Welcome Leeds College of Art is proud of being one to the few remaining independent specialist art & 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 the this years 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 in Brick Lane 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
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 Drawing/Painting
Exhibitors
Contents Course Ethos . . . . . .
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Sheila Gaffney . . . . . .
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Andrew Lister . . . . . .
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Projects M Exhibition . . . . . .
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Barabra Hepworth . . . . .
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Free Range .
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Tour Information Thanks
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Rachel Airy . . . . . . . . . . . . Khadija Akhtar . . . . . . . . . . Bridget Alexander . . . . . . . . . Sameena Azaam . . . . . . . . . . Bronwen Baynes . . . . . . . . . . Daniel Beesley . . . . . . . . . . . Christiana Bell . . . . . . . . . . Olivia Berggren . . . . . . . . . . Lisa Bradford . . . . . . . . . . . Alison Button . . . . . . . . . . . Laurie Carnan . . . . . . . . . . . Cristina Ciccone . . . . . . . . . . Grace Erskine Crum . . . . . . . . Ethan Culican . . . . . . . . . . . Alice De Courcey Wheeler . . . . . Annie Driver . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Eccles . . . . . . . . . . . . Christopher Frietag . . . . . . . . Rosie Furnival . . . . . . . . . . . Venice Gent . . . . . . . . . . . . Alice Hodgson . . . . . . . . . . . Rachel Jones . . . . . . . . . . . Adam Jenkins . . . . . . . . . . . Joe Lang . . . . . . . . . . . . . E-J Langley . . . . . . . . . . . . Gem Luca . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Lucking . . . . . . . . . . . Craig Shaun Malcolm . . . . . . . Simon Mann . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Anamaria Marzec-Smith . . . . . . pg.68 Michael Mellen . . . . . . . . . . pg.70 Tristan Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . pg.72 Emma Mort . . . . . . . . . . . . pg.74 Harriet Newcomb . . . . . . . . . pg.78 Rebecca Norman . . . . . . . . . . pg.80 Jenny Parkin . . . . . . . . . . . pg.82 Calum Paterson . . . . . . . . . . pg.84 Jordan Peers . . . . . . . . . . . pg.86 Samantha Pickard . . . . . . . . . pg.88 Steven Potter . . . . . . . . . . . pg.90 Jane Riley . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg.92 Thomas Rowley . . . . . . . . . . pg.94 Max Rushton . . . . . . . . . . . pg.96 Jeff Singleton . . . . . . . . . . . pg.98 Laura Smith . . . . . . . . . . . pg.100 Joe Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . pg.102 Yesmin Tiryaki . . . . . . . . . . pg.104 Elizabeth Trainer . . . . . . . . . pg.106 Kira Turner . . . . . . . . . . . pg.108 Samantha Vince . . . . . . . . . pg.110 Jenna Watt . . . . . . . . . . . pg.112 Lucy Marie Webb . . . . . . . . pg.114 Karoline White . . . . . . . . . pg.116 Anna Wills . . . . . . . . . . . pg.118 Charlotte Wilson-Smith . . . . . . pg.120 Rachel Worthington . . . . . . . pg.122 John Wright . . . . . . . . . . . pg.124 Sheena Tyrer . . . . . . . . . . . pg.128
Ethan Culican Using classical styles and themes, my work illustrates a mythological story. Whilst considering the validity and believability of mythological 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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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. Look at the relationship between materials. emmamort@live.co.uk emmamariemortart.blogspot.com
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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 positive element, in a colourful and playful woven expressive form. karoline.white@live.co.uk karolinewhite-art.blogspot.com
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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 look at using blood. simon.mann@hotmail.co.uk
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Bronwen Baynes An investigation into what is paint, what is painting and what makes a painter? bronbaynes@hotmail.com bronwen-b.tumblr.com
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Jenny Parkin I’m interested in the greedy and wasteful way we buy things in the UK. Lately I’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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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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Jenna Watt As a colourist, my current practice explores the possibilities in print-making. Concentrating on the idea of ‘home’, I create personal landscapes inspired by constantly changing surroundings. jennawatt@live.co.uk
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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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Handling Space – Being 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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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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Venice Gent <There.is.only.dot.com.unication.in.absorption. of.virtual.environments:iLandscapes: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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Scottish Sculpture Workshop â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Bronze Casting Residency A week long field trip to the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Aberdeenshire took place. The project aimed to interface the tradition of metal 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 Sauramento. The result was students pouring and creating their own works in bronze in the SSW foundry.
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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 individuals experience differs. It is up to us how we interpret what we see. I explore this through image making.
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Sheena Tyrer Use of varnish and paint to create unusual canvas structures.
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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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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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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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Steven Potter My practice endeavors 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. sp89600@studens.leeds-art.ac.uk
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Dan Eccles My fine art practice involves using everyday or found objects to create artwork for me. I alter the role of each object so that instead of working how it should do, it works to create minimalistic drawings. eccles_56@hotmail.com
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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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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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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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Elizabeth Loren Trainer My practise is concerned with creating art that has confessional and communicational elements. Often relaying 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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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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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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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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John Lucking Hi guys, my nameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s John Lucking and I do my best! islandsjunk.com islands@islandsjunk.com
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Sameena Azaam My work focuses on architecturally, structured space and the distinguishable way in 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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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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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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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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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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Grace Erskine Crum With my art, the audience response is the most important aspect. My aim 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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Christopher Frietag Artist/Artisan/Craftsman/Sculptor â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I believe materiality is critical to art. Material ought to 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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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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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
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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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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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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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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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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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Alison Button Part time mature student. Happy to let the paint talk. alisonbut@hotmail.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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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/sensuality within the paint â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ultimately connecting the viewer with the work alicedcw@yahoo.co.uk.
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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. papermoon.craftartist@gmail.com
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Handling Space – Being 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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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 to surface for perception and reflective thoughts. tiryakiyesim@hotmail.com
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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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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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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.
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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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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 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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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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Jane Riley Claude Heath (2003, cited in Kingston 2003) 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, Cluade Heath, Rae Smith. London, Black dog publishing, pg. 18 janemriley@hotmail.co.uk
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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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Lucy Marie Webb Within my art practice I use cling film to portray the feeling of claustrophobia and dealing with the emotions people go through when facing it. Interaction with the piece and the audience is very important to the effect. lucymariewebb@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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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 5 structures that particularly appeal to me.
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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 Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to thank the following people for all their help and support through the course:
Andrew Lister Sheila Gaffney Andrew Lister Sheila Gaffney Andrew Lister Sheila Gaffney Andrew Lister Sheila Gaffney Andrew Lister Sheila Gaffney
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Exhibition Tour The Original Rework exhibition will be touring to London later this year.
Original Rework 1st - 9th July 2012
Art Gallery London LR8 5GF
10am to 4pm daily
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