, painting, sculpture, lens- based media, installation, performance, social and public art through a series of critically positioned modules. They also actively engage with exhibiting and public facing practices as key knowledge instruments in Fine Art practice. This publication, ‘Original Rework’, draws together the profiles of the individual students with a sample of external projects undertaken and often devised by them whilst at the College. The final exhibition in Leeds celebrates the achievement of the students’ degree. It then tours to London to be seen as part of ‘Free Range’, the annual art show at Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, London to celebrate the first year of their professional careers. I applaud the achievement of this year’s graduating students and warmly invite you to explore their work in both exhibitions.
Sheila Gaffney Programme Leader BA (Hons) Fine Art
Contents Original Rework .............................. 4 Special Projects: Handling Space- Being Barbara .... 24-25 Scottish Sculpture Workshop ......... 44-45 Free Range .................................... 80-81 M-Exhibition ................................... 114-115 Thanks ........................................... 130-131 Tour Information .............................. 132
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Exhibitors Annie Driver .................................... 6-7 Harriet Newcomb ........................... 8-9 Simon Mann ................................... 10-11 Elizabeth Loren Trainer .................... 12-13 Rosie Furnival ................................. 14-15 Charlotte Wilson-Smith ................... 16-17 E-J Langley .................................... 18-19 Karoline White ................................ 20-21 Venice Gent .................................... 22-23 Rebecca Norman ........................... 26-27 Joe Taylor ....................................... 28-29 Joseph Lang .................................. 30-31 Christiana Bell ................................. 32-33 Cristina Ciccone ............................. 34-35 Olivia Berggren ............................... 36-37 Maxwell Rushton ............................ 38-39 Calum Paterson .............................. 40-41 Sameen Azaam .............................. 42-43 Jenny Parkin ................................... 46-47 Bronwen Baynes ............................ 48-49 Laura Smith .................................... 50-51 Daniel Beesley ................................ 52-53 Samantha Vince ............................. 54-55 Anamaria Marzec-Smith ................. 56-57 Dan Eccles ..................................... 58-59 Steven Potter .................................. 60-61 Sheena Tyrer ................................... 62-63 Tank ............................................... 64-65 Lisa Bradford .................................. 66-67
Rachel Worthington ........................ 68-69 Jeff Singleton .................................. 70-71 Michael Mellen ................................ 72-73 Tristan Mills ..................................... 74-75 Bridget Alexander ........................... 76-77 Yesim Tiryaki Calvert ....................... 78-79 Craig Shaun Malcolm ..................... 82-83 Tom Rowley .................................... 84-85 Rachel Airy ..................................... 86-87 Christopher Frietag ......................... 88-89 Alice DeCourcey Wheeler ............... 90-91 Grace Erskine Crum ....................... 92-93 Jenna Watt ..................................... 94-95 Lucy Marie Webb ........................... 96-97 John Lucking .................................. 98-99 Samantha Chtimi ............................ 100-101 Alice Hodgson ................................ 102-103 Jordan Peers .................................. 104-105 Alison Button .................................. 106-107 Dee Akhtar ..................................... 108-109 John Wright .................................... 110-111 Rachel Jones .................................. 112-113 Ethan Culican ................................. 116-117 Adam Jenkins ................................. 118-119 Kira Turner ...................................... 120-121 Emma Mort .................................... 122-123 Jane Riley ....................................... 124-125 Anna Wills ....................................... 126-127 Gem Luca ...................................... 128-129
Original Rework How would Paul Cezanne have responded to the title of our exhibition? The evidence suggests that he would have embraced it but on his own terms. In his early years Cezanne spent a considerable time copying paintings in the Louvre and working in the landscape alongside fellow artists with whom he discussed his ideas. Even in his old age he described in a letter to a young artist the intention of his ongoing work as a wish ‘to redo Poussin from nature’, words that chime with our ‘Original Rework’. Cezanne, the revolutionary and solitary painter, was nevertheless involved in a dialogue, the kind of dialogue on which art history is built, where ideas are appropriated from the tradition and adapted to enable the expression of something personal and contemporary. When Jimi Hendrix launched into ‘Star Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock he knew the sedate respect hitherto given to his National Anthem would exaggerate the raucous anarchy of his guitar transcription. Transcriptions are made in all the arts and are another facet of the dialogue between
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practitioners of the past and the present. In painting the most celebrated examples are Francis Bacon’s series of Screaming Popes. Our knowledge of the calm and impassive Pope Innocent X in Velazquez’s portrait is used by Bacon to magnify the scream and isolated torment of his transcription. Bacon and Hendrix borrow directly from the canon, adapt it to a particular purpose and make it entirely their own. Not all dialogues from history are as transparent as those already described. The outrage caused by Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed’ suggested it was a work without precedent rather than the latest manifestation of a theme with a substantial and distinguished history. A seamless transition had seen images of beds on the gallery wall elide to a slept - in - bed on the gallery floor: Titian, Rembrandt, Goya and Van Gogh included beds in major paintings before Rauschenberg, in ‘Bed’ nailed his bed to the gallery wall. Following Rauschenberg, Oldenberg and Kienholz included beds in environmental works and the sequence culminated with Emin’s ‘My Bed’ of 1998 The artists involved in this continuum do not
refer to each other directly, indeed they use the bed with very different motives, but each is dependent on the last for opening the way and creating the conditions necessary in which to make their own contribution. Cezanne was at pains to point out the dangers of being over - dependent on the work of other artists. He castigated the painter Emile Bernard for being academic and relying too heavily in his own work on the paintings he had studied in the museums. Cezanne accepted the necessity of learning from others but was emphatic in the belief that the artist’s personal response to the subject was of paramount importance. The teaching of Fine Art has had to find a similar balance to the one advocated by Cezanne and an understanding of ‘Original Rework’ on these terms is at the core of our philosophy at Leeds College of Art. To inform about contemporary and traditional art is vital, but if overplayed can be undermining and result in pastiche. Our aim at Leeds College of Art is to develop the composure required to make work that embodies a personal response and a depth of contextual
understanding with which to go out and meet the rigours of the art world ahead. The teaching philosophy of the Fine Art Department defines a method of working but does not impose subject matter on final year students. Making a choice of subject is the responsibility of the student. It is an onerous task in which personal aptitude struggles to find an independent place in the fragmented and uncertain world of contemporary art. The work on show by the emerging artists in this exhibition does not represent an answer or a conclusion to this problem but rather the search to date to make a coherent personal statement amidst and despite this complex uncertainty.
Andrew Lister Third Year Tutor Leeds College of Art
Annie Driver My practice has derived from ideas of unborn human embryos/fetuses. This sensitive issue questions and sparks a reaction towards what happens to unborn life. Through exploration it has led me to create christening fonts using a variety of materials. 1anniedriver@googlemail.com
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Harriet Newcomb In Art I create Interlocking symmetry By reflecting shapes Manipulation Of Diverse materials Distortion of forms Metamorphosis of text into a pattern Into a language In Art I create The pieces of a puzzle Fitting together harrietn@eircom.net
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Simon Mann My practice has developed over the three years from using mixed media and sticking to my comforts. As the years have progressed I have found myself exploring different materials and ideas, and as a result I went on to explore the use of blood. simon.mann@hotmail.co.uk
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Elizabeth Loren Trainer My practice is concerned with creating art that has confessional and communicable elements. I relay brief moments of physical and mental pain, often my own feelings, into figurative sculptural forms using materials associated with vulnerability and defence simultaneously. brightshinymorning@hotmail.co.uk elizabethflynndawson.tumblr.com
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Rosie Furnival I am interested in the idea of bringing together history and personal experience into a portrait by mapping and visualizing a diary of the individual. Working in mixed media, I wish to show an insight into who we are and why.
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Charlotte Wilson-Smith I use a combination of colour and technique in my exploration of portraiture. cvws@live.co.uk
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E-J Langley My art is based around the idea of beauty, using my own body to see how far beauty can be taken. e-jl@live.co.uk
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Karoline White My art practice consists of fabricating visually aesthetic sculptural forms, predominantly using knitting techniques. My current work focuses upon the collaboration of two elements, portraying a negative element coinciding with a positive element, in a colourful and playful woven expressive form. karoline.white@live.co.uk
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Venice Gent <There.is.only.dot.com.unication.in.absorption. of.virtual.environments:Landscapes:endless.paths. of.transmission.created.as.we.exist.in.the.modern. everyday.travelling.monologically.where.language. is.the.click.of.plastic.and.emotion.is.the.digital.current. of.tele.presence> venicekgent@gmail.com venicegent.com
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Handling SpaceBeing Barbara This was a workshop for the public, devised and delivered by the students. The public were invited to rework their favourite piece of sculpture after visiting The Hepworth Wakefield on its opening weekend. In order to prepare for it the students undertook the ‘Equality and Quality in the Visual Arts’ workshop with Anne Cunningham, Chief Executive of The Art House Wakefield, where ‘Being Barbara’ took place.
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Rebecca Norman craft·y adj. craft·i·er, craft·i·est 1. Skilled in or marked by underhandedness, deviousness, or deception. 2. Chiefly British Skillful; dexterous bex_152@yahoo.co.uk
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Joe Taylor Distortion has always been an aspect in my work. I am interested in the way we interpret the world visually, and how each individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience differs. It is up to us how we interpret what we see. I explore this through image making.
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Joseph Lang My work closely explores elements of human nature, life and culture. I am looking at the presence of the object within our society and questioning the boundaries between the figurative and the abstract. joedotlang@googlemail.com
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Christiana Bell Predominantly an abstract painter and photographer my recent practice has been dominated by exploring the boundaries of both mediums (as I combine the two together). My work incorporates digital and film photography, various printing techniques and the exploration of paint. christiana_bell@hotmail.com saatchionline.com/cbell
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Cristina Ciccone My practice is the documentation of my motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s schizophrenia and the tragic yet beautiful experience of growing up in a working class environment. My main inspiration comes from childhood memory and the stigma towards mental health that remains within society. cristinajciccone@hotmail.com
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Olivia Berggren I tend to keep my practice as natural as I can, using earthy tones and natural elements. Experimenting with processes constantly, removing myself from the outcome, and being the catalyst to allow the materials to show their possibility and potential. oliviaberggren@hotmail.com
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Maxwell Rushton I reflect on my position within a community of young artists journeying to establish themselves. As I have limited experience to artistically be true to, the subject of the lack of ‘raw experience’ is currently explored in my transitional practice. max.rushton@hotmail.co.uk
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Calum Paterson By rejecting the idea of art as object and immersing oneself in an equilibrium creative process, an understanding of the true nature of things may be acquired. As repetitive actions converge, a matrix forms from which familiar things show themselves. calumjpaterson@hotmail.co.uk saatchionline.com/cpaterson
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Sameena Azaam My work focuses on architecturally structured space and the distinguishable way which it employs boundaries to create a controlled environment. Boundaries, borders, barriers, walls are all descriptive trajectories of the qualities of separation, division and isolation that are reinforced in such places. sameena_azam@msn.com
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Scottish Sculpture WorkshopBronze Casting Residency A week long field trip to the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Aberdeenshire took place. The project aimed to interface the tradition of medal making with questions about the social functions of art and questions regarding the value of symbolic objects in the context of the UK preparing to host the 2012 Olympics. It was supported by Master Founder Kabir Hussein and hosted in Scotland by Dr Nuno Sacramento. The result was students pouring and casting their own works in bronze in the SSW foundry.
Jenny Parkin Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m interested in the greedy and wasteful way we buy things in the UK. Lately Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been constructing realities for my camera to explore the fiction of fulfilment via consumption. jennyparko@yahoo.co.uk axisweb.org/artist/jennyparkin
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Bronwen Baynes An investigation into what is paint, what is painting and what makes a painter? bron@bronwenbaynes.com bronwenbaynes.com bronwen-b.tumblr.com
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Laura Smith I am a mixed media artist who recreates significant memories from my childhood, introducing material, colour and pattern to produce a deeper childlike presence. My work explores family photographs that trigger memory, and looks into the importance of the connection between the artist and their work. laurasmithikins@hotmail.co.uk
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Daniel Beesley I have been taking long exposure photographs in a pitch-black room. I control the light in order to create photographs that have sense of story and time. dan.beesley@gmail.com
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Samantha Vince As an artist I explore the boundaries of what painting can be, experimenting with unusual medias and nontraditional methods of creating work. My most recent experiments have been informed by encounters with growth, mould and organic materials. samantha-jane_24@hotmail.co.uk samantha-vince.blogspot.com
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Anamaria Marzec-Smith I am fascinated by faces, and my work explores portraiture in a way to depict the personality and emotion of the face behind the brush. Through drawing and painting I aim to capture the feelings in a unique way. mazmarzec@hotmail.co.uk
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Dan Eccles My fine art practice involves using everyday or found objects to create artwork. I alter the role of each object so that instead of working how it should, it works to create minimalistic drawings. eccles_56@hotmail.com
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Steven Potter My practice endeavours to create a transfer of energies and their base states through the handmade endurance of paper cutting. The purpose revolves around the interaction between the paper and the light, the result comments on the fluctuating existence of corporeal and immaterial communications. malorie_potter@hotmail.com stevenpotter.com
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Sheena Tyrer Use of varnish and paint to create unusual canvas structures.
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Tank I am fuelled by a fascination of identity both personal and otherwise. Mediums range from photography to video, digital media, drawing and painting. My influences are taken from the culture of rock music and tattooing. snowpixie@hotmail.co.uk
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Lisa Bradford My practice comments on mass production in society today: the cheaply made products of everyday life result in a great deal of waste. Considering materials and objects I create scenarios where the object fails: leading to its own destruction, inevitably discarded. lisa_bradford887@hotmail.com
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Rachel Worthington My practice pivots upon exploring the use of Super 8 film within art (a practice that unconventionally works directly into the film without the use of a camera) to result in the question - what is film? Reoccurring themes include a broken society and memories. rachelworthington@hotmail.co.uk leedsartreview.blogspot.com
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Jeff Singleton Challenging a range of subjects in the past, recent work has explored the complicated issues surrounding Parkinsons Disease. Often using dramatic light in my work, I explore issues faced by a person with Parkinsons, such as the ‘on-off phenomenon’. jasfineart@gmail.com jeffsingleton.co.uk
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Michael Mellen The work that I have produced over the last year aims to encourage the viewer to question their relationship with the buildings around them. In this series I have chosen five structures that particularly appeal to me.
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Tristan Mills My work is the visual poetry of our deepest emotions, leaving the viewer feeling lost in their own words. tristanmills89@googlemail.com
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Bridget Alexander I am a conceptual artist and my work centres around exploring the effects isolated space has on human â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;essenceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. I focus mainly on using photography and video to highlight the qualities of stillness and motion that relate to the situations I capture. fat_elves@hotmail.com mediahorde.co.uk/bridgetalexander
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Yesim Tiryaki Calvert The body is the common form that we all share but it may also be so alien with the thoughts it may provoke. Instead of fixing the identity I try to open the surface for perception and reflective thoughts. tiryakiyesim@hotmail.com
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Free Range Free Range is an Old Truman Brewery special project, set up by Tamsin Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Hanlon to provide new graduate artists with the opportunity to showcase their work on an international level. This live project demonstrates the breadth of professional development skills acquired by our students throughout their time on the programme. They undertake the challenge to organise, pack and transport their touring degree show to London.
Craig Shaun Malcolm My work is based around issues between the animal world and our own. I like to consider my art as a visual investigation into these issues, driven by my own curiosity and interest. The medium of printmaking is central to this. csmalcolm@live.co.uk sonofapiemaker.tumblr.com
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Tom Rowley My practice is heavily based around the idea of memories; the fragility of them and how easily they can be lost or abstracted over time. My aim is to reflect my version of memories taken from my family photo albums. lifethroughalens@hotmail.co.uk tom-rowley.blogspot.com
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Rachel Airy I am a multi media artist incorporating various techniques through photography and video. My work investigates film and image manipulation. Taking influences from the human form, surrealism and the silent movie era I create layered images in black and white film. rachel.airy@gmail.com
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Christopher Frietag Artist/Artisan/Craftsman/Sculptor â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I believe materiality is critical to art. Material should support the workâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s properties and lead the processes within which the work is developed. I explore the modern and historical aspects of cast metals with their close relationship. cfreitag@hotmail.co.uk cfreitag.co.uk
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Alice DeCourcy Wheeler Becoming much more about the properties of paint and substance, my practice deals with scale and intricate detail, influencing our senses and imagination. It has a sculptural essence and sensuality within the paint â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ultimately connecting the viewer with the work. alicedcw@yahoo.co.uk.
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Grace Erskine Crum With my art, the audience response is the most important aspect. My intention is to make my viewer feel uncomfortable and intimidated. I have experimented with materials and colour, while figuring out what is most affective to achieve my aim. grace.e.crum@gmail.com saatchionline.com/profiles/index/id/250534
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Jenna Watt As a colourist, my current practice explores the possibilities in print-making. Concentrating on the idea of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;homeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, I create personal landscapes inspired by constantly changing surroundings. jennawatt@live.co.uk
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Lucy Marie Webb Within my art practice I use cling film to create the feeling of claustrophobia and dealing with the emotions people go through when experiencing it. Interaction with the piece and the audience is vital to the effect. lucymariewebb@hotmail.co.uk
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John Lucking Hi guys, my nameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s John Lucking and I do my best! islands@islandsjunk.com islandsjunk.com
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Samantha Chtimi My work explores various notions of cartography using hand-cut paper techniques. I have a strong interest in the interpretation of maps, and the inherent relationships between places and people. Materiality is also important. samchtimi@hotmail.co.uk samchtimi.co.uk
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Alice Hodgson I take inspiration from nature and natural colour palettes to inform my practice and materials. My work reminds us all of the fragile ecosystems in our environments, of the true beauty of nature and our deep connections with organic form.
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Jordan Peers Primarily a watercolour painter, my work focuses heavily on portraiture and the themes and motives within it. Literature also has a strong and influential role within my practice. jordanpeers01@hotmail.com
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Alison Button Part time mature student. Happy to let the paint talk. alisonbut@hotmail.com
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Dee Akhtar My interest lies with mark-making and autonomous action; a series of marks and colours is an extension of the unconscious mind. The paintings are an exploration into the obsession with aesthetics and the paintingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to relate to the viewer.
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John Wright I am exploring hinterlands between art and science. My practice revolves around the manipulation of narratives through questioning the contemporary role of documentation. I am influenced by an emerging philosophical paradigm entitled â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Critical Realismâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. I strive to capture the passage of time. thejman1989@hotmail.com thgirwnhoj.blogspot.com
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Rachel Jones I combine colour, light and material to create sensory space and images. Using these three elements in my work, I identify the struggle between colour and form. I experiment with ways of working that will represent both colour and form as the primary.
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M-Exhibition 84-86 Arches Railway St. Leeds LS9 8HB 29th-31st March 2011 M-Exhibition was a student devised exhibition fully conceptualised, curated and created by the students. Students joined together with ADEPT (artist duo Shanaz Gulzar and Steve Manthorp) to undertake a â&#x20AC;&#x153;recorded walkâ&#x20AC;? in order to raise funds. They independently successfully negotiated an enigmatic venue of three railway arches from Network Rail to home the project.
Ethan Culican Using classical styles and themes, my work illustrates a mythological story. Whilst considering the validity and believability of these stories, I am attempting to create work that manages to sit in an undetermined space in history. ethanrculican@hotmail.co.uk
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Adam Jenkins My work engages with ideas of showing urban movements and landscapes through drawing and sculpture. This manifests in work that is generated from specific concepts, processes or places through diverse media such as light, video, installation, sculpture and photography. adamjenkins@live.com
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Kira Turner My interests and fascinations base themselves upon the dark and magical fantasy and deceptions within fairy tales and gothic culture. Currently my practice explores the unseen beauty of the city and its ability to evoke innate and atmospheric emotions. couture.xo@hotmail.com
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Emma Mort My practice takes into consideration the delicacy of life and I aim to project this into my work. I am inspired by emotion and the human mind and try to interpret hidden aspects of life and subjects that are considered taboo, using the relationship between materials. emmamort@live.co.uk emmamariemortart.blogspot.com
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Jane Riley Claude Heath1 states that his blind drawings help him to get rid of all the stuff that he thinks he wants and allows something else to happen. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m interested in the possibilities of drawing, the imperfections and randomness of mark making. Kingston, A. (2003) What is Drawing? Three practices Explores: Lucy Cunning, Claude Heath, Rae Smith. London: Black Dog Publishing, pg. 18. 1
janemriley@hotmail.co.uk
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Anna Wills My current work uses the female body as a landscape to create three dimensional and photographic work. annaw23@hotmail.co.uk
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Gem Luca My work consists of a multi- media practice with works based on imagination and personal experience. gem.luca@live.co.uk
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Thanks We, the students, thank all the staff at Leeds College of Art for their care, guidance, support, enthusiasm and belief in us during the programme of study. BA (Hons) Fine Art 2012 Programme Team: Sheila Gaffney Richard Baker Sarah Taylor Kelly Cumberland Tom Palin Andrew Lister Garry Barker
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Original Rework Yearbook co-ordination by: Lucy Marie Webb Rachel Worthington Samantha Vince Stephen Potter Annie Driver Craig Shaun Malcolm Designed by: Gemma Byrne Kirsty Hair Natalie Jackson Nick Morgan Printed by: Duffield Printers, Leeds
Original Rework
Touring to:
Leeds College of Art
Free Range - Graduate Art Show
Private View: Friday 15th June 2012 18:00 - 20:30
Private View: Thursday 28th June 2012 18:00 - 22:00
Exhibition open Saturday 10:00 - 16:00
Exhibition open Friday to Sunday 10:00 - 19:00
Monday - Wednesday 09:00 - 20:00
Monday 10:00 - 16:00
Thursday 09:00 - 17:00
Admission free
Admission free Blenheim Walk Leeds0 LS2 9AQ www.leeds-art.ac.uk
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The Old Truman Brewery 91 Brick Lane London E1 6QL www.free-range.org.uk
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