I AM Sheffield Institute of Arts by Adam Sturch

Sheffield Institute of Arts | What AM I?

a book about a place.

This is not your prospectus – it’s a book about all the things the Sheffield Institute of Arts (SIA) is – its long past, its place in this post-industrial heartland, its job as the home to a bubbling, brave, creative community. It’s a welcome to the place you might like to come and grow in, experiment and thrive in. More than anything it’s about people – our students and our staff, our alumni, the things they do and have done. It’s your guided tour around and deep into the Institute and your introduction to our city and its spirit. And it gives you the whole picture – not just of what you’ll learn, but the reasons you’ll love learning and being here, the people you might meet and all the reasons you might belong here after your studying days are over. What AM I? I am the drawing, sewing, animating, building, breaking, printing, filming, talking, changing, loving, hating, starting, and finishing. I AM the hard work, the beginning of a lifelong career, the getting paid to do what you love. I AM all the ideas that work and the ones that don’t. I AM the fuel for your ambition and the food for thought. I AM the learning and the knowing. I AM everything in this book, Sheffield Institute of Arts.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | What AM I?

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Sheffield Institute of Arts | What AM I?

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Sheffield Institute of Arts | What AM I?

01. I AM the city

02. I AM the people Pages 32 – 73

Pages 18 – 31

A place of thinkers, makers and doers, of hidden joys, hills and valleys, voyages of discovery, things to do/see/feel/hear. More than Jarvis. More than steel. Much more.

03. I AM the work

The ones who teach, who do brilliant things inside and out of the Institute, imparting knowledge, insight and the kind of nuggets that might just prove your inspiration, one way or another.

04. I AM the courses

Pages 92 – 110

Pages 74 – 91

And I say more than anything. This is what comes out of the Institute, the fruits of our students’ labours and the things that will lead them into their professional practice.

The things that will ground you here while you do what you do, experiment, adapt; they will guide your growth, inspire your direction and support your evolving practice.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | What AM I?

It’s very creative and everything but really, what’s the point? Foreword by Brendan Dawes Brendan Dawes is a designer and artist, lecturing and exhibiting across the world, from Sheffield to New York, via Madrid, San Francisco and Vienna. His Dot Dot Dot show at Sheffield Institute of Arts (SIA) in 2014 used a host of media to share digital information from all manner of sources – beautiful 3D sculptures are the physical form of well-known songs; a city’s digital conversation is translated into graphic artform and one giant image depicts every second of a film. See more at — brendandawes.com

Portrait photography by Paul Dodd Opposite page Cinema Redux detail

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Sheffield Institute of Arts | What AM I?

Opposite Brendan Dawes. Cinema Redux

Sheffield Institute of Arts | What AM I?

That’s the goal.To try and remove as much as you can the disparity from what you see in your head to what will eventually spring forward.

It’s very creative and everything but really, what’s the point? This was the question that had been asked of me after showing a piece of work I’d made where I could manipulate Play-Doh in real-time and have it control the speed of a digital video. It was kind of ridiculous but also kind of fun. Now here I was at a large respected design conference in Chicago having to answer the question “what’s the point?”. I took a moment and quietly answered back “there is no point”. Well actually there was a point but not in the way he was thinking. The point was simply to disrupt the expected. Why would anyone think that Play-Doh – a soft super-analogue material – would be able to control anything digital. Yet here it was, questioning what we perceive an interface could be. The point? Well the point was to ask questions. In an interview the film director Terry Gilliam once commented on the difference as he saw it between Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick. Spielberg, he said, was all about providing answers whereas Kubrick was about asking questions. Watch ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and there’s no doubt you’re left with a thousand questions darting around your brain. For me the same is true when I think about the difference between design and art; design is about answers, art is about questions. Everyday I wake and ask myself one simple question – what will I learn today? What will I know by the end of the day that I didn’t know this morning? The older I get the more I realise the less I know and each day is an opportunity to expand my knowledge on even the smallest, most insignificant thing. Once it was “how do I map fluid lines around a sphere in 3D with code?”. I’d seen other people do it but I knew nothing about 3D. All I had was my naïvety and my willingness to figure it out (and yeah a bit of help from Google), but by the end of the day I had something that was starting to look like what was in my head. By the end of the second day the gap between what I saw in my mind’s eye and what was on screen had gotten a lot closer. That’s the goal. To try and remove, as much as you can, the disparity from what you see in your head to what will eventually spring forward. The two never match. Ever. That’s the game though – to constantly battle and do your utmost to bring those two things closer together.

In order to do that though everyone needs a space; what I like to think of as a *space to play*. Everyone should have a space to play, a place where they are free to explore unknown paths, to wander down a winding route fuelled by nothing more than curiosity and the idea of what if? Many of these excursions will end up in failure but that’s fine – it’s all just part of the process. You simply never know where these fanciful trips are going to lead you and often you have no destination in mind. One such time I was playing with the idea of DVD as data; what could I do if I treated each frame of a film as source material to be manipulated in any way I see fit. I was asking “why do we have to watch films one frame after another? What else can we do?”. So with that idea in mind I played with the frames of a film spilling into my Mac, writing code to cut, splice and paste frames of a movie in hopefully interesting ways. A lot of the things I made were just okay, or didn’t even work. Then eventually something appeared out of all the playing. I called it Cinema Redux. It showed every second of a movie with each row representing one minute, creating a mosaic or a cinematic fingerprint of a film. After putting it online it got some attention from various blogs and the like. Then in 2008, four years after creating it, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York contacted me by email to say they’d love to feature two Cinema Redux pieces in a new exhibition called Design and the Elastic Mind. I still remember staring at the email for ages – I found it completely ridiculous that I was going to have a piece of work shown in New York at MoMA. That work is now part of the permanent collection at MoMA. A piece of work that simply came about because I asked a question and began to explore things within a space I had defined as a space to play. Treat art school as your space to play – there’s no finer environment in which to ask questions of yourself, your peers and the world around you. Will it provide answers? Maybe, occasionally. Though I’m pretty sure they will only lead to more questions.

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Sally Wade, director of Sheffield Institute of Arts, introduces this book and welcomes you to our creative community. Photograph taken in the fashion workshops at SIA

Sheffield is home to the largest practising community of artists and designers outside of London, bringing a constant flow of creative energy and the vibrant buzz of creative activity. You’ll feel it, see it, hear it and for those who come here to learn and develop their own practice, it will inspire and nourish. It stands to reason that this is the perfect spot for an institute of arts.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | What AM I?

Ours is a city of arts; a home for makers, innovators, originators. For some indefinable reason, creativity lives here, it thrives.

Sheffield Institute of Arts opened its doors in 1843 in the heart of this industrial city, to supply creative support to the region’s manufacturers, in a bid to stay ahead of the growing global competition. This relationship with the commercial and industrial continues today – our students come here to experiment, adapt, nurture their own creative endeavour, but always with access to the working world and the community of experts that they will emerge into. Our links with industry support this – product designers, developers, filmmakers, fashion designers create in the real world, through internships and placements that we facilitate. Their creativity finds its place, where it can serve its purpose, bring pleasure, flourish as a form of expression and place for innovation. This book tells the story of the Institute – of our community – of amazing staff and brilliant students; of our recently emerged graduates, of our successful, established alumni. It’s the tale of our city – the people, the place, the past – the things that will inspire and feed you as you study here. You’ll read too about the partnerships and creative collaborations we can connect you to. That might be working with our commercial packaging design consultancy, Design Futures, on a project for Panasonic, or helping our Art and Design Research Centre; working on a live project with fellow students for Gillette; or it might be a placement with one of the many successful design consultancies based in Sheffield that have been founded by our product design graduates (Click Industrial Design, 93ft, Yormii, to name just a few). Studying with us isn’t just about accessing our expertise and facilities; it is about joining our community. An amazing, diverse community of makers – where staff, students and partners work as equals to deliver real innovation and creativity. Your tutors are experienced, inspirational practitioners, teachers and researchers, who have established a safe environment where you can explore, experiment and develop your own creative approaches. You’ll be challenged to take risks, to understand and solve complex problems and in turn, develop the confidence to challenge individual and societal norms. Because of all this, we have really successful students and staff. They make a difference; they win awards, develop innovative products and services and engage in groundbreaking research. As part of our creative community you will be encouraged to share in these experiences as you develop your own practice. You’ll find your own path, but we hope – reading this book – you’ll feel inspired to come and visit us in Sheffield, see for yourself and join us.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 01. The City

1 AM

In this part we introduce you to Sheffield, and show you the people, places and products that make it one of the most creative cities on Earth. (True) In this section: Sheffield is Sheffield Made Sheffield Makers Play Do Go

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Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 01. The City

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Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 01. The City

Sheffield is a city of half a million people, in the hills, in the North of England.You might not know much about this city. Most people have only heard rumours, or worse, clichés: the Full Monty, knives and forks, Jarvis and the snooker. If that’s you, don’t worry. We won’t hold it against you. Let us introduce you to the city we work in. The city we work in is beautiful, soft and strong. On the edge of the Peak District, it’s a city with a landscape, made of steep hills and fast rivers, woods and wildlife. It’s a city on a human-scale, where people talk to you at bus stops and say thank you to bus drivers. It’s a city you can walk across, after a night out, from a party on one hill to your house on the other. When the sky is clear, you can see the stars. At the same time, the city we work in is an industrial city, a producer, a maker. The name of this city has travelled across the globe: stamped into blades, pressed into girders, etched into records. Don’t think this is all history, either: today, Sheffield is still making. A new generation of artisans, curators, brewers and craftspeople are making new products in old factories, to make sure that word ‘Sheffield’, stays on everyone’s lips. And finally, the city we work in is an innovator. It was never just about steel, about metal, but about the ideas behind them. Utopian architecture and ‘streets in the sky’; worldchanging graphic design; award-winning films and video games; new musical movements over and over. No-one knows quite what Sheffield will come up with next.Yes, this city is still a secret. No, you might not know about the woods, or the beer, or the clubs. No, you might not know that, if you live here, you can run from your front door to the Peaks in 30 minutes flat. But you will. This, then, is the city we work in.This is the city we’re part of, made of, influenced by. A city that is both ambitious and humble, it’s radical and creative, honest, alive and thriving. A city that’s reusing itself, a city with space, with opportunity, that never stands still. All in all, a good place to be, if you’re an institute of arts.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 01. The City

Sheffield is a bit of a workaholic of a city. It’s all about production, about creating ideas and products that have changed the world. It would be a little ambitious to list them all. Here are Sheffield’s greatest hits.

Sheffield Made. The illustrations on these pages were produced by SIA graduates — Briony Firth (Brooklyn Bridge) Helen McClafferty (David Mellor)

Rowan Roberts (Electro Pop) David Hill (Warp Records) Matt Harrison Clough (Football) Tom J Newell (Ale)

Park Hill Flats

As ideas go, they rarely come bigger than Park Hill. Rebuilding the city after the war, municipal politicians and local planners decided to change the lives of thousands of working people, lifting them out of their slums and up into utopian, concrete ‘streets in the sky’. TV crews from all over the world came to see them. Today, after 50 years of changing politics and problems, Park Hill is the only survivor. It’s most recent reincarnation, by Urban Splash, has started to win awards all over again. 22

The Brooklyn Bridge

David Mellor

Steel is so integral to Sheffield’s self-image, it sometimes seems to be all the city talks about. But there’s a reason for this. For two hundred years, Sheffield has forged, shaped and defined one of the most important materials in the modern world. For instance: the Brooklyn Bridge, New York, is entirely made of Sheffield Steel. Imagine if your city was associated with an invention like glass, or medicine, or the wheel. You’d want to talk about it, too.

Brute strength, fire and dirt is only one half of the Sheffield story. The other is design. Useful, simple, beautiful products, for everyone to use. David Mellor, one of the city’s most famous sons, has produced some of these. Not just iconic knives and forks, but cups, chairs, lights and bins. And the next time you’re stuck at the traffic lights, take a closer look: he designed those, too.

Football

At the start of the 1970s, Sheffield was really still just an industrial powerhouse. But then something strange started to happen. All those bangs and clangs and thuds suddenly took a new form: music. First, Cabaret Voltaire recorded these noises, cut them up, and recycled them into a new industrial sound. Then, in 1981, bands like the Human League, ABC and Heaven 17 took that sound, put gold suits on, and pretended they were in the sexiest city on Earth. Sheffield music took the world by storm.

Little known fact: Sheffield invented Association Football. The oldest surviving football club in the world, Sheffield FC, was established in October 1857, while the rules that were played here went on to form the basis of the game nationally, and internationally. So yes, this city invented the world’s most popular game. Planet Earth: you’re welcome.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 01. The City

Electro Pop

Warp Records

When it comes to music, Sheffield wasn’t content with just doing it once. After the eyeliner had worn off, and the glamour had faded, the sounds mutated again, into bleeps. In clubs, above pubs, and in the front rooms of houses, something sparse and futuristic started to happen. Warp Records was formed. Dance music became intelligent.

Ale

There’s something in the water here. Once, the steel valleys were full of pubs, to quench the thirst of the workers. Today, it’s the pubs themselves that are more likely to be doing the producing, creating award winning craft beer. With new microbreweries opening all the time, the reputation of Sheffield’s newest product is spreading: the New York Times recently named Sheffield as ‘Britain’s best beer city’ in it’s top 52 places to go in 2014.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 01. The City

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Sheffield Makers

Over 100 years ago, the phrase ‘Made in Sheffield’ had such value that the Sheffield Defence Committee was created to stop producers outside the city from using our city’s name in vain. Our city is not a financial hub, or a trading hotspot. Historically and to this day we are makers through and through. Our output is different these days – not so much metal as music – but Sheffield is still a city that dreams up, creates, produces, makes things happen.At the moment, these things, amongst others. 1 – Psalt Design

In 2010 three of our very own furniture and product design graduates hatched plans to develop some of the products they’d conjured up in their studies. Hey presto, the bubble tank was an instant hit and put them on the lovely things to own map. It’s also seen them exhibiting at some pretty impressive shows here and abroad. Now, their range continues to grow – seating, lighting, clocks, noticeboards – all slick, simple, considered, beautiful and by and large manufactured within one mile of the place they were dreamt up. Homegrown in every sense and still growing...

2/3 – Warp Films

You will have watched a Warp film. Made of Stone? This Is England? Submarine? Four Lions? Warp Films launched in 2002 in Sheffield, a sibling to the already established (and very much breaking new ground) Warp Records, which opened in 1989 and showed the rest of the world how to make (loud), package (Designers Republic) and sell (independently) the best bleepy noise music in the world. Same approach applies to their films – tackle the tricky stuff, the dark side, the things that will make you pioneers. The perfect reflection of our pioneering city spirit.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 01. The City

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4 – Crow & Dunnage

Function over form is the name of the game for Crow & Dunnage, who craft lovely leather goods, amongst other things, that clearly take a lead from our manufacturing past, being somehow delicate and heavy handed at the same time. Clever too – single pieces are used, with smart folds to create something with as few seams as possible. Up and running since 2010, the team of two is bringing traditional craft into contemporary use, sticking to a good, solid diet of simplicity and honesty as their driving forces. Nowt wrong with that – it seems to be bringing with it a growing fan base and some strident support. 5/6/7 – Mamnick

Mamnick is a stretch of road notorious amongst the cycling fraternity, a slog of an ascent towards the peak of Mam Tor, Derbyshire’s highest, that punishes and rewards in equal measure. It’s also an inspiration to Thom Barnett, founder of Mamnick – a homespun fledgling men’s fashion label that works from conception to fruition all without leaving the city and now sells across the world. Working to an ethos that is somehow ever so Sheffield - “Do one thing at a time, as beautifully as possible” – shoes, shirts, coats, and a range of products in Sheffield steel are designed in the city and made a few miles up the road.

8 – Field Cycles

It’s a pretty good time to be handcrafting bikes here – this city is borderline obsessive about cycling and the Tour de France's Sheffield stop has further fanned the flames. So Field Cycles is a marriage of this obsession and a dedication to craft, art and design. An ‘antidote to massproduced manufacturing’, their bicycles are entirely bespoke, a real exercise in artisan crafting: the frameset is completely hand-built and painted to a customer’s requirements. In short, every beautiful bike they make is like a hymn to the act of cycling. 9 – Tado

It’s not all rivets and bolts here, you know! In 2002 a small corner of Sheffield became the official global epicentre of cute when Tado, a team of two graphic designers, began creating ever so adorable punchy characters and animating them, making them into designer toys, plastering them onto products. Fresh, new and hugely collectable cult figures emerge steadily from this little powerhouse which works regularly with HUGE brands like Nike, MTV, Puma and the Star Wars franchise. They have also exhibited in LA, and regularly branch out into branding and fashion.

10/11 – B&B Gallery

B&B Gallery is a screen-printing studio and prolific gallery space co-curated by artists Ed Bradbury (AKA SIA graduate and artist Kid Acne) and Florence Blanchard, exhibiting a diverse range of work by a roster of international artists. In a short time, B&B has established itself firmly on the map with a very rare curatorial energy. PUT BLUNTLY...it’s important you pay attention to this place and these people and the things they invite you to see! 12/13 – Made North

It’s all well and good, Sheffield being a bubbling melting pot of creative talent, but how do people across the world know about it, see it, feel it, buy it? Made North is a brilliant little gathering spot, a gallery in the city centre, an online shop and resource, and a makers’ community. They also host events that turn the spotlight on the region’s inventive types, like Sheffield Design Week, and attract the attention we collectively deserve. You want to get in with this lot, you might just need them in your future career…

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 01. The City

To know the city you must first know the sound of the city.There’s more to it than this, but this playlist, compiled with the help of the Tramlines Music Festival team (see page 29), is a fine start.Which leads nicely to a note about Tramlines, which you’ll need to know, because it’s the law. Everybody goes. It’s three days and nights of live music you are legally obliged to attend.At two years old it was named the UK’s best metropolitan music festival, hosting hundreds of live performances in venues across the city, indoors and out.

01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Being Boiled The Blue Wrath Complete Surrender Pour Some Sugar on Me Mountainhead No Death Beat Goes On Pure Pleasure Seeker Bloodsports Living In A Box Pink G.R.Ease Potion Approaching Streets So Warm Love Of My Life On And On This is Hardcore Penthouse and Pavement Woman to Woman This Is Entertainment Testone

The Human League I Monster Slow Club Def Leppard 65daysofstatic Wet Nuns The All Seeing I Moloko Drenge Living In A Box Pink Grease Arctic Monkeys Toddla T Richard Hawley The Longpigs Pulp Heaven 17 Joe Cocker Cabaret Voltaire Sweet Excorcist

Listen to Sheffield yourself at — http://bit.ly/1sR2gqN

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 01. The City

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There’s not a weekend goes by when there’s not something brilliant going on here. Sometimes it’s stuff so brilliant that we’re known across the world for it, like our international doc film festival. Often, it’s a new exciting venture, or a one off, so it’s vital to keep your eyes and ears open. Every year though, there are favourites – events that are tried, trusted and loved by the city that showcases all that is inventive and original.

Transmission Lectures

These lectures are delivered in partnership with Site Gallery and are open to absolutely everybody. For free. Which makes them even more special. The talks explore art and often its crossover with other disciplines. Established and emerging artists respond to an annual theme, presenting their work and provoking lively debate. Come along and pitch in! www.transmission.uk.com

Curated By...

Curated By doesn’t happen often, it’s just a few days spaced out over the year when the city becomes the richest seam of design talent in the universe. So it’s gold, especially if you’re into design, the principles of design and making. Previously the event has welcomed design gods including Erik Kessels, Ken Garland and Stefanie Posavec. This year welcomes punk business pioneer and three-sided shape obsessive Kate Moross to the stage, amongst very special others. Gathering momentum, so get in quick, and take your switched on ears and eyes with you. www.curated---by.org

Cally Spooner, Transmission. Zero Hours, 2013–14

SIA Gallery Exhibitions / All year

Our very own gallery, in the Cantor building, plays host to a number of exhibitions throughout the year. These range from showcases of traditional crafting, such as the David Mellor Steel and Light exhibition in 2013 celebrating 100 years of stainless steel, to contemporary subject matter such as the beautiful interpretation of data in Brendan Dawes’ (yes, the same one who wrote the foreword in this book) Dot Dot Dot. It’s also one of the host spaces for our Degree Show every June, showcasing the very best of our students’ work to the public and industry experts alike. www.shu.ac.uk/sia/gallery

Games Britannia / June

Our very own computing department plays host to this celebration of gaming technology each year. Combining creativity and technology, the events include speakers and activities specifically targeted at university students wanting to break into the games industry, as well as masterclasses from some of the nation’s best. www.gamesbritannia.com

Sheffield Design Week / June

2014 saw the inaugural Sheffield Design Week, the brainchild of the Made North consortium and gallery. This showcase for design celebrates design in all forms, hosting an array of local, regional, national and international design and architecture talent. Expect talks, exhibitions, workshops, launches, and the chance to have a right good nosey around lots of studios. www.sheffielddesignweek.co.uk

Comsat Angels pic (crowd shot with band on stage) by Pixelwitch Pictures

Doc/Fest / June

Or Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival to give it its full title… and that ‘international’ thing is important – Doc/Fest is in the global top three documentary festivals, described by some as ‘the Cannes of the doc world’. Born in 1992 it has become an absolute must for the best new and established talent and the biggest movers and shakers in the factual film world. Aspiring doc filmmakers, stick this on your list of ambitions NOW! Most screenings are open to all, as long as you book waaaaay in advance. www.sheffdocfest.com

Sensoria / September – October

A week of unadulterated music / film / installation / performance joy. At all kinds of weird and wonderful venues across the city you’ll find all manner of underground goings on – screenings and discussions, screenings and live scores, performance and music. Look out for details and programmes around the city near the time, and don’t miss out. www.2014.sensoria.org.uk

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 01. The City

Open Up / May

In May each year everyone who does anything vaguely artistic in Sheffield flings open the doors of their home or workshop and invites you for a beak about. You’ll find all sorts, some very special stuff and you are welcome to look, buy, join in and talk to the artist. Pick and choose the best and it can be a great way of building your community of creative friends in the city. www.openupsheffield.co.uk

Off the Shelf / October Yorkshire Yellow project, by M/M Paris.

Tramlines / July

Within two years Tramlines was named ‘best metropolitan music festival’. Take that, Camden Crawl! (three times winner in the preceding years). Hundreds of bands, hundreds of venues, from parks to basements – one weekend each July the city is alive with music – it’s in every street from morning to, well, very early the next morning. There’s a special stage for the next big things, and headline act in 2014, unbelievably almost, is Public Enemy. Not bad four years in. www.tramlines.org.uk

This will be on the radar for most bibliophiles but if you’re just developing a proper love of books and written word, make a note – annually across the city, for a whole month, it’s like living in a library. You can’t move for writers, books, talks about books by their writers. And what writers. Recent guests include Roddy Doyle, Kate Adie, Paul Morley, Simon Armitage, Chuck Palahniuk and Dan Snow. www.welcometosheffield.co.uk/visit/off-theshelf

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Start here

Yes, it’s true. Sheffield has a city centre. Here you’ll find beautiful fountains and grand civic buildings, new trainers and great coffee, not to mention the biggest theatre complex outside of London. But there’s more to the city than just the middle. It’s the bits further afield where you’ll really find the city we love.

Image of Heeley Green courtesy of Groundwork UK

This is the part of Sheffield where the future is being born. Roughly the streets around the Showroom cinema, here’s where you’ll find the city’s digital industries: hundreds of people in old factories (and the super modern Electric Works opposite Sheffield station) making apps, games, sites, digital content, and other things your parents don’t understand.

Neepsend / Kelham Island

This is Sheffield at its most beautiful: a whole valley which used to make steel and now makes beer. On both sides of the River Don, you’ll find peaceful streets of lovely old factories, some reborn as studios, some as homes, and some still working, too. Dotted amongst them, there’s independent pubs and restaurants, brewing and selling the best ale you’ll ever taste.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 01. The City

The Cultural Industries Quarter

Heeley

Heeley is a real community, with a city farm, a rambling park, an old school that’s been turned into a new set of creative studios, and loads of cheap terraces for artists to live in. It’s also spread up a hill that’s almost vertical. Hard work on a bike, but the views are worth it.

Sharrowvale

Nether Edge

Covered in trees like the Ewok Village, Nether Edge is a sleepy, leafy collection of once-grand Victorian villas and beautiful terraced streets. The bottom bit, Abbeydale Road, is now the coolest street in Sheffield, featuring independent bakers, antiques shops, and the Italian institution that is Bragazzi’s coffee shop.

Down the other side of the hill from Nether Edge, Sharrowvale Road is full of beautiful, useful, independent shops. Here you’ll find: butchers, bookshops, bakers, print-makers, organic grocers, boutiques and cafés galore. All topped off with a gorgeous park at the end. The perfect Saturday afternoon.

The bit near where Sheffield Institute of Arts is

Shalesmoor

A strange triangle of the city, Shalesmoor sits on a hill so steep that it might, at any point, fall off. Half the factories down here are still making things: scissors, tools, glue. Half are full of artists. CADS in particular is one to watch: run by Steve Rimmer, a Sheffield Hallam alumnus, it’s a warren of studios, clubs and gallery spaces, where anything can happen.

The streets between the Cantor building and the ring road are so cool, they haven’t really got a name. Here you’ll find a tonne of artists studios (the Yorkshire Artspace for one is full of our graduates), a handful of amazing galleries, and loads of brilliant parties above old boxing rings (if you can find them).

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People 32

2. AM

Meet the people who teach at SIA. Artists, practitioners, visionaries and non-conformists, we find out how they work, what they teach, and why they make the art they do. In this section: Fine Art / Keith Wilson Creative Art Practice / Becky Shaw Design (product and furniture) / Roger Bateman Architecture / Gabriel Tang Creative Writing / Harriet Tarlo Photography / MichĂ¨le Lazenby Jewellery & Metalwork / Chris Knight Interior Design / Sally Billau Technician / Steve Wood Film & Media Production / Christopher Hall Art & Design Research Centre / Paul Chamberlain Design Futures / John Kirkby Design and Technology Education / Rowan Todd Performing Arts / Neil Sissons Games Design and Development / Jake Habgood & David Wilson Animation / Mel Ternan Fashion Design / Lesley Campbell Graphic Design / Pam Bowman & Matt Edgar

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Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People 33

the ple

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

BA (Hons) Fine Art / Keith Wilson

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Profile

Keith Wilson is a lecturer on our fine art course. Keith has had solo shows at places as diverse as Camden Arts Centre, London; Eastside Projects, Birmingham; and Grizedale Forest, in the Lake District. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s taught at some of the major art schools around Britain. And in the 1990s, he was even a resident art expert on breakfast TV. We caught up with him to talk art, stone, being a postman and life in Sheffield.

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First things first, how would you describe your practice? And why sculpture, as opposed to other forms of art? To be honest, I thought there was more fun, more difficult fun, to be had in real stuff in the real world, than in any other art form. I’m interested in the historical and current functioning of sculpture: basically what sculpture means, the sort of magic thing that makes this or that a ‘sculpture’ rather than just another lump of stone. Can you tell us about your most recent work? I’ve just completed a series of very upright sculptures down the River Lea, in the middle of the Olympic Park. There are 35 of them, in a row. I feel like they’re organising the space, providing a kind of metronome as you’re moving down the river. They’ve got a look of crayons about them, is that intentional? I hadn’t really thought of that. I tend to call things fairly abstract names, which lends them the habit of getting a nickname. These are called ‘Steles’. So ‘crayons’ is fine, quite funny really. What is a ‘stele’ then? A ‘stele’ is a historical, upright standing stone, from the Far East. They were often inscribed with exhortations to good civic behaviour. So across China you’d find these big rocks telling you how to behave yourself, which is hilarious. Almost like holy posters. Obviously my steles aren’t trying to tell you how to act. But again, they’re upright, they’re there to keep you company, to measure yourself and the river against. I like to think they’re the sort of thing you might become fond of without really being able to articulate why you’re fond of them.

You’ve mentioned a couple of times that sculpture can be funny. Do you find that you use humour in your work? Yeah, I suppose. As an example, I did a piece in the early nineties called ‘Puddle’ which was just a dip in the pavement. Preston City Council commissioned it, and then banned it, and it’s quite nice because it’s not a puddle itself, it’s just the conditions for a puddle. When it rains, the sculpture will appear. So it’s quite conceptual material, and I compound that by not telling anyone where it is, and just getting the usual people who dig the roads up to come and put a bit of pavement in badly. So yes, it’s full of humour, but it’s also full of story, a little narrative, about the place, about the weather. A kind of stumbling comedy. Do you think it has to be useful as well? I think so. I think Puddle is a great public sculpture. It does the job, but it’s not the job that anyone asked it to do. So, every so often, you get asked to do the wrong job, and that’s when you realise it’s important as an artist that you sometimes don’t just answer the brief as it’s given. You answer the brief as you understand it. That’s your job as an artist. Is that the role of an art school then? To teach that kind of thinking? I think, in an arts institute like SIA, imagination has to be paramount. The first thing we have to do is somehow liberate the mindset of someone who’s been through education up to that point, where it’s all about measurement and control. We have to help them see that the best thing art school can offer is a space for experimentation, and failure, as well as success.

Keith in his project space at S1 Artspace in the centre of Sheffield. More — s1artspace.org

It’s interesting, we’re actually doing a project with S1 Artspace at the moment, all about an ideal art school. S1 is this huge space round the corner from SIA. I want to get all of our students together in the space, and task them with creating a dream art school: how it should work, from their perspective. Then get the filmmakers in, and the architecture students too, and answer that very question. That sounds amazing! It makes us want to go to art school again! Yeah, it’s a great environment to be in. But at the same time, I’m looking for this to be proper work. I don’t want to waste a single day. This ‘art’ is a really hard subject, and it should be doing your head in every day, and it should be proper trouble, and you sometimes have to be critical. At some point, you have to see what it is to get up out of bed every morning and make art. How do you teach this at SIA then? How does it work? A large part of it is doing it with them. I’m doing a workshop group at the moment, and I’m making a piece alongside them, and as we go around the group each week, at the end I’ll say how I’m getting on, what I’m trying to talk about. And by the deadline, I’ll have a piece too. It’s not competitive. You can’t expect somebody else to open up their practice to you if you’re not generous enough to open up your own vulnerabilities, to take risks. But also: you need to be critical. I’m trying to help people become confident in their practice, to know that a bad show isn’t the end of the world, but equally it’s about reality. I will let you know the bad news about your work, because I don’t want you to be sucker-punched in that real world. The first time you put a piece out there, you should already have heard the obvious criticisms of it, and you’ve got to be ready for it.

1. Steles (Waterworks) installation, Olympic Park 2012 2. SIA artist studios in Arundel Gate Court

You mentioned making a living. How do you prepare students to make their way after they graduate? I think reality is important again here. You don’t want everyone thinking they’re going to be Damien Hirst. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make at least part of your living from art, even to start with. For instance, every time there’s an exhibition at S1, they create a limited edition print to sell alongside the work. That’s a great idea, because it’s really democratic, it helps to bring in a little bit. The chances are you’ll be like the great number of artists out there, who do a bit of this and a bit of that. The crucial thing to understand is it’s alright to do something else, too. You can be a postman and an artist. It’s fine. It’s not a disaster. Jobs can even be quite good for your mental health, know what I mean? If you can do a bit of part-time work in the morning, that’s all right, there’s plenty of hours left for art. Do you think Sheffield is a good place to be an artist? Is there a market for what’s produced here? Yes, I think it is. I think there’s an autonomy here, a freedom here, a sense of space. You’re probably not going to make all your money directly in Sheffield, and most of the money will probably be passing through London, but that doesn’t mean everyone should be there. When I was teaching at the Royal College a few years ago, the students couldn’t really leave and continue to work there. So that’s a very unhealthy situation. Whereas in Sheffield, you can live in a decent place, you can have a studio, you can afford to make art. I think things seem possible here.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

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I’m doing a workshop group at the moment, and I’m making a piece alongside them, and as we go around the group each week, at the end I’ll say how I’m getting on, what I’m trying to talk about. And by the deadline, I’ll have a piece too. It’s not competitive. You can’t expect somebody else to open up their practice to you if you’re not generous enough to open up your own vulnerabilities.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Childhood visits to the chemical factory where her dad worked hooked Becky Shaw on the idea of transformation and the process and practice of making art. Now deputy course leader in creative art practice, she talks to us about making, collaborating and the true value of an education in art.

Interview

BA (Hons) Creative Art Practice / Becky Shaw

Those factory visits, what did you get from those? Well, the factory took raw materials and made important, useful and dangerous chemicals! The basic transformation of raw material has always excited me, and so has the way all production is intertwined. Even the waste materials were shipped all over the world to be used in other processes – it all fascinated me. I have always been more interested in the way the factory uses rational and methodical methods to allow qualities and ideas to become visible. The moments when something unexpected is made apparent make me feel fully human. How does that reflect in your work, what do those works look like? I usually respond to places where large groups of people work together – universities, hospitals, factories. For my PhD I worked on sculpture with patients at a palliative care centre, Liverpool Marie Curie Centre. It was extraordinary and really explored the relationship between how we see art and therapy. One of those pieces won the Amstelveen Art Incentive prize. And I was lucky enough to collaborate with a filmmaker called Michael Gill during his last years, when he was when ill with dementia, and we made a Perspex museum, later exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery and written about by Claire Doherty in ‘From Studio to Situation’. At the moment I am researching cement production at Lafarge Tarmac. Art is a resource for finding out about the world, ourselves, and for finding out the ways that we find things out, so it strays into all corners of life. Art captures our brains working, then finds a form for it that is communicable to others.

What was your own art school experience? It was extraordinary. At that stage in fine art education there were very few lectures and little other structure. The tutors brought so many different perspectives and that taught us to become independent, critical and discerning. My parents used to worry that I wasn’t being ‘taught’ enough, but actually this model meant I learned on my own terms and never forgot some of the lessons. Does that experience influence how you teach now? In my own teaching I try to embed discipline, a spirit of investigation and determination. I also try to ensure that students recognise how valuable they are to each other. Artists are built by artists’ communities, not by solo endeavour. Do you see them responding well to that? Yes, many are really thriving, but there are several who stand out. One in particular shows such enormous work ethic and takes all that the course has to offer with both hands. There’s one student I know for her extraordinary ability to think between the worlds of art and design – she is building a business from it and a real reputation. Her current work has modelled a system where she analyses books for their colour contents and produces vibrant data charts presenting her analysis. And there’s a PhD student who has these really unusual ways to make process visible in objects, glass in particular. And he has brilliant ways to engage students. He devised a project called Constellation, asking the students to articulate their position between making and thinking, art and craft. That kind of question is where creative art practice can really breathe, it helps students find new territory between disciplines.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Roger Bateman is a product and furniture designer who brings a wealth of experience in education and industry. With a natural passion for design from a young age, he has worked and taught in Liverpool, Leeds, Edinburgh, Barcelona and Auckland. Now heading up our MA Design programme that covers product design, packaging design, graphic design, illustration, metalwork and jewellery, interior and fashion design, he is a strong advocate of ‘doing good by design’.

Why does design matter? Designers are able to engage with and respond to the provocations thrown at us in the 21st century – like global warming, water-pollution, resource depletion, famine, the ageing population, inequity in society. There are not enough designers trained to engage with these big problems, or to understand how to collaborate or co-create rather than exist as isolated individuals. Most of the projects I set are around doing good by design, they’re about socially responsible design. Like a project at the moment which looks at producing biodegradable furniture that can be recycled at the end of its lifespan; and one exploring the bathroom of the future, designed for our ageing population. How do students become designers, how do they learn to use design to meet challenges? We challenge students to be observant, to be ‘investigative translators’ – finding what needs doing and understanding what are vital starting points in the design process. Then it’s about applying a well-developed design process that interrogates those starting points. Travelling is wonderful research for the designer too, seeking to understand how people live, what they need, how they communicate, celebrate, work, play. There’s no better way of understanding the world we live in. We travel as part of the MA course – this year we have students heading to Germany, USA, Italy and London.

Interview

MA Design / Roger Bateman

What about Sheffield as a city to design in? What does the place bring to the student experience? Ours is a post-industrial city. The maze of small backstreet manufacturers means that the University and the city combine into something like a vast workshop. Here we have cutting edge technology and processes; out there students can sub-contract out components for making. The trick is to find these original, workable methods used across the city and weave our opportunities together. Are there students on the course who are really excelling? Several. One is now designing furniture for some of the biggest names in the market – his work is quirky – he’s creative and entrepreneurial. A recent graduate, who’s been exploring our attachment to products, exemplifies what I want to see in a young designer. He has his own voice, something important to say and is passionate about approaching design differently. Is it important, that ‘different approach’? Yes. Creativity, research and critical enquiry are the primary tools in developing original design. My own great teachers, at Ravensbourne then at the Royal College of Art, were inspirational and helped me see the world differently. Does your teaching at the Institute do that? Well I think a student’s time at design school is transformational anyway – besides the obvious aspect of learning how to improve and apply creativity, there are the other things such as building networks, understanding enterprise and entrepreneurship, friendship building and up-skilling. Good design schools provide a safe environment within which creative risk-taking can occur – it is rare that such a place can be found outside of a design school.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Gabriel Tang is course leader of our RIBA accredited BSc (Hons) Architecture. Gabriel’s practice has included working for Norman Foster on the Stirling Prize nominated McLaren Group headquarters in Woking, gaining an MBA, specialising in reinvigorating post-industrial architecture, and developing sustainable new cities for the middle of the desert. He’s a busy man. Profile

BSc (Hons) Architecture / Gabriel Tang Images opposite —

Architecture department in Owen building

Where did your interest in architecture come from? Well, I’m not from the UK. I was brought up in Singapore, which is very built up, very high density, lots of flats and buildings. So I was very impressed with the different approaches to architecture when I arrived in Sheffield. At the same time, we didn’t live in those flats. We lived in a very interesting, simple house, with a roof that you could pull across when it rained. It was nothing fancy, just a rope to pull on, and the roof came across. And I thought, if architecture can be simple and interesting, but environmental at the same time, then maybe I can contribute something to it. How did you end up in Sheffield? What was that like coming from Singapore? It’s a long story! I came to the UK for my education, for university essentially. It was all very interesting to me, because I’d never been to a temperate country before, so the first time I got off the aeroplane and touched the handrail at the airport, I was shocked, because the handrail was cold! I studied first of all in Sheffield, then went to the Bartlett at UCL, in London. The external examiner on my course was actually a director at Norman Foster’s office, and I suppose he was impressed with my work, because he offered me a job starting there the next day! There I worked on some very interesting projects, including the McLaren Formula 1 team’s headquarters, all with a team of colleagues from around the world. It was a very interesting experience.

At the same time, you’ve got the rich industrial history of Sheffield, the industrial graveyards, which are wonderful places for tapping into the imagination of a resourceful architect, and you’ve got the future too. We’re working with a project along the River Don at the moment that’s trying to reintroduce salmon to this river, which was once so polluted and dead, but which is now becoming healthy again. For our students, the environment of this city is very intriguing.

So from Foster’s, how did you get to teaching? From Foster’s, I then went on to study for an MBA, because I saw how crucial a business view was to architecture. In all my time at university, we were always thinking about very big, heroic ideas, but you forget about how you bring food to the table, the practical conditions that make buildings possible. I think it’s important to know how you can actually make architecture happen. After my MBA, I didn’t want to go back to London, I missed life in Sheffield. I got some work here with BDP Architects, and a colleague was working as a tutor here at the University. She asked me if I was interested in doing some teaching, which turned into a full-time position. It was all very unplanned, but it fitted very nicely. It was like a journey! You’ve talked a bit about the practicalities of architecture. Is there a tension between what you teach and the real world? I think that’s what makes the course at SIA special. One of the things we get a lot of employers saying to us is how grounded our students are, how practical and imaginative, how caring. Caring might seem a strange word to use, but our course here is not just about architecture and how it looks, but how it functions, how it affects people’s lives, and how it can be environmentally sustainable. Our students have a really responsible way of looking at architectural design.

What else are your students working on? We’ve just been on a field trip to Lisbon, where we studied the different arrangements of the neighbourhoods, from the old streets before the 1755 earthquake, to the new gridded arrangements. We were looking at the fabric of the city, how different pieces are stitched together, and how you can see that in the Georgian, Modernist and Victorian areas of Sheffield, too. We’re also doing a very interesting project at the moment with Fitzalan Square, which is one of the really forgotten corners of Sheffield, one of the left-over bits, down near the old Castle Market. We’re asking students to design a civic centre, a room or building for this square where we can tell the story of the city. I think architecture has the power to remind people of these places, and suggest solutions to help to reuse them. Final question: what is the real world like at the moment? Is there work when your students come out the other end? And is it in Sheffield, or all in London? I’m very proud to say that our students are always very employable. Some get jobs before they finish their degree, and in fact some of my contacts in London have just taken on four of our students. They took two on at first, then after that they wanted two more! Our students are very well-equipped. Of course it might not be possible to stay in Sheffield, but it can be healthy to venture to other cities, to expand your horizons. Lots of people seem to go away, then find an opportunity to come back at some point. It’s quite a tidal thing!

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Sheffield as a city has had quite a tempestuous relationship with architecture, often ripping it up and starting again. Do you think that the history of architecture in Sheffield helps when you’re teaching students? Yes, I think Sheffield is a very rich resource for teaching about architecture. You can see Brutalist buildings like Park Hill which cause a lot of discussion: it was nominated for the Stirling Prize last year, for example. Now, architecture students might have a different view about that than other residents of Sheffield. It’s these views that make architecture so interesting: I remember a few years ago, the same building winning both ‘best-loved’ and ‘most-hated’ awards in the same year! Where else could you get opinions like that?

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Harriet Tarlo is the accomplished writer and poet who leads the MA Creative Writing course, one of the oldest in the country. First published in her local paper as a young girl, she continues to write and seeks new ways to ‘experiment’ with her work. Her course has led to successful writing careers for numerous alumni.

Interview

MA Creative Writing / Harriet Tarlo

How does your own work influence your teaching? I teach on both the MA and BA (Hons) Creative Writing courses and have taught creative writing for more than 20 years. I suppose I am both an academic and a working writer, a poet. And I do lots of freelance work too – review writing, workshops, exhibitions – it’s a lot of work but I think that balance, keeping in with industry, is important. That experience, of writing, feeds into my teaching and I really enjoy my teaching time. For me, writing poetry is about wanting to keep the freshness alive really – a vision, a way of seeing people and the world… kind of experimenting with words, playing with words. The BA course is sort of ideas based, I teach experimental writing; and the MA is more genre based – people often do that course to write something specific, to be published. So that link to the working world is an essential influence. What did university feel like to you? The lectures were great. They were on a big scale, you know, like dramatic presentations of writers. And certainly that extended my reading a lot. I was the sort of person who, when interested in a writer, would go about and read everything they’ve written. Just really get into it. And so that was the best part of the education. I think what had the most influence was the reading I did there. And the people, like Richard Caddel who was a poet and he worked in the library. He wasn’t an English academic but he was much more influential in my writing than the academics who were teaching me. There was a tutor who I would say really helped my intellectual development, she was very rigorous and she taught me how to be an academic. I still refer to what she taught me.

Do your students build careers in creative writing? Like I said, lots of the MA students have something in mind that they want to publish and quite often they’re successful. Susan Elliot-Wright has just got an impressive three book deal, so she’s a successful literary novelist. Sharon Oakes has gone on to develop a great career in script writing. And I’m expecting great things from several current students – like one from Barbados who I think will do really well with her short stories. And I teach a really ambitious young poet who’s doing interesting things with Bank Street Arts in Sheffield. At the other end of the age spectrum there’s a writer in his 70s who’s doing good work with poetry groups. Lots of our students win awards for writing. Is Sheffield a good place for writers? There is definitely a northern flavour to the course in a lot of ways. I find Sheffield an incredibly friendly place with a big sense of community. And there is a big sense of community in our course, so the two things are not unrelated. It’s a very open place you know. It is very liberal. It is very very friendly and it is not pompous. And this University isn’t particularly pompous either. It is one of the things I like about it. The department isn’t either. Everyone calls each other by their first name, both staff and students. Obviously you know who are staff and who are students, but really it is like a community of writers and everyone is trying to encourage each other to succeed. That’s really what it is about.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Michèle Lazenby is our photography course leader. ‘Seduced by the alchemy of the darkroom’ on a short photography course, she went on to study at London Metropolitan University, then Glasgow School of Art and now works with photography, video and installation. Her quest in her own work to explore and understand what we are made of and how we co-exist with other species and the world around us has brought with it some interesting brushes with dung, amongst other things...

Interview

BA (Hons) Photography / Michèle Lazenby What motivates your own work? I’m really interested in working at the interface between art and science, using a variety of photographic processes, video and installation. Much of my artwork has been concerned with exploring the experience of place, and I’ve done a lot of research and work in recent years on the behaviours of different organisms and environmental issues. I’m interested in that – what we’re made of – the ecosystems and communities. I think everything in the universe is connected and interdependent and everything plays an essential role. I think for me photography and moving image enable me to see the world differently – they help me gather information and clarify my ideas and understanding. That idea, of interconnectivity, has led you to some interesting places… Yes! Like a project called Stercus Circus, which evolved from a residency at the Scottish Agriculture College where I was recording behaviours and interrelationships of insects living in, on and under cow and sheep dung. There are about 1,000 insects, of up to 250 different species, all of them dependent on a single cow pat. Their role there is vital and supports other life, like the birds who feed on them, and they are part of the ‘breaking down’ process too.

It all started for you with a short course… Yes, I was making films but wanted to improve my camera work so I signed up to a photography course. I was completely seduced by the alchemy of the darkroom and the act of seeing life through a camera. The camera stops the world for a fraction of a second, we see something different – it frames the world in manageable pieces, giving us a different angle, a new light and so new insights, understanding and appreciation. And what can students expect from your course? I want to set challenges that are open to unique responses, so students can tap into their own passions and interests. They’ll be exposed to new practices, ideas, techniques, they might find creative soulmates to collaborate with, those might last an entire lifetime. They have a place here to experiment, to discover and develop their own practice while they are being supported, and have access to all kinds of equipment and facilities. I think art school, and this course in particular, is about inspiring individual practice – the course gives students access to a massive range of ideas, processes, issues – historical, current and emerging – and the input of a creative and critical specialist community. And what have your graduates gone on to achieve? All kinds of things, in Sheffield and way beyond – we have recent graduates working in Uganda, France and Mexico now! One of our graduates, Tom Archer, has just won the London Street Photography Festival award. There are award winning wedding photography graduates, and others who pursue related work, but not photography – I bumped into one who has set up an urban streetwear company with friends from the graphic design and fine art courses. As much as anything else, studying gives people versatility and independence.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

It’s a very intimate creative experience. It’s not like filmmaking, there’s no big team, it’s not going out to millions of people. Jewellery and metalwork is about you.

BA (Hons) Jewellery and Metalwork / Chris Knight

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Profile

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Chris is a senior lecturer on our jewellery and metalwork course. He’s also a silversmith of 25 years standing, a SIA graduate, and responsible for probably the largest piece of metalwork in Sheffield: the ‘Cutting Edge’ sculpture that greets visitors to the city when they leave Sheffield station. We met him in his workshop at Persistence Works, near SIA’s Cantor building in the Cultural Industries Quarter.

More at — artspace.org.uk Image 2 the Cutting Edge sculpture at Sheffield train station Images 3 & 4 jewellery and metalwork workshops in SIA’s Sheaf building

Tell us your story, Chris. How did you get into metalwork? I’ve always been interested in jewellery and metalwork, since school. For most people, it’s a life-long thing, an obsession. I studied at the Institute, then went to America to work as a goldsmith for a while, and completed a Masters at the Royal College of Art. But both my wife and I are involved in the industry, and we always knew we’d end up back here. How so? Sheffield is the metal city, as you know. There’s an incredible connection to metalwork of all kinds. It’s at the heart of the city’s identity. Your practice is quite wide ranging. How does that relate to what you teach? It’s very interesting to have the contrast in what I do: from the larger, sculptural pieces to the domestic silverware. The major emphasis on the course here is the smaller-scale stuff, the beautiful domestic objects and jewellery. We teach the core of hand/eye/mind co-ordination, of exploring ideas through making, a very disciplined, craft approach. At the same time, I might be out working with the politics of public art, of committees, of partnerships with other professionals. It’s a very pragmatic process. I think it’s crucial that I’m a practising silversmith first and foremost, that I’m working with metal on a daily basis. That really informs the teaching. I practice what I preach. What sort of student wants to come here to learn? Typically it’s a student who’s found their own obsession in making, and who celebrates and enjoys the difficulties of making something to a fine or high level. It’s a very intimate creative experience. It’s not like filmmaking, there’s no big team, it’s not going out to millions of people. Jewellery and metalwork is about you, it’s about you working on your own, and you’re generally dealing with one person or a small group.

It’s interesting that what seems to be a very traditional skill is still popular with students in this super-smart, super-connected culture. How do you work with new technology? Initially, it can be very hard for the students to sit there and concentrate, and file for hours, and ignore the distractions. But there is a real advantage to that, which is that if you’ve got an idea, you can try it out right there and then. It might take you a couple of hours with a piercing saw, but you can try things, work them out, then see if they’re worth paying someone to laser cut, or to access a 3D printer. We’re interested in technology, but it’s probably more important to have those basic design skills first. How do you teach the business side of the practice? It’s important to get the balance right. We make sure that the rigour, the attention to detail, the perfection is developed first. It’s about artistic integrity. Because, as we say to the students, there are always easier ways of making money than doing this, and if that’s all it’s about, then do something else. That said, the market for these products, for one-offs and hand-crafted items, is on the rise again. People are increasingly valuing what they’re spending their money on, and the sense of longevity that comes with buying something that’s been made specifically for you can’t be beaten. It’s totally different to buying mass-produced, disposable jewellery in Topshop. Finally, let’s talk about the Cutting Edge. How did it come about? Well, I’d been working on wider, public pieces of sculpture for a few years. My first piece was for Sheffield Hallam, actually, on the Stoddart Building. At the same time, a few of us, myself, Keith Tyson, Brett Payne and Alex Brodgen, were commissioned to make a piece to celebrate the opening of the Millennium Gallery. We produced a big punch bowl, which is in the main entrance of the gallery. The head of the design team for the Sheaf Square project saw the punch bowl, and said ‘we want a piece of public art for the new station square that’s as good as this’. To begin with, I think they thought we were just going to clad a wall with a few bits of art. But we had bigger ideas. Quite literally!

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Image 1 taken in Chris’ studio space at Persistence Works, Yorkshire Artspace

Interview

BA (Hons) Interior Design / Sally Billau And what do students learn from all this experience? That it’s important to challenge a client’s ideals and question their requirements to make sure they get the very best out of a design. After all, that’s why clients employ designers – to get the very best out of a space. And that collaboration is an essential part of the design process – in fact that it is key to the future of the profession. There is no other possibility than a collaborative approach where everybody involved has ownership of the building in its entirety.

Sally Billau set off for a fortnight of freelance work at a national architects and stayed there 16 years, developing her love of ‘manipulating threedimensional form and shape’ and her understanding of the design and building industry. Now senior lecturer in interior design, she talks to us about the importance of challenging and collaborating. What did that 16 years in the industry give you? I believe I have a very good understanding of the building and design industry – the need to deliver innovative and creative design solutions, to work within a wide range of building types for a varied client base. I also understand what employers are looking for and that means I can work with students to help them demonstrate an understanding of commercial context and relevance in what is a pretty challenging climate. So that front line experience must influence the way you teach? Yes it does. As a student’s skill base increases, they go on to develop more specialised knowledge of design within a range of sectors, working with industry professionals and clients – it’s the only way to develop a real insight into their working practice. This course provides those real experiences through everything from live projects with industry, or work placements to collaborations with community groups.

What’s the most valuable thing about your own experience of learning? The tutors I learnt from came from such a varied background – in practice, research and education – that I could suddenly see a whole range of opportunities open to me. Art school encourages students to be creative, inventive, resourceful, experimental, risk taking, socially aware and globally aware. You can leave art school with such a diverse skill set that going into the world of employment can seem less scary than it would if doing an academic degree. There is the freedom to experiment and take risks, which can be appealing to young people with so much to learn about the world and themselves. Why is SIA a good place to learn? Sheffield has a strong heritage in making so you immediately feel like part of a creative community. I also think the Institute has a strong multi-professional community that provides opportunities for links and collaborations across a range of disciplines and specialisms, as well as students having access to brilliant specialist facilities, combining conventional and digital technologies. What do you want for your students as they complete their course here? I want to see confident communicators; students who take ownership in shaping and communicating their personal design profile and portfolio, becoming confident practitioners and researchers, with the ability to use 2D & 3D design and communication skills in the pursuit of their individual objectives. I want them to get the same enjoyment that I do from creating inspiring spaces by manipulating form and structure, materials, objects, sound and light to create responsive and sustainable spaces.

So you still make as well as supporting the courses? Yes, I’ve worked on so many commissions. I repaired a 17th century goblet once that was rumoured to have a connection to Oliver Cromwell. And I’ve produced all kinds of pieces that are now across the world – palaces in the Middle East, in the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore, and in embassies and aristocratic homes all over the place. I make for my own pleasure, normally unique pieces of jewellery that end up in my wife’s collection. What do you enjoy most about your work? Well I pride myself with being able to make almost anything using precious metals! Having said that, part of this beautiful craft is that you never stop learning. I enjoy the challenge! Although I work at the University now, maintaining recognition as a true craftsman by my peers is vital to me. If or when I lose that, I would hang up the tools of my trade. I need to be able to bring that in to working with students too, it’s important to me that I can bring some ‘real world’ experience to the students’ learning.

Interview

Technician / Steve Wood Steve Wood brings with him 46 years of industry practice and experience to his role as senior technician on the jewellery and metalwork courses. Part of Sheffield Institute of Arts for almost 20 years, there’s not much this man doesn’t know about working with precious metals. His own work now lives across the world, from the palaces of the Middle East, to right here at Sheffield Hallam, where the mace he helped to craft is still in use.

So you’re here to help students bring their designs to life? Yes, with advice on materials, techniques, tool or machine choice, and I make sure everything’s running and working properly. And I’ve used my connections with the industry too to get some students onto great work placements. They help me – I find working with the students the most rewarding and challenging part of my job, they have all these ideas! They are so diverse and there are many different cultures represented on the courses. I think working with so many students over the years has enhanced my way of thinking, problem solving and how I teach. Is there work in the industry, are there careers for these students? There will always be a need for designers! But I believe at the moment there’s a greater need for good designer makers. In my opinion there’s more passion from someone who can make their own design and I believe that being a skilled maker enhances a designers’ capabilities. And it’s possibly one of the best places to be – the arts and crafts in Sheffield are vibrant and there’s a wealth of local talent to engage with.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Where did your lifelong career with precious metals begin? I think it began with a natural talent and interest in working with metals, and I’ve had the opportunity to acquire skills that have allowed me to do that work. I had a seven year apprenticeship and during that time won apprentice of the year, which took me to Milan and Florence for a while. After that I worked with most of the major silverware companies in the UK and abroad – Asprey, Mappin & Webb, Christofle Paris, Garrard. I see myself as a highly skilled craftsman, a maker of fine things!

Overleaf Christopher in the media stores

Christopher Hall is a senior lecturer in film and television editing. He’s worked on television shows like What Not To Wear and Shipwrecked. He’s also created cutting edge video art for galleries and theatres around the world. He talked to us about whether or not making film and television is the most fun you can have while working, or the hardest job on Earth.

I’m going to quote Orson Welles here; he said, ‘an artist needs a paintbrush, a musician needs an instrument, a filmmaker needs That might not be an army’... the exact phrase, but it’s true

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Images The editing suite and film studios at SIA

Profile

BA (Hons) Film and Media Production / Christopher Hall

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To start with Christopher, how did you get into film and telly? I studied sociology at Hull, a long time ago, and I was in halls with lots of film students. We didn’t have much money, so we just used to rent stacks of VHS tapes. So I watched a lot of movies, and started to understand them a lot more than I had previously. At the same time, I was involved in the drama society there, and they had this video production unit that wanted to make a film about the impact of Aids. So I learned a lot through that, too. Eventually all these things led me to Sheffield Institute of Arts in 1995 to do a postgrad in Film and TV Editing. After that I joined BBC Manchester as a runner, and then ended up doing loads of freelancing in London, editing all kinds of documentary television. How did you end up back in Sheffield? I’ve always had one foot in Sheffield, thanks to the huge amount of professional relationships I made in my postgrad studies. So wherever I was in the world, Sheffield was always on my mind. One of the reasons for that is a theatre company called Third Angel, which I’m involved in, and which started off at school. After a while, I felt like I’d reached a ceiling in television. So when a job came up at the Institute, I went for it.

From the outside, it always seems like telly and film are full of these weird jobs: best boy, first grip, second grip. Is a big part of the teaching explaining these roles? I’m going to quote Orson Welles here; he said “an artist needs a paintbrush, a musician needs an instrument, a filmmaker needs an army”. That might not be the exact phrase, but it’s true: this is basically an industrial process, so it is all about division of labour, to get that huge thing done. So we broadly split the course into six elements: directing, producing, camera, editing, sound and art direction. Of course we still create a rich learning environment, and put a lot of emphasis on collaboration, on people skills, on planning. But for the last two semesters, the students will start to specialise. They’ll still come out with a degree which says ‘Film and Media Production’, but they’ll have spent the last year totally immersed in editing, for example. How do they respond to that? Really well. It’s really exciting to see the ones who started as 18 year olds saying ‘I don’t really know what I want to do’, and then at some point in the third year you’ll see a switch flick in their heads, and they’ll get really turned on by this incredibly narrow bit of filmmaking, like art direction. Which is great because that’s what you need. So I’ve got one student at the moment, and he’s found art direction now, and it’s all he wants to talk to me about. That’s fantastic, even if it’s not my specialism! Fortunately we’ve got other specialists to do that: there’s a woman called Julia Horan, who’s part of Ken Loach’s team, who’s worked on a lot of Warp Film stuff, on Four Lions and This is England. So she can fuel that fire.

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Basically, it was film school that turned me onto film as an art form. Until then, I just thought working in film would be the most fun you can have for money. Let’s talk a bit about ‘making it’ then. Everyone knows it’s a competitive industry. How do you help students prepare for that? As in any other creative industry, it’s a combination of bloody hard work, determination, talent and luck, and the main thing is bloody hard work. I was on a film course where I learnt editing, and there weren’t a lot of editing students, which meant I had an immense amount of work to do in a 12 month period. But then I came out of the course, and someone asked me if I could use a particular piece of software at BBC Manchester, and I answered of course I could, and got a job starting the next day. You get a lot of students who start this course, or who come to the open day, and they’ll be 17 year olds who love The Avengers, and perhaps have done a bit of green screen work in sixth form, and they’ll think making films is going to be fun. But it’s not just going to be fun. It’s going to be knackering, and you might have to work part-time to achieve what you want to. How does that go down? Ha! Actually, a lot of them will often be working in part-time jobs already. And we always say, actually, that’s not a bad thing. Because if you’ve spent Christmas working on the bread counter at Tesco, or in Costa, the skills you need there aren’t that dissimilar from the entry-level skills the industry wants. The students look at us like we’re mad, but we have to explain to them that having to get coffees and be nice to people who are sometimes incredibly rude to you, when you’re knackered, that’s what you’ll be doing in your first months in the industry. That’s what it’s about.

But is the prize achievable? Yes totally. One thing that really helps is when we go down to London on employability trips, and we take the students to offices where we’ve got links, where we’ve set up internships. And the students get to see that these offices basically look like their bedrooms, and people with the jobs they want are eating breakfast off their desks like they do. And someone will say, ‘yeah, I graduated two years ago, and now I’m working on ads’. The point is, those people thought it was unachievable too. It might be unachievable for everyone to work on a Bond film. But the work is out there. Having said that, we had one student a couple of years ago who presented her work at the end of course screening we do at the Showroom cinema, and a mate of mine was so impressed that she recommended her to a production manager. That production manager was working on the marine unit of World War Z! So she worked on that, and while she was there she impressed someone who said, ‘I’m doing Skyfall next, come and work with me’. So it does happen! One of the questions we wanted to ask you: your work seems to straddle the divide between commercial and non-commercial, pop and highbrow. Is that how you’d describe it? And is it something you bring to the course? Pop and highbrow is an interesting way of looking at it! At my most pretentious, I’d probably refer to it as the sacred and the profane. But yes, I’ve done things like What Not To Wear and then I’ve had stuff in galleries all over the world. Basically, it was film school that turned me onto film as an art form. Until then, I just thought working in film would be the most fun you can have and still be paid for it. But then after film school, I started to see film in a totally different way. And once you start exploring that, as I do with Third Angel and with other people, you can’t ever really imagine a time when you’ll stop. Because once you begin to think about it in that way, that’s it. So even when I’m doing What Not To Wear, or Shipwrecked, I’m always thinking: in three months time I’ll be doing the antithesis of this, and that’s fantastic.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Paul Chamberlain is head of our Art and Design Research Centre (ADRC). It’s about much more than finding answers and solutions, he says – understanding the world we live in is as much about knowing what the right questions are. Interview

Art and Design Research Centre / Paul Chamberlain Why does Sheffield Institute of Arts need an art and design research centre? Research is our way to inventive thinking. The production of artefacts, products and our built environment can both enhance our life and create problems. If not given intelligent thought and consideration they can blight our environment. Designing in response to understanding can help us to create a safer, more enjoyable world. For example, right now I’m investigating the impact and contribution of design to an ageing population. The vast majority of consumers are over 50 and society will continue to age so it’s essential designers understand their needs. The courses here have a tradition of practice led research and we use that to engage with end users and contextualise their work. We also provide opportunity for students to engage with end users to help contextualise their work, better understand needs and test their ideas. The centre has been established for 20 years and it has an excellent reputation internationally.

How did you get here? I studied at the Royal College of Art and was a director of a London based design and production company before coming here. I feel like here I have more opportunity to engage in challenging and creative design projects. I can draw on my industry experience and knowledge, and share it with the students. But I have always had that passion for making things that goes back to when I was a child. I’m driven by the idea of making things better through design – my work here helps me do that. What does ‘design’ mean to you? Design for me is about tangibly contributing to constructing a safer and more enjoyable world. While this is often about solving practical problems and providing more efficient, economical solutions, we must not underestimate the poetic aspect of our creative practice. I recognise too the huge role design and creative practice has to play both in terms of its societal and economic contribution. Is there an art to research? I think you need to go beyond talking, beyond asking questions. Art and design research needs something tangible, objects we can talk about, with and through to help explore, understand and inform new approaches and improved solutions. It’s why I set up Lab4living, which brings together experts from different disciplines and end users, consumers, so we can explore how creative practitioners contribute to improving our health and wellbeing – developing better products, communicating complex data as well as challenging current practices of healthcare. And I can use my own practice as well to create artefacts that ask questions as well as present solutions. Exhibitions are great too, because they bring people to objects, artefacts and products – we use exhibition as a research tool and as a starting point to engage and understand people rather than just a dissemination vehicle at the end of a project.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Profile

Design Futures / John Kirkby

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

If you make yourself a sandwich, how do you present it, how do you eat it? You pick it up with the crust and you bite the nice soft middle-y bit. That’s a technical term. You interact from the crust end. The packaging had to be triangular, because that’s the best way to present them, but we realised that if you opened a triangular package from the front you end up picking up the non-crust end, and then you’re in a right mess. So it was a simple suggestion, to unzip it from the back, and then the box opens flat to form a tray, and you go from there.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Design Futures is our own in-house packaging and product ideas factory. John leads the packaging design team here, working to provide companies like Marks & Spencer with new ideas, and linking the worlds of industry and university together. We met up with him to find out more about ‘interacting from the crust-end’. Design Futures is quite an exciting name, John. What does it do? We’re a commercial structural packaging consultancy. We work on how packaging works, how it functions, not just how it looks. We exist because 14 years ago, the Institute had a very strong packaging design course, one of the top three or four in the country. Students from the course would regularly win awards, and there was a heightened exposure of work and ideas coming out of the University. And because of this, big companies were interested in tapping into some of those ideas. Now, that’s actually quite difficult to do all the time: to get students working to live briefs at the same time as doing essays and exams. But the companies were pretty big: Mars, Marks & Spencer, Coca-Cola. So rather than turn them away, the University decided to set up a commercial-facing unit to work with those kinds of clients, with a view to bringing some funding into the University. This was pretty revolutionary at the time.

So you’re an independent studio within the University? Yes that’s right. To this day we’re quite unique, as most structural design is done by manufacturers, using their in-house teams. So the reason Marks & Spencer and people like that were interested in working with us was our independence, that we could bring a fresh pair of eyes to the problem. And what sort of problems did those commercial clients bring to you? Our first big project, which broke us onto the scene in the industry, was the Marks & Spencer sandwich pack. Basically, the company knew that they were moving from plastic to cardboard, and knew that all their competitors on the high street would be too. So they wanted us to add something new to cardboard packaging which would be unique to them, and would mean people would choose their sandwiches. And we thought, well, if you make yourself a sandwich, how do you present it, how do you eat it? You pick it up with the crust and you bite the nice soft middle-y bit. That’s a technical term. You interact from the crust end. The packaging had to be triangular, because that’s the best way to present them, but we realised that if you opened a triangular package from the front you end up picking up the non-crust end, and then you’re in a right mess. So it was a simple suggestion, to unzip it from the back, and then the box opens flat to form a tray, and you go from there.

Images taken in the samples room at Design Futures

Wow! You did those packets? I actually remember getting one of those from Marks & Sparks and thinking: that’s a good idea. Ha! Yes we did. It’s that sort of product, the sort of packaging that actively makes sense to people. But what it did for Marks & Spencer, it meant they could go to all the manufacturers and say ‘this is the idea, can you do it, and how much will it cost?’. It gives them a lot more power when they’re buying. So we can see how that works from a business point of view, but why base it in a university? Good question. As a consultancy, it could just be a business. But the key is how it interacts with the work and the research that goes on at Sheffield Hallam. And this is where it gets really exciting. So first of all, we’ve got researchers here who are packaging focused. People like Dr Alaster Yoxall are key to that: he’s an expert in accessibility and the ‘openability’ of packaging. He can help us with analysis and ideas, we can give him a commercial angle to his research. I also teach across the Institute, bringing that industry perspective into lectures. We have packaging focused modules on our product design courses, and on the MA Design as well. Students can come to us for internships, where they get to work on the live briefs. And finally, with the companies that come to us, we can get new materials into the students’ hands which they wouldn’t have otherwise.

The model sounds really interesting, commercial meets non-commercial. Totally. It’s a really wide spectrum. A couple of recent projects really demonstrate it. On the one hand, we’ve been working with Alaster Yoxall on a large research project looking at how hard it is to take the lids off jars, what force and pressure you need. That sounds like a very small thing, but for a huge number of people in society, primarily older people, it’s very difficult. This has enabled our client to develop a jar lid that’s a lot easier to open, in two separate parts, almost like a ratchet on a torque spanner. That’s a research project which can attract funding, which has an obvious ethical side to it, which can help bring people together. Then at the same time, we’ll get a brief for Budweiser asking for a merchandising product that can delight the end user and promote repeat sales of the brand. I can’t really tell you that much about it though, it’s top secret. You’d have to kill us! Exactly. But basically what you have is loads of opportunities for everyone to benefit. Our students can get work experience, our researchers can attract attention and funding, and companies get fresh ideas. We charge them for that time, so the university benefits from the funding it brings in. Are you starting to get students coming to courses at SIA because of the potential of this experience? Yes we do, more and more so now. There are often students who hear about us and seek us out. One graduate we’ve had recently was Sarah Beattie. She came across us as a student, did an internship which went well, then did a project with us that helped to get her a first. And of course when employers come in and say ‘who’s good?’, we know who to recommend. So she’s now got a job in the industry. The full service! Of course we can’t guarantee every student a placement or a job. But we’re here to help provide that experience, and make it easier.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

What sort of materials? To give you an example, recently we’ve been working with a material developed by a Swedish paper-mill company called Billerud. The material is an incredibly strong paper product called FibreForm. So if they’d have knocked on our door and said ‘we’ve got this product, and you’ve got some students, would you like to work with it?’, it might have got lost in the process, we wouldn’t necessarily have built it into the programme. But because of our team, they can commission us to experiment on it, to show what it can do, and we can build it into our teaching in a different way. So, with the students, we’ve been experimenting with this stuff. Is it strong enough to replace plastic packaging, say blister packs? Is there an environmental benefit there? Can jewellery students use it as a biodegradable material for jewellery? Design Futures is the way we can get these students into the process.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Rowan Todd heads up the Centre for Design and Technology Education, the country’s largest provider of secondary D&T teachers. He sees the Institute as the creative hub of the University, and this city as absolutely ‘the right place to train teachers of design and technology’. Recently recognised for outstanding services to teacher training by the Design and Technology Association, he talks about his own love of design and making, and the subject he has taught for 30 years.

Where did your love of design begin? That began early in life – I grew up in a house with a workshop attached and I used to work in there with friends, teaching them things I’d learnt. I still do lots of designing and making, but the joy for me is in imparting my skills to others. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing someone develop a love for designing and creating things. I love what I do because it gives me that chance to inspire lots of people. So your love of creating developed into a love of teaching? Any academic projects or resources have to resonate with young people – much of my research time is spent investigating learning theories. I’m working on one at present looking at how we broaden the teaching of robotics in secondary schools, and I’ve worked with a colleague to develop hardware kits for schools to use. We’re doing something similar to embed the teaching of micro-control systems into design and technology education.

Why is Sheffield ‘the right’ place to learn to teach design and technology? To be in Sheffield is to be in the birthplace of the British manufacturing industry. It feels right to train our teachers here because Sheffield has such a huge history and tradition of excellence in designing and making. When I first moved up here from London 20 years ago, I took great delight in just walking around the city finding workshops and factories where the tools I had been using all my life were actually made! Other than that I love the city for its parks and green spaces – I still marvel at the freedom and space of the city and the places beyond. What was your own experience of art school like? Mine was a joint course of study in furniture design. In practice this meant that not only did we undertake teaching placements in secondary schools but also work placements in industry. This was an immensely valuable experience – it gave me a place to consider my subject and how it is taught but with one eye on the issue of employment and the needs of the industry. Are those links with industry important to the courses at the Institute now? We have great links to industry, partnering with companies like Outokumpo who helped us to develop systems and control work in secondary schools. We partner with others, like Beatsons and Hope Technology, who host student visits and help develop projects for students to work on. Those links are vital to giving ‘context’ to projects. What does it mean to be a successful student in design and technology education? I think going the extra mile to expand your own understanding. There are a few students I can think of who have done that – one of whom recently graduated with his work being described as ‘truly groundbreaking and innovative’. And you need enthusiasm, energy and commitment to be a great role model for young people.

Interview

Design and Technology Education / Rowan Todd

Why theatre and not some other medium for performance? Well, live performance gives things that cinema can’t – there is nothing quite so exciting as being somewhere and the performance is live in front of you. It’s the most human of art forms – one human watching another do something. Performance is transcendent – for stars, for great musicians on top form – they are all human. I use it sometimes in lectures, breaking off to an anecdote and telling a story – anything that gives humanity, makes something more than theory. It changes the dynamic of a lecture to dramatise the content, tell a story to that room, engage and play in that room. To me that’s what performance has over other art forms. What makes the course you offer at SIA special? One of the interesting things is you don’t just study drama, you get to study radio, television, film, even stand-up comedy. It’s a broad performance platform, and gives students an opportunity to discover over the three years where their strengths and real interests lie. A lot of students find, as they leave that their view on where their learning might take them has changed – now they are looking at bigger, better options in terms of career – that’s testament to the quality of the course. Why go to art school? Is it vital to a career in performance? Well, the first thing you learn is commitment – it’s a cliché but its true, you get a lot of rejection and it’s not easy to find work or make money. However, if you’re driven to be a performer then it can be a very rewarding life, but you’ve got to take the kind of knocks that come with the business. You need drive, commitment, you need your eyes open, the desire to get better, to be hungry to see and try things as much as you can. If you can do all that, there is no reason you won’t succeed. What does Sheffield bring to the experience of studying performance here? I have always found that you meet a lot of other creatives – I have friends who are artists, musicians, designers. It’s a relatively small community and you tend to go and see each other’s work. People know each other here and it’s amazing how many different disciplines you come across which I found particularly exciting. I have collaborated with musicians, artists design for us, we use metalwork sculptures – all created in the city. I’m not sure I’d find that elsewhere. Sheffield is very down to earth – the ‘grounding’ nature of Sheffield is wonderful for creative work, it reminds us that everything we make should be relevant to the place we are living and the people we are making it for, we shouldn’t fly on our own. And if you let it, this city will take you and your work into its heart – I still see people who say “oh, I saw your Beckett work!” The city is receptive to performance – it feels like the audience is waiting for you.

Interview

BA (Hons) Performing Arts / Neil Sissons

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

You spent a whole career in theatre before teaching – how did you feel about the switch to academia? Yes I’ve always been a theatre director, and have run my own international touring company, travelling the world. Being involved as I was for a long time in professional theatre, I was a bit worried that working with non-professional actors would be difficult. Any working or learning experience has got to work in two ways: I wanted to be learning too, and I was concerned it would be too one way for me, but in fact the reverse happened. I have been absolutely fascinated by the work we have done, getting so much from the energy and imagination of the students.

Neil Sissons has only been with the Institute for two years, having enjoyed a full and varied career as a theatre director. He draws on a vast array of experience to head up the performance courses and still refers back to his days at art school to inspire his teaching.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Games Design and Development Jake Habgood

Profile

David Wilson

So to begin with, you’re from two courses. Is that right? How does it work? J: Yep, it’s split in two. My course is BSc (Hons) Games Software Development, and Dave’s course is BA (Hons) Games Design. So basically, when a student comes to us and says ‘I really want to make games’ we get them to decide which route to take. If they like programming, like maths, and want to blow stuff up on screen with maths, they take my course. If they’ve got a great art portfolio, or they’re more interested in animation, they take Dave’s course.

Amazing! What was the game? J: It’s called BounceBack. It’s available on the PSN store, and it’s £2.50. It was one of Dave’s students, a girl called Victoria Hall, working with slightly older students on the programming course, and every single one of them has got a job as a result. So it’s these kinds of real life activities that prove really useful.

Image 1 PSP minigame Bounceback Image 2 Zool Senior

D: But at the same time, the two courses basically work together, because you can’t make a computer game with just programmers, or with just artists. It’s about creative people coming together and making a product. There’s a lot of collaboration involved.

D: It’s a massive achievement really. We’ve got some students at the moment who are working on Xbox 1 dev kits, on a game which will hopefully come out this year. So if all goes to plan, by the time they leave some of those students will have an indie title out, which you can play in your house. I think that’s the main thing. A credit on a real game does wonders.

So both courses are set up to work with each other? J: Yes, completely. We’re both from industry originally, I used to work in programming, for companies like Infogrammes here in Sheffield. And Dave was lead artist at places like EA, Codemasters and Sony. And in industry, we’d be used to sitting down together, programmers and artists, and making a project work. So we wanted to mirror that connection here. D: It opens up a lot of possibilities for our students, lots of sharing resources. We can create areas where students will naturally work together, even if they’re just working on their own projects, because they’re in the same rooms, using the same equipment. How do the courses work then? J: A lot of it is very practical, hands-on, as you can imagine. One of the big unique selling points for the course is that we’ve got the largest amount of Playstation® 3 teaching in Europe. We were amongst the first universities in the UK to get access to Playstation® 4 dev kits. We’ve got a little studio environment, called Steel Minions, which is open to the students 24 hours a day. And we’re the first UK university to release our own Playstation® game, which was a collaboration between the two courses.

How do you get to the point where your students are ready to start making real games? How do you teach this stuff? D: What’s really interesting about the game design course is that we do design in more of a traditional sense. If you look at next generation games coming out now, they’re becoming so real that you need specialists in every area. When I was working on Playstation® 1 titles, you did the whole lot: designing characters, animations, environments, vehicles, whatever. Now, on Playstation® 3 stuff, you have people just doing digital sculpture of one character for six weeks at a time. So in a way, the course has almost had to come full circle. We now have to do almost a foundation year of design to begin with: architecture, illustration, perspective, the basics of visual communication. And then the technical stuff is layered on top of that. And by the time they get to third year it’s about specialisation.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Jake and David are a dynamic duo. Mario and Luigi. Sonic and Tails. Ash and Pikachu. They lead two separate but interlinked computer games courses: one in programming, one in design. Together, they’re helping SIA offer two of the most exciting gaming courses in the country. We asked them these questions, and generally geeked it up a bit.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

We’ve got some students at the moment who are working on Xbox 1 dev kits, on a game which will hopefully come out this year. So if all goes to plan, by the time they leave some of those students will have an indie title out, which you can play in your house.

So the emphasis is more on becoming good story tellers, or environment specialists, to keep up with the technology? D: Well, it’s about finding a personal voice really, helping the students say: ‘this is the area I want to work in’, and develop from there. We could easily break the course down and just do three years of environment art, because the industry’s big enough now to find a job there when you come out. But we’re not here just to service what companies think they need now. My goal is to produce, to art direct so that those students have a sustainable role in the future, because of the way they think, because they understand how to solve the wider problems of communication, of design. Is it becoming more of an art-based medium then? Is the design more important than the technology? J: Not at all. I think sometimes you can get very creative games that are based on technological innovations. So the programmers can come up with a new rendering technique, and that drives the whole game. D: You can’t have one without the other. I’ve worked with art directors before, and they have these ideas, and they’re great ideas but we just can’t do it. But what can we do instead? It’s the coders who can bridge that gap. I get annoyed by people making the assumption that the creative side of games is the artistic side. It’s rubbish, because if you didn’t have creative programmers, we’d still be playing Pac-man.

You mentioned Sheffield earlier: is it a good place for the industry? J: There’s definitely a long tradition in Sheffield, so you’ve got certain employers in the region. Sumo are a good example, you might not have heard of them but they’ve done the Little Big Planet games and they’re working on the Doctor Who stuff for the BBC. But wider than this, there’s just a lot of digital industries in the city. You’ve got the Electric Works building next to the station, and that’s full of indie game developers or coders, and everyone’s in the pub, so it’s a good audience for the students to tap up. D: The games industry isn’t really based in one city or area the same way, say, the special effects industry in Soho was. There are pockets across the country, depending on where people started studios in their bedrooms in the 80s! But I think the great thing about Sheffield is its design heritage, beyond games. And to be honest, it’s just a lovely place. When people come here, they don’t necessarily want to go back to where they came from!

Image 3 Games Britannia Image 4 Games Design Development exhibition at Creative Spark 2013

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Back home in Northern Ireland as a child, all Mel Ternan could do was wonder at how cartoons looked the way they did, how pictures moved, and at how Road Runner never died. He tells us about turning that curiosity into working practice and how he inspires the same in his students.

Interview

BA (Hons) Animation / Mel Ternan So your interest began when you were pretty young? I might have been six or seven – my brother showed me a flipbook that he’d made. He put it in my hand and showed me how to flip the pages – the drawing moved and it was like the big bang went off in my head and that was it. I don’t like the word ‘magic’ really, but I had what I would call a ‘severe curiosity’ about what was happening and how the drawing came to life. Around then I realised what I wanted to be. And there was a kind of a cheeky sort of pleasure in people saying, ‘what do you want to do when you grow up?’ and me saying, ‘I want to be an animator’. There was a pleasure in them not knowing what that was. And as I grew older and paid more attention it became about the content too – I loved Road Runner because it really messed with the laws of physics – it was so beautiful. He could land on a ledge and it wouldn’t break – the whole cliff would fall away and his ledge would stay. All these things were just so pleasing. And how did you turn that into a career? I grew up loving art, loving drawing. And in my mind if you wanted to do anything like that you had to go to England or America! When I started to try to get into animation, because I couldn’t get the equipment I needed I tried all kinds of ways to make it happen – jabbing the buttons on a video camera to record a tiny bit at a time, and when I was older, sneaking a go on a reel to reel video editor.

I knew what I really needed, and couldn’t get it, so it was frustrating. But I found a bit of a path when I did a foundation in art and design, and moved out of home. I went on an Advanced GNVQ Art and Design course, was always fascinated with mechanics, and eventually found my way onto an animation degree. And how did that go? All the students on that course, we taught each other a lot. The theory tutors were fantastic, and even though there was not so much structured teaching outside the theory work, we worked really hard, we became a good a team, a good group. Afterwards I moved to Bristol with a friend from the course and we set up a little company. It was a bit naïve maybe, but it was the only time we could have done that. We trawled round for work and a company there said they had no work but we could have a look at their studios. Anyway we got lucky and met someone there who was creating an animation but didn’t have the time to pull everything together. We volunteered to do it for nothing. It took three months and we almost killed ourselves. But we had done it. So that was it? You were up and running? Highs and lows! Long term it didn’t work and I was working part time in a photo lab and wondering what the hell I was doing. Then one day I went to a talk by Nick Park, and that was a turning point. I just needed re-charging, and to know that not everyone in the industry was hard work! I met Emma Landolt and set up another animation studio working on some beautiful projects, and eventually set up as freelance, before I came to teaching. What are the most important things for you to teach an aspiring animator? Humility. And honesty. And I try and shine a different light on things because students come in with preconceptions about how things work. Learn to do life drawing and learn to observe. If I had my way it would be mandatory to do a foundation in art and design. That’s what you need. It’s about equipping people – helping them learn to observe. Not just looking at something, but really seeing…

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With a career in fashion for two decades, Lesley was one of the founders of our current fashion design course in 2008. Her work constantly questions perceived boundaries and experiments with non-conventional materials, an approach she brings to her teaching. We met with her to find out more about her stainless steel dresses, devolving bridal-wear, and alien mannequins. Profile

BA (Hons) Fashion Design / Lesley Campbell

Images taken from the fashion workshop at SIA

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Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People 66

The fashion course is a relatively new course, right? How did you get involved? I’ve lived in and around Sheffield my whole life, and I’ve always been involved in fashion, I’ve been teaching it for 16 years. And I was always surprised that Sheffield didn’t have a fashion course, given it’s got such a strong heritage in design: in metalwork, jewellery, packaging. So when they decided to set up the course five years ago I thought, I’ve got to be involved with that! How did you set the course up? With my colleagues, we decided we wanted to have a very sound technical base, and we also wanted it to be very conceptual. It was great to have a blank canvas. We’re really proud of the resources we’ve assembled here, the technology and the people. We’ve got digital pattern cutters which you can just put the design in on a computer and off it goes. We’ve got plotters that can turn any handdrawn pattern into a digital image. We’re just basically replicating what they’re doing in industry, to give the students the most relevant experience we can. How about the conceptual side of it then? Tell us about your alien bodies! It was a conceptual pattern cutting experiment that I had in my mind for a while. Basically it’s trying to get away from the very safe, very stereotypical female form that most of our students work on most of the time. So we created something different, six totally irregular forms, aliens if you will. We got students working together across all three years in groups, and each group was given a different alien to work on. At the end of the process, the alien shape is taken away, and the clothes are put back onto a standard mannequin. What you end up with is no preconceptions about idea or shape. Once this happens, you have these clothes with voids, lumps, shapes you wouldn’t normally get, and it’s these that are really interesting and inspiring for the students.

I think the strength of the course is our design thinking. We never lose sight of the fact that we’re making a product that needs to sell, needs to be wearable, commercial.

Is it important to your creative process to be pushed into places where your traditional way of working doesn’t work? Totally. The idea is to give them a different shape that really slows them down, that really makes them think: what am I going to do with this? Eventually, when you get a job in the industry, and even if that job’s totally high-street orientated, that process might come out, even if it’s in a pocket or a small detail on a garment. You know your brain can take you to places you’ve never been before. Where is the idea going next? I’m actually going to New Zealand to present it over there, at the Shape Shifting Conference on transforming paradigms in fashion textiles. And the dress I’m wearing at the presentation has been created by a third year student, using the principle of the alien body, which is hugely exciting. It’s proving a brilliant tool – we’ll continue to use it on the course. Tell us about the steel wedding dress you created. That was a really personal commission: it was for my daughter, who is an architect. At the time, she was working on an industrial building, and was looking for some screening materials. And while she was visiting a company that made stainless steel screens, she found this incredible material in the scrap bins. I think her mind was probably more on her own wedding than on architecture at that point!

Is collaboration across departments something you’re interested in too? Very much so. The stainless steel wedding dress has led into collaboration with a wide range of people, particularly metalwork and jewellery students. Another project we did was called Sustainable Marriage, which saw our students working with MSc Engineering students to create a biodegradable wedding dress. The idea was you could change the dress by burying it, letting it disintegrate a little, then digging it up and wearing it again! Eventually, it disappears altogether, leaving no trace. That project got us a lot of press, and all the students involved in it get this fantastic experience. The course is developing quite a reputation now then? Yes, people are really interested in what we’re doing. We’re part of Graduate Fashion Week, which is a showcase of British and International fashion design courses in London every June. You have to be selected to take part, so it’s nice to be recognised by the industry. I think the strength of the course is our design thinking. We never lose sight of the fact that we’re making a product that needs to sell, needs to be wearable, commercial. At the same time, we want to help our students experiment, which is where the different concepts and perspectives come in, like the alien bodies. You have the opportunity at university to be creative and experimental, and you might never get that opportunity again. We want to equip our students with a very creative approach.

This material was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen. It had the feeling of silk and was a very, very fine stainless steel mesh, made for aircraft filters, and she’d found it in the scrap! So the initial ideas for the dress came from that. What was interesting was that all of those ideas for how to use it had to be revisited, because you couldn’t move in it, or let the material touch your skin: it was like a razor on its cut edge. We made about six prototypes, and eventually came up with this huge skirt that doesn’t touch the body, and a silk underskirt underneath. It was the limitations that made it really interesting. It’s a very Sheffield project! Yes, the dress was actually used in the Millennium Galleries last year, as part of the centenary celebrations of the invention of stainless steel. But it was a complete coincidence at the time. I think it’s just a product of interdisciplinary thinking, architects working with fashion designers, and that’s a wider part of Sheffield’s creative scene.

Alien bodies exhibition at the SIA Gallery 2011

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Talking of Sheffield, what do you think the city brings to the course? I think the heritage of the city, the industry, is a fantastically rich seam of inspiration. A couple of our students are using that as the starting point for their final collections this year. For instance, we’ve got a third year student who’s been working with the Kelham Island Museum, and her pieces are inspired by the colour palettes and the heavy lines of the machinery there, and the way these huge machines move along railway lines. She’s created a very minimal seam, a very minimal silhouette. Then of course you’ve got the wider stuff in the city, the music, the whole arts scene. And it’s just a beautiful city to live in, to be in.

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I think the course we offer is very broad, intentionally so. Some courses are very art-led, very ideas-led. Others are very commercial, very skills-led. What we want our course to do is get the students to be brave enough to try things outside of what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done before. Profile

BA (Hons) Graphic Design / Pam Bowman & Matt Edgar

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Pam Bowman and Matthew Edgar lead our graphic design course. They believe that graphic design is really about solving a problem by any means necessary, and having no fear. Their ‘Curated By’ lecture series regularly brings the best minds in design to SIA, and to the city. To start with the obvious, tell us how you got in to design? M: My external examiner at Leicester was the wonderful Ken Garland. I’d just been involved in a magazine which Ken was interested in, and he invited a couple of us down to his house in North London. And it basically just blew my mind. He’s quite inspiring isn’t he? We’ve seen him talk at SIA before. M: The thing he said to me that always stuck with me was: “you can be any kind of designer you want to be”. It was just really exciting to see graphic designers talking and writing about the subject the way Garland does. So he was a big inspiration and got me interested in communication in a wider sense and I ended up doing an MA here in film and television documentary. I had this really crazy career and the BBC said to me ‘we’ve got this great idea about ballroom dancing. It’s called Strictly Come Dancing. Do you want to be involved?’ And I thought it was a terrible idea. So I said no. But I’d got too far from actual design and I wanted to get back, because suddenly it wasn’t just print anymore – graphic designers were doing really interesting things.

How about you, Pam? Well for me, again I was inspired by just approaching your heroes, just having the nerve to pick up the phone and say to someone ‘I really like your work’. For me, that was Phil Baines, a typographer. At the time, Typography Now had just come out, and people like Phil and Why Not Associates were like rock stars, graphic design rock stars! So I went to meet him, and he made me a bacon sandwich, and we had a nice chat about letterpress. And at the end of my degree I rang him up, and he said “do you want to come and work at St Martin’s for a year on a research project?” And so I spent a year basically scanning beautiful documents, and finding out who designed them. So it was heaven. And after that, I came back up to Sheffield, and set up Dust design studio with Pat Walker and Alun Cocks in our attic, and went from there. So you’ve got quite different interests then? How does that manifest itself in the course? P: I think the course we offer is very broad, intentionally so. Some courses are very art-led, very ideas-led. Others are very commercial, very skills-led. What we want our course to do is get the students to be brave enough to try things outside of what they’ve done before. So we work with programming, we work with type, we work with screen-printing, we work with tiny processors called Arduinos. What we’re trying to do is make sure the students have no fear. Is that especially important in a world where design is moving online, where we don’t necessarily have record covers and print ads? P: To a degree. But graphic designers are being asked to do a lot more as well. These days, it’s not about getting a brief and starting work. You have to talk to people, you have to have meetings. We need to teach the students how they can get the information they need from the client. And half of what you have to do today is actually to say to people ‘you think you need this, but you don’t. What you actually need is something completely different’. That’s why you’ve got to be able to do it all, or at least be able to have ideas across it all. It doesn’t matter which direction it goes in, whether it’s print or moving image or programming. You’ve just got to solve the problem, get the message across. That’s why it’s important our students have no fear.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Image 1 Morag Myerscough Curated By lecture 2013 70

Image 2 D&AD New Blood exhibition Image 3 End of year show 2013

Can you sum the course up in a sentence then? I want you to define your ethos in one line. M: The course is about expanding the definition of what graphic design is and can be… it’s about new ways of thinking about and making visual communications, about asking ‘what if?’ P: It’s basically about not ruling anything out. Tell us a bit about Curated By. How did that start? P: It’s an annual series of talks and it started as a research project. It was about the fact that you used to be sure of the quality of the information you were getting. There were a few key books, and they’d lead you to a handful of other books, and so on. Today, there’s no gatekeeper in the same way, unless you count It’s Nice That or some other blog. So we thought it would be useful to ask the people we have enormous respect for about their influences; about who they have respect for. M: I think we have to be able to make value judgements as tutors, to say to students ‘these are the touch-stones you should be aware of’. It’s about identifying the links, the things that come up over and over. David Pearson’s ‘Curated By’ is a good example. David did all the amazing ‘Great Ideas’ covers for Penguin. He was talking about a typographer called Jan Tschichold. Once you’re introduced to his name, you can see how he keeps cropping up everywhere.

That question of curation is interesting: five years ago, even two years ago, you didn’t have stuff like It’s Nice That. Do you think those types of sites are a good thing? Or can they overwhelm students? M: I also think there’s so much stuff, such a glut, it can be overwhelming. When we were studying, there wasn’t so much stuff, so you’d have to really latch onto the exciting things, immerse yourself in it. That’s what we’re trying to do with Curated By, really. Help students find the graphic truffles! P: I think part of the problem is that you’re only shown the completed project, so it never deals with the process or the failures, or when things go wrong. It’s all surface. And the other problem is it’s all current. It’s all about what’s happening now, and most of it is photographed in the same way, looks the same. You don’t get the depth. How did the course at SIA come about? Is there something particular about studying in Sheffield? P: For us, it was a chance to start a new course. Initially, SIA didn’t have a graphic design course, it had a packaging course, which has its own history. Then when the graphics course was set up, we all recognised the opportunity to do something different. To do the things that we thought needed doing. M: Personally I think there’s something about the city’s attitude. Something in the air. You’ve got this fantastic community of designers, and of course the heritage of the Designers Republic. But it’s more than just designers, it’s the attitude that runs through the whole of the creative industries. It’s a humility, an honesty. I don’t know. I always say it’s the greatest city on Earth.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

Images taken in the SIA workshops

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 02. The People

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I AM This bit is about you. What kind of work will you be making here? And where might that work take you? In part 3, we talk to current students and alumni at SIA, to find out. In this section: Meet The Students Dora Damian / BA (Hons) Photography Pg 77 Zoe Babington / BA (Hons) Fashion Design Pg 78 Conor Rogers / BA (Hons) Creative Art Practice Pg 79 Leigh Jones / PGCE Secondary Design and Technology Pg 80 Andrew Chung / BSc (Hons) Architecture & Environmental Design Pg 81 Victoria Hall / BA (Hons) Games Design Pg 82 Nathan Elliss / MArt Animation Pg 83

Alumni Emily Cecil / Film Production Distribution Marina Lewycka / International Best Selling Writer Joe Brooks / Animator David Appleyard / Designer, Maker and Artist Samuel Carr / Product Designer Jessica Flinn / Jewellery Designer and Maker Layla Barakat / Interior Designer George Webster / Actor

Pg 85 Pg 86 Pg 86 Pg 87 Pg 87 Pg 88 Pg 89 Pg 89

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work

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Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work

What kind of work could you be creating at SIA? We met some of our brilliant students and asked them to show us a piece of work theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve created here.

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Dora’s photographic work and practice takes her on ‘quests for self-discovery’, and she is especially interested in fine art photography. Her final project has a focus on self-portraiture and is a mission to explore lost connections with her origins (Dora grew up in Romania). She didn’t just photograph herself here though – she shot all the students in this section of the book.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work

Shown with — Her camera in the photographic studio at SIA on the day that she met and photographed six other current students for this book “I like to find out what people’s stories are, what they are motivated by.” More at — doradc.co.uk

Dora Damian 3rd Year — BA (Hons) Photography

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work

Shown with — FInal major project: Decay

Zoe’s final project is inspired by decay. “I like how there’s a changing beauty in decay, in how living things like wild flowers become more unique with time and age.” Developing a pattern from dried wild flowers, she traced the pattern into Illustrator and explored cutting the design in different materials using a laser cutter. Eventually using a very fine plastic, these pieces will be used to design and embellish the ‘cocoon’ silhouetted pieces Zoe is creating for a feminine, opulent collection.

Zoe Babington 3rd Year — BA (Hons) Fashion Design

Conor’s approach to art is about moving away from the canvas as a medium. “I want to emphasise the materiality and the ‘objectness’ of a painting.” To this end, he does simple but brilliant things, tying subject matter to the medium. Here, he’s connected summer days sitting about in the front garden smoking with a dog pining across the road, nose mournfully under the gate. Hence this piece – a beautiful portrait of sad dog on the back of a fag packet. “I want to take things from the environment to work with that give a concrete reality to a painting.”

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work

Shown with — You Get Me Down painted onto his dad’s used fag packet

Conor Rogers 3rd Year — BA (Hons) Creative Art Practice

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Shown with — Indoor Kitchen Garden, a product design that gives people ‘with a desire for high quality, sustainable and ethically sourced food the opportunity to grow their own’

Leigh is a mature student re-training as a secondary design and technology teacher, having worked as a landscape architect in the UK and Hong Kong. This little beauty is an ‘urban planter’, designed and developed by Leigh to give people without much access to the great outdoors a place to grow vegetables, fruit or herbs. It’s what he likes to call an ‘indoor kitchen garden’, and it looks like a pretty good idea, even being environmentally sound – the product is almost entirely recyclable. That’s close to his heart – designing with the environment in mind – but so is working with young people. Running a community design workshop inspired him to move into teaching. “I cannot think of a career more rewarding than one that gives the opportunity to help enable and empower young people to express themselves creatively and to understand and help shape their world around them.”

Leigh Jones 2nd Year — PGCE Secondary Design and Technology

The River Don runs through the heart of Sheffield and has been, in the past, the industrial backbone of the city, fuelling factories and works that still exist in the east end (some running, some in a new incarnation). Andrew’s design of a wildlife conservation centre along the Don began with a creative response to the life of the river – the history, the industrialisation and the world it supports now. “It encapsulates the struggle between the river, the city and the wildlife – and the gears and cogs reflect how cyclical and interdependent it is. If something breaks the rest can’t function. The scheme of my project focused on the encouragement of reed beds along the river in order to aid the growth of ecology in the area and bring parts of the river back to life.”

Andrew Chung 3rd Year — BSc (Hons) Architecture and Environmental Design

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work

Shown with — A creative response to the life of the River Don

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work

Shown with — Graphics from SuperFrog by Tick Tock Games which she worked on during a work placement in 2013.

Back in the dark ages of gaming, a 2D platform scrolling game called Superfrog was a pretty popular choice. Thanks to a company called Tick Tock, Superfrog now lives again, revived in HD for PS3 and PS Vita. On a work placement with Tick Tock Games, arranged as part of her course, Victoria played her own part in Superfrog’s re-birth. Working in collaboration with Superfrog’s originators, Team 17, she developed most of the artwork. See the dungeon, circus, Egyptian, ice and sci-fi levels? That’s Victoria’s re-mastering that is…

Victoria Hall 3rd Year — BA (Hons) Games Design

Currently in the fourth year of his animation course, Nathan is developing his final project, starring a series of plasticine puppets of his own making. Neighbour from Hell, a three-minute stop frame animation will be, he hopes, something that a company like Aardman Animation catches sight of, so that he can pursue a dream of becoming a stop-motion animator for the big screen. Animation is, Nathan says, a way to get lost in a world where anything is possible – there are no real world constraints or distractions – it’s a place for the emotional, the comical, the eerie. When the project is complete, he’s likely to get back to the other interests that have been put on a bit of a back burner, like oil painting, making music and music videos.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work

Shown with — Character from Nathan’s 3rd year film Don’t Do It Yourself.

Nathan Elliss 4th Year — MArt Animation

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Al ni

Where does it all lead? In many cases, it turns out, to pretty amazing careers. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what happened after SIA for a few of our recent graduates.

Keeping it in the family â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Each person in this section is illustrated by a SIA graduate or current student

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work

um Emily Cecil Film producer and distributor

mily graduated from BSc (Hons) Film and Media Production in 2012 with a first class degree. She has, in a very short time, developed an incredibly strong portfolio of projects, including Skyfall and World War Z. Yes, really. Fetching Brad Pitt’s coffee. Maybe unbelievably for many, that was not where Emily wanted to be. “I want to be in the business side of films, where I can get people excited about brilliant films, or help make filmmakers’ dreams come true, and my own.” Asking for opportunities is, she says, one of the most important things she did – it led to a role on the BBC2/HBO collaboration Parade’s End, which in turn led to another important discovery – the need sometimes to say no and to turn work down, even if it feels like a risk. She is now in the full-time, permanent work she wants, with Picturehouse Entertainment, which distributes alternative content across the UK and abroad and delivers live satellite broadcasts, including performing arts content by the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre, and live Q&A.

Emily is illustrated by Matt Harrison Clough, an illustrator and graphic designer who graduated in 2013. See more — mattharrisonclough.com

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work

Marina Lewycka international bestselling writer

Marina is illustrated by Briony Firth, a BA (Hons) Graphic Design (Illustration) graduate. See more — brionyfirthillustration.com

ack in 2005 a book hit the bestsellers list from nowhere and occupies a very enviable 46th place on the Guardian’s best-selling 100 books of 1998-2010. Marina wrote A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian while doing her MA Creative Writing here, and her tutor encouraged her to get a publishing deal – it has since sold over a million copies in 35 languages. Short-listed for the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction, long-listed for the Man Booker prize, the debut won her the 2005 Saga Award for Wit and the 2005 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. Marina returned to SIA as a lecturer on the MA Creative Writing course and just recently retired. She has three follow-up hits; Two Caravans, We Are All Made Of Glue her current book, A History of Pets Alive And Dead, and she is working on a fifth.

Joe Brooks Animator

Joe is illustrated by Rowan Roberts, who graduated from BA (Hons) Fine Art in 2011 and has since been drawing his own brand of surreal characters. See inside his mind — rowanrroberts. tumblr.com

oe has recently moved to London to become a proper visual animator after choosing to specialise part way through his visual communications course. Working with clients including Google and PepsiCo, he might also rustle up the odd trailer for The Hobbit, The Lego Movie or Gravity. That in turn leads to some perks, such as film premieres and the occasional box set – his prize for cramming a 90 minute film into a 20 second trailer with enough impact to stop people in their tracks and get them watching. Proudest moment so far – his role in making the augmented reality Pepsi Max bus stop ad that had 5 million people talking, BBC and CNN reporting, and commuters believing, for a moment, that aliens had landed and tigers were loose in London. “The biggest challenges are working with the outdoor medium, where viewers are on the move, to create impact without sound, and condensing so much into so little time and space, but still grabbing attention.”

avid Appleyard works primarily on creative projects for our public realm. From his studio at Yorkshire Artspace, Sheffield, he pursues a fascination with objects that become part of our everyday life, which can be repackaged in a form that questions original function and can intrigue, amuse, and inspire his audiences. Although trained in industrial design, he shied away from the idea of mass production and soon felt closer to art than design. One commission gave him the confidence to carry on pursuing public art; Factory Girls in Salford Quays, was a turning point. “I put myself on the line, that was important. And I took some risks, and I asked people to come with me on that – so I pushed the manufacturers too, tried to get them believing in the project.” Adaptability is, he says, vital. “You have to bend, with experience, with need. It’s evolved for me – but I’m doing the job I wanted to do when I started my foundation course. I’m lucky, I suppose. I feel very fortunate that I can work creatively for a living.”

David Appleyard Designer, maker, artist

Samuel Carr Product Designer

David Appleyard is illustrated by SIA Fine Art graduate and Sheffield illustration legend Tom J Newell. Get yourself out in the city centre and you’ll see his work popping up here, there and everywhere.

Samuel Carr is illustrated by current SIA student, graphic designer/ illustrator Jo Breese working under the title ‘Vector That Fox’ – which came from a note that sat on a to-do-list for so long; it stuck. See — vectorthatfox. co.uk

More — tomjnewell.com

am is a designer on a mission – he wants us connecting emotionally with our possessions, so we keep them, look after them. He wants a less wasteful world. “We have limited resources here – I have the ability to step into industry now and create beautiful and functional products, at the same time understanding the importance of minimalism and emotional attachment.” Having worked with consultancies like Design Futures Packaging, and spent a year-long placement with Morphy Richards (who he now works for), he’s well placed now to be turning that ethos into practice. He’s not afraid of a challenge either. “I understand the areas of design that I find difficult, and my aim is to get more experience in those areas so I can become a well-rounded designer. I think you have to keep on grafting, sharing your ideas, getting other people’s thoughts on them. That’s how you grow.”

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t 25, Jessica Flinn has her own shop, a major retailer selling her designs as well as numerous boutiques and galleries, three brands and a name that her industry recognises and respects. Not that it’s come easy – Jessica is clear that “knocking on doors, being persistent, using those contacts” has been vital to her success so far, as has the help of the University’s business start-up support programme. Her degree in metalwork and industrial design came complete with a six month placement in industry in Seoul, South Korea, and also gave her an unusual way into jewellery – she uses industrial scale production techniques to inspire or create beautiful, unusual pieces. In 2013 she won a Duke of York Entrepreneur award and was named in the ‘Top 100 to Watch’ by Professional Jeweller magazine. Pretty special just a few years after graduation… keep watching!

Jessica Flinn Jewellery Designer & Maker

Jessica is illustrated by Helen McClafferty a Fashion Design graduate See more — hvm-illustration. strikingly.com

George is drawn by 2012 graduate Lewis Currie

Layla Barakat Interior Designer

See more — cargocollective.com/ lewcurrieillustration

Layla Barakat llustration by David Hill currently studying MDes Graphic Design (Illustration) at SIA. More — http:// davehillustration. tumblr.com

efore she’d even begun the final year of her MDes Interior Design course, Layla had won a competition to design and dress the interior of the show flat at Urban Splash’s RIBA Stirling prize nominated Park Hill development here in Sheffield. That was a defining moment. As was the bold decision to take a work placement in Dubai as part of her course here. “I’m close to my family, so it was tough leaving the country, but I think you have to just go for it. I knew there was no way I could walk into this kind of job on graduating, so I took my chance.” The same decisiveness and determination has informed her path since finishing in 2013. “I was really nervous because I spent three months intensively trying to find work and it was tough but you have to keep going, keep pushing.” Layla is based in London now working on commercial interiors, and is learning a lot. Hopefully, she says, everything she’s learned will help her set up her own studio one day.

resh from graduation in 2013, George went straight into an arduous audition for the National Youth Theatre’s ‘Pigeon English’. Enduring four re-calls, he landed a coveted role in the play, performing at the Bristol Old Vic and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It was tough, he says, but fun. “You prepare yourself for rejection when you audition, but you can’t let that take over. You have to enjoy it, even if you know the odds are ridiculous. Just remember that there is always going to be something new, the next opportunity.” And he’s won plenty of those, including a supporting role in Warp Films’ 71, which premiered to great acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival this year. Now on a three year acting course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, his eyes are on a grand prize – the Royal Shakespeare Company or the National Theatre. “I’m going to keep working hard, if I fail, I’ll aim to fail better and better each time. I’m going to focus on having presence, on being there, in that room, when I audition and when I act. Not focused on how high the odds are or the result, but bringing it down to the present moment, that’s what will benefit me in the long run.”

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work

George Webster Actor

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 03. The Work 90

Every June our studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; best work is showcased at the SIA Degree Show and judged by industry experts, such as Nick Park (Aardman Animations) and Marcus Hirst (Ron Arad associates)

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Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

04 I AM This is the nitty gritty, the bones of the course structures our award winning lecturers deliver. In this section: Animation and Special Effects Architecture Art Creative Writing Design and Technology Fashion Film and Media Production Games Design and Development Graphics Interiors Jewellery and Metalwork Performing Arts Photography Product and Furniture Taking your studies to the next level

Pg 94 Pg 95 Pg 96 Pg 97 Pg 98 Pg 99 Pg 100 Pg 101 Pg 102 Pg 103 Pg 104 Pg 105 Pg 106 Pg 107 Pg 109

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Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

A Animation and Special Effects BA (Honours)/MArt Animation MA Animation and Special Effects

Learn from tutors who are practising industry animators and effects artists. Members of our teaching team have worked on award-winning productions across all disciplines of animation and visual effects. You develop an advanced range of creative, conceptual and technical skills and you equip yourself with the knowledge and ability to work as a professional in this exciting area. We have modern animation digital compositing software and facilities. We also support standard and super 16mm origination on film alongside digital formats. You attend animation festival trips and film seminars to help create a stimulating environment and to ensure that you gain the latest industry knowledge. We also run a programme of visiting guest lecturers. Our industry links include Aardman, Double Negative, Frame Store, McKinnon and Saunders and Finger Industries.

As you make and complete animations and effects to a high professional standard, you develop an impressive portfolio of work that showcases your skills to future employers. Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? Sheffield Institute of Arts graduate Nick Park, the Oscar winning creator of Wallace and Gromit, regularly judges the animation category in our final year degree show.

It could be you We have graduates working for Finger Industries, Frame Store, Double Negative, OG International, Just Add Water (Developments) Ltd, Fuzzy-Frog Games, Kettle Studios, Northern Creative Studio and many more. Others have launched their own companies, such as Scrapbook Development and Oh Captain, My Space Captain.

Elsewhere in this book â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

Pg 63 Meet Mel Ternan, one of our lecturers in animation.

Pg 83 We caught up with MArt Animation student Nathan Ellis and met his plasticine grandad.

BSc (Honours) Architectural Technology BSc (Honours) Architecture* MArch Architecture MSc/PgDip/PgCert Technical Architecture

Prepare for a career in architecture at the first university in the UK to be recognised as a ‘centre of excellence in architectural technology’ by the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists. You study the latest techniques on courses designed in consultation with employers and industry experts. You are based in our design studios where you work on individual and group projects under the guidance of expert tutors with extensive experience in industry.

Throughout your course, you will become familiar with a range of IT software, including AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, IES, Calculux, Design Workshop Lite, Autodesk Viz 4, Ecotect, Energy Plus, Photoshop and Navisworks. We also have extensive facilities for lighting, acoustics, environment, testing and air movement, including a heliodon, artificial sky and wind tunnel. You benefit from our well established and long-standing relationships with practices, such as WS Atkins and The Bond Bryan Partnership. Students undertaking placements are regularly offered permanent work or sponsorship by their placement providers. There are also opportunities for working abroad.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

A Archi — tecture

Our BSc (Hons) Architecture course is validated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and prescribed by the Architects Registration Board for exemption from RIBA Part 1 examinations. It is also accredited by the Chartered Association of Building Engineers. Our innovative three year MArch programme allows you to gain your RIBA part 2 whilst combining work and study. Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? Our professor of architecture, Julian Marsh, recently had his home listed as one of the top ten eco homes in the UK by The Guardian. Constructed by Julian from environmentally-friendly insulation, clay plaster and certifiably sustainable timber, the property is built around a courtyard that is filled with home-grown fruit and veg. Translucent walls and white floors reduce the need for lighting whilst rainwater is gathered in an underfloor cistern and redeployed for washing. It could be you Suki Sehmbi’s marina regeneration designs, intended to boost economic growth around the mouth of the River Esk, scooped him the Gold Prize in the 2013 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Yorkshire Student Awards. Since graduating he’s been invited to discuss his proposals with Whitby Town Council with a view to taking them forward.

Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 22 Sheffield has always had a tempestuous relationship with its architecture, and Park Hill sometimes lives at the centre of the debate! Pg 29 Sheffield Design Week is a yearly festival of all things design related in the city and, amongst other things, architecure is discussed. Pg 40 An interview with Gabriel Tang, course leader for BSc (Hons) Architecture.

Pg 81 Meet Andrew Chung, a current architecture student showing us a piece of his own work.

* Our BSc (Hons) Architecture course was previously titled BSc (Hons) Architecture and Environmental Design

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

A Art

BA (Honours)/MArt Creative Art Practice BA (Honours)/MArt Fine Art MA Fine Art

We encourage you to develop your own approaches, to take creative risks and to experiment with different media, all within the context of the contemporary art world. You learn from fine art tutors who are nationally and internationally renowned artists and explore all aspects of contemporary art practice.

Our art students have access to a huge range of creative resources to engage with. Facilities include 3D printing for rapid prototyping, state-of-the-art hardware and software, TV, film and photography studios, a creative media centre, performance spaces, a gallery and well-equipped workshops.

The creative community in Sheffield is very active. We work collaboratively with artists and curators, as well as researchers, and students in other areas. You have access to a network of public galleries, art organisations and artist-run spaces, and opportunities for exhibiting and publishing happen throughout the year.

You can gain work experience through placements and public exhibitions. We have a working relationship with a number of studios, including Yorkshire Artspace and S1 Gallery, which provides a bursary for a number of our fine art students, allowing them to move into professional studios. We also have strong links with regional and international arts organisations, such as the Venice Biennale and Tate. Previous art graduates now work in the visual arts as artists, curators, writers, managers, technicians, set designers, prop makers, art directors and animators. Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? We host two weekly lecture programmes, Transmission and Gravity, giving students the opportunity to learn from a range of world-renowned artists. Recent speakers have included Susan Collis, Edmund de Waal and Pavel Buchler.

It could be you Our graduates include Oscar-winning creator of Wallace and Gromit Nick Park, 2011 Turner Prize nominee George Shaw and Sheffield based artist Kid Acne.

Elsewhere in this book â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

Pg 12 Brendan Dawes is a designer / artist / programmer whose exhibition in the SIA Gallery included work ranging from 3D printed music to an abstract sunflower made up of tweets. He writes the foreword to this book about the point of creativity. Pg 25 Run by Ed Bradbury (Sheffield artist and SIA graduate Kid Acne), and Florence Blanchard, B&B Gallery has established itself firmly on the map with a very rare curatorial energy.

Pg 34 Interview with Keith Wilson, a lecturer in fine art. He tells us about his own practice and teaching at SIA. Pg 38 Interview with Becky Shaw, deputy course leader on the BA (Hons)/MArt Creative Art Practice. Pg 79 Current student Conor Rogers shows us his miniscule paintings.

BA (Honours) Creative Writing MA/PgDip/PgCert Writing

Develop your prose, scriptwriting and poetry as well as your knowledge of literary culture on a courses led by widely performed and published poets, scriptwriters and novelists. You explore and develop writing skills in prose, drama and verse, and your understanding of what it means to be a writer through workshops, seminars and tutorials. We have a well-published and professional writing team whose work includes scriptwriting for prime time soap and drama programmes, short stories, novels, poetry, and memoir. Visiting writers, literary agents and publishers come regularly to share their valuable insights about what is happening in the industry.

On the BA (Hons) course, you can choose to study overseas on one of our creative writing exchanges at the Sorbonne, Paris or Carnegie-Mellon, USA, and you can gain professional experience on work placements with community writing groups, the local press, in-house publishing and working with non-governmental organisations. To achieve the MA you complete a novel, script or collection of poems or stories. Some of our most successful students include best-selling author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Marina Lewycka, T S Eliot prize short-listed poet Frances Leviston and Radio 4 and BBC TV scriptwriter Sharon Oakes. If you are not able to commit to the whole course, you can apply to take a single module and the credit you gain will count towards the full MA if you choose to pursue this at a later date.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

C Creative Writing

Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? Every year we host Off the Shelf, one of the UK’s most popular and exciting cultural events attracting some of the best known names in literature and the media. It could be you MA Creative Writing graduate Susan Elliot Wright’s first novel, The Things We Never Said, sold over 45,000 copies. She now has a three-book deal and teaches on our programme.

Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 24 Warp Films have been involved with some of the best written films to come out of Britain in recent times and they’re based here in Sheffield. More on that in the Makers part of this book.

Pg 29 For anyone with a love of books and the written word, make a note to visit Off the Shelf, profiled on page 27. Pg 42 Meet course leader Harriet Tarlo.

Pg 86 Read about what Marina Lewycka has been up to since graduating. Namely, becoming a really successful writer!

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

D Design and Technology BSc (Honours) Design and Technology with Education and QTS PGCE Secondary Design and Technology PGCE Design and Technology (Textiles) MA Design and Technology Education

With a long and successful history of innovation and excellence, our courses are designed to reflect the dynamic and rapidly changing design and technology curriculum in schools, and to fill the skills gap as there is currently a shortage of suitably qualified teachers.

You develop expertise in the practical, creative, technical and professional challenges of design and technology education within a supportive and stimulating environment with excellent facilities and expert tuition from staff who are passionate about the subject. We have links with Outokumpu – a leader in stainless steels and high performance alloys – and leading independent builders’ merchants Beatsons. The companies allowed us to film their production lines, and this footage is a key part of the online resources you use to link school practice to industry. Beatsons has also accommodated student field trips. Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? We are the largest provider of secondary design and technology teachers in the country.

It could be you 96% of trainee teachers at Sheffield Hallam are working or in further study within six months of completing their course.

Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 24 Products, tables, bikes and toys. Sheffield makers are pretty prolific!

Pg 28 There are loads of things to do in Sheffield relating to design. Some of the events you might actually be taking your future students to! Pg 58 Meet DTE lecturer Rowan Todd.

Pg 80 We chatted to Leigh Jones, a current Design and Technology Education student at SIA, about sustainable food and modern living.

BA (Honours)/MDes Fashion Design

If you have the flair and ambition, these courses can help you become a highly innovative designer within the fashion industry. The courses benefit from an experimental approach with a strong focus on product design. We help you develop your design skills and creative awareness by building on your strengths and individual creativity through guided projects. Based in industry-standard workshops with excellent digital resources, including digital pattern cutting and printing systems, you work on real-world briefs set by professionals. You can enter national and international design competitions and visit major fashion centres, such as London, Paris and New York, before building your professional experience by applying for internships and placements with major labels like Iris Van Herpen, Julien Macdonald and Paul Smith. We have also been selected to be part of Graduate Fashion Week. Many of our graduates are either self-employed or working for some of the biggest names in the fashion industry, such as Barbour, Topshop and Zara, across a variety of roles such as assistant designer, visual merchandiser and textile technologist. You could also work as a fashion illustrator or stylist on fashion shoots or for the press.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

F Fashion

Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? Fashion design student Helen McClafferty won last year’s degree show award for her collection inspired by Danté’s Inferno, following a trip to the Vatican. It could be you After graduating in 2013, bridal designer, Kelly Marie Redhead started her own business with the help of the University’s Research and Innovation Centre. Since launching, KMR Bespoke Bridal Designer has been featured in British Vogue and MODE magazines.

Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 25 Sheffield producers in fashion, Mamnick and Crow & Dunnage are featured. Pg 64 We meet fashion lecturer Lesley Campbell and she tells all about her teaching, alien bodies, and steel bridal wear. Pg 78 Fashion student Zoe Babington shows us her project inspired by decay.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

F Film and Media Production

BA (Honours)/MArt Digital Media Production BA (Honours)/MArt Film and Media Production MA Film and Media Production

Learn creative skills and techniques from tutors who are award-winning industry practitioners and artists. Based in the heart of Sheffield’s thriving Cultural Industries Quarter, you benefit from internships and work experience opportunities with Sheffield-based independents, like Warp Films and Studio of the North. We are also a BBC partner organisation, offering you the chance to apply for placements, to get involved in BBC projects and to attend specialist workshops and training events. On campus, you benefit from excellent resources designed to meet the intensive demands of film and digital media production to a high creative and professional standard, including a fully equipped purpose-built cinema, a professional studio, and the latest digital media software. Throughout your studies you develop a portfolio of work to showcase your skills to potential employers, whilst our partnerships with local events such as Doc/Fest and Sensoria provide invaluable opportunities for industry work experience. Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? Sheffield’s Doc/Fest has been running for 21 years and is recognised as one of the top three documentary film festivals in the world. The festival’s main screening venue is the award winning Showroom Cinema, one of the UK’s leading independent cinemas, located next door to the Institute. It could be you As a result of our internship programme with Warp Films, our final year students have undertaken crewing roles on This is England ‘88 and ‘86 for Channel 4 and their recent feature films ‘Submarine’ and ‘Tyrannosaur’.

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Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 24 We feature Warp Films, Sheffield’s claim to fame in the film world! Pg 29 Sheffield Doc/Fest and Sensoria are just two of our annual events for film fans. Pg 50 We feature Christopher Hall, our senior lecturer in film and media production. Pg 85 Meet graduate Emily Cecil.

BA (Honours)/MArt Games Design BSc (Honours)/MComp Games Software Development MSc Games Software Development

These courses are for those with the artistic and technical flair to create the next generation of games. We work in close partnership with games companies, such as Sumo Digital, SN Systems and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE). They provide equipment and input into the design, development and delivery, ensuring we teach the very latest topics. We have been awarded PlayStation®First status by SCEE, providing unique access to PlayStation® professional development hardware and software development kits equipping students with industry relevant games development skills across PlayStation®3, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®Vita and PlayStation®Portable.

Our games design courses are recognised as industry relevant by the British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society. Our games development courses are accredited by Creative Skillset and the British Computer Society, and count towards the academic requirements for registration as a Chartered Engineer. You will use the latest industry-standard technology and techniques to develop new game ideas and create prototypes. We also teach you project management techniques, including the stages of game production, the structure and operation of the games industry and issues surrounding intellectual property. During the course, you create a personal portfolio that you can use to demonstrate your skills to prospective employers.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

G Games Design and Development

In your third year, we can help you secure a 12-month placement, at companies such as Sony (SCEE), Team17, Autodesk and Sumo Digital, on a salary of up to £18,000. This allows you to apply your skills and gain real world experience before you graduate. Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? We are home to Europe’s largest PlayStation® teaching lab.

It could be you Tom Sampson and Andrea Redhead were part of a team of our students who became the first ever to develop and release a PlayStation® game. The game won three Games Republic Student Showcase awards, and both students secured jobs with two different games development companies based in Sheffield before graduating.

Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 28 Games Britannia is just one of the events profiled in our Do section.

Pg 60 Meet Jake and David, our games courses equivalent to Sonic and Tails.

Pg 82 Find out what our games design students are up to right now. We met Victoria Hall and talked Superfrog.

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G Graphics

You learn about the core principles of graphic design and its application across a range of sectors, with the opportunity to specialise in advertising, illustration, motion and interactive or traditional graphic design.

BA (Honours)/MDes Graphic Design

You have the opportunity to enhance your career prospects by taking part in international competitions, live briefs and work placements. There are also residential study trips at home and abroad, complemented by visits to design conferences and professional design association events. Developing your design portfolio is an important way for you to evidence your talents and skills to employers when you graduate. Throughout the course, we will be looking to you to innovate, take creative risks and challenge social and cultural conventions. There are excellent career prospects for graduates in a range of design jobs in the UK and overseas in areas such as advertising, designing for environments and three-dimensional spaces, branding and identity through to illustration, printmaking, animation, screen-based graphics, interactivity and typography. Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? Our ‘Curated by’ lecture series and events attract a wide range of practitioners from across the industry, sharing innovative ideas, attitudes and approaches for students to consider. Speakers have included Brendan Dawes, Ken Garland and Kate Moross. It could be you Final year student Becky Roberts recently won the ‘Best in Show’ Award at the New Blood exhibition - D&AD’s annual showcase of new talent. Becky won the top award with her illustration project, ‘Idioms’, which explores some of the most unusual phrases in the English language, such as ‘keep your chin up’ and ‘eat your heart out’.

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Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 26 See a collection of the record sleeves which were designed around the music of Sheffield.

Pg 28 Relevant things to see in the city from exhibitions at the SIA Gallery, to Curated By talks and Sheffield Design Week. Pg 68 An interview with Pam and Matt, our course leaders for graphic design. Pg 86 Find out about notable alumni, Joe Brooks.

BA (Honours)/MDes Interior Design

You develop a range of practical and intellectual skills that will allow you to take risks and develop an inventive, problem solving approach to interior design. Studiobased learning enables you to develop your creative and technical skills, while lectures and seminars focus on contemporary issues affecting design today to help you understand your work in a wider historical and social context. You will visit design consultancies, industrial facilities, museums and exhibitions, which will help you develop a deeper contextual and industrial understanding of interior design. You work with clients and industry professionals, such as Avanti Architects and Urban Splash, on ‘live’ projects to further deepen your understanding of the design industry. There are also placement opportunities with local companies, such as HLM Architects. Field trips to international cultural centres help you extend your contextual knowledge and provide an insight into the international role and position of the design professions. Previous destinations have included Milan, Barcelona and the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

I Interiors

Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? Our students exhibit at the Free Range art and design exhibition in London’s Brick Lane. It could be you Jim Butterell’s work placement took him as far as Melbourne, Australia, where he spent six months working for multidisciplinary design practice, HASSELL. Jim returned to Sheffield and won the interior design award at his final year degree show in 2012 with his project, Updating The Gay Bathhouse. Judge Tim Hubbard, from design agency 93ft, was so impressed that he gave him a job and Jim is now working as a fully-fledged interior designer.

Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 25 We profile Made North, a brilliant little gathering spot, a gallery in the city centre, an online shop and resource, and a makers’ community stocking all sorts of beautifully designed products for the home. Pg 48 An interview with Sally Billau, our interior design course leader. Pg 89 Meet Layla Barakat, one of our graduates.

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Jewellery and Metalwork

BA (Honours)/MDes Jewellery and Metalwork

These courses equip you with the skills you need to become a designer-maker, either independently or as part of a team. You join an established community of designer-makers and learners, based in our well-equipped specialist workshops. Through intensive project work, you learn how to generate and produce original designs for a range of jewellery, tableware and personal accessories. We introduce you to fundamental processes and techniques, developing your essential skills and knowledge. Through individual and group project work you explore diverse and innovative ways of approaching the design process and producing finished pieces. All staff engage with professional practice and research, and we bring in external specialist lecturers at relevant points throughout the course. Field trips to studios and galleries mean you can engage with professionals in their place of work. We have industry connections with Museums Sheffield, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, Sheffield Assay Office, the Goldsmiths Craft and Design Council Awards and the Goldsmiths Centre, all of which give students opportunities to exhibit their work and undertake live commissions. We also engage with various industry specialists, such as spinners, platers and polishers. Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? In 2013, we hosted the David Mellor Steel and Light exhibition to celebrate 100 years of stainless steel and 50 years of Mellor’s iconic Symbol collection. Every other year the city hosts Galvanize, a festival of contemporary metal. It could be you Second year student Hannah Chapman recently exhibited her work in the city’s Millennium Art Gallery after being selected for a bursary from the National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies (NADFAS).

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Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 25 Mamnick have been designing and producing pieces made of Sheffield steel for global export. Pg 44 We profile Chris Knight, senior lecturer in jewellery and metalwork.

Pg 47 Meet technician Steve Wood, who’s own metalwork can be found around the globe. Pg 88 Meet Jessica Flinn, one of our graduates who’s fast making an international name for herself and her designs.

BA (Honours) Performance and Professional Practice (top up) BA (Honours) Performance for Stage and Screen

Our screen studies and performing arts courses are led by award-winning and high profile academics, including current screenwriters and performers. Teaching locations for the courses include theatre studios, state of the art music studios and our own film theatre, The Void. The city’s Lantern and Montgomery theatres are used for student performances. Our professional and creative environment is enhanced by expert speakers who give lectures and master classes in stage and screen. Previous speakers include practitioners from the British Film Institute and the BBC. We have extensive professional links within the film and performing arts industries, resulting in excellent work-based learning and employment opportunities. In the past, placements have included work at local flagship theatres, such as the Crucible Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, and with theatre companies such as Point Blank, Third Angel and Paper Birds. Our staff and students contribute to the development of Sheffield’s thriving cultural activities whilst continuing to excel in their own creative practice.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

P Performing Arts

Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? World-renowned playwright John Godber is one of our visiting professors. In 2013 his new play ‘Jack Steele and Family’, opened at the Crucible Theatre, with several of our students taking supporting roles either behind the scenes or in the cast itself. It could be you In 2014 our students worked with Sheffield Theatres 2013 Playwright-in-Residence, Chris Bush, to produce Bespoke – a spectacular, bicycle themed, outdoor theatre event to celebrate the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire.

Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 26 Check out some of our city’s most famous musical performers with our Sheffield playlist. Pg 59 We spoke to Neil Sissons, lecturer in performing arts.

Pg 89 Get a glimpse of the kind of thing you might be doing when you leave with our profile of graduate George Webster.

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P Photo — graphy

BA (Honours)/MArt Photography

This course is about discovering who you are as an individual practitioner. You are introduced to a diverse range of ideas, practices, processes and issues and encouraged to pursue your own interests in developing project work within a creative and critical specialist community. There is cross-fertilisation of interests and approaches, resulting in a dynamic and stimulating environment. You study a range of advanced photographic techniques, theories and concepts, and develop your own creative personal practice through experimental production and testing of materials. Our well-equipped photographic facilities include two industrystandard photography studios, portable lighting equipment, a dedicated digital ‘darkroom’, colour and black and white analogue darkrooms and an extensive lending store where you can borrow equipment such as cameras, lenses and tripods. We bring in a wide range of practitioners from different sectors to talk, lecture and run workshops on a regular basis. Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? In your second year you’ll have the opportunity to exhibit work at public exhibitions organised by our students at a gallery in the city. In your final year, you’ll exhibit in our own gallery at the SIA degree show, which regularly attracts over 3,000 visitors. It could be you 2010 graduate Will Boase is now based in Uganda. Working as a photographer throughout East Africa, his images have been used by the Guardian, the BBC and Comic Relief, amongst others, as well as being exhibited in the National Museum of Uganda and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

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Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 25 B&B Gallery exhibits all kinds of brilliant work throughout the year. Recently they had photographer, and SIA graduate, Theo Simpson (theosimpson.com) showing work from his Lesser Known Architecture series. Pg 43 We profile course leader Michèle Lazenby.

Pg 77 Meet Dora Damian, photography student and the person responsible for all the photography in Part 3 of this book.

BA (Honours)/MDes Product Design BA (Honours)/MDes Product Design: Furniture

You learn to design products that are original, attractive, usable and functional in an environment that thrives on new ideas. We help you to think like a designer and to develop the ability to design and present work to a professional standard. You also gain skills in industry standard computer-aided design software that employers look for. By developing your skills in research, design and development, you develop a clear understanding of social, market, technological and materialsbased trends and of what products mean to users. You also build up your industry knowledge by taking part in sponsored, live projects for well-known companies such as Morphy Richards and Ideal Standard. We have strong links with industry, leading to live projects that help you to understand market forces and technological issues. This industrial input, coupled with our professional studio approach, is fundamental to helping you develop a career in industry. There are also opportunities to visit national and international exhibitions and companies such as Ocee, Tom Dixon, Jasper Morrison, Moooi, Vitra, Viaduct and Senator.

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

P Product and Furniture

The work you complete throughout your course grows into a portfolio, which helps you apply for work placements and later to seek professional employment. Our graduates have gone on to work in companies including Dyson, Volvo Cars, Mamas and Papas, Kenwood and Mothercare. Many others are self-employed, running their own successful design consultancies in Sheffield and beyond. Find full details at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Did you know? Fourth year design students can showcase their work at the national New Designers exhibition held at the Business Design Centre in London.

It could be you Product design graduate Hannah Parker is now employed by the Heatherwick Studio and worked on the design of the London 2012 Olympic Cauldron.

Elsewhere in this book –

Pg 22 David Mellor is one of Sheffield’s most recognised exports in product design. We profile him in the Sheffield Made section of the book.

Pg 24 Contemporary makers in Sheffield include a number of product designers in the city today! Pg 39 Meet product designer, Roger Bateman. Now heading up our MA Design programme, Roger is all about ‘doing good by design’.

Pg 55 Find out how our in house design agency, Design Futures, provides unique opportunities for our students.

Pg 87 Samuel Carr works for Morphy Richards and is a graduate from our MDes Product Design course.

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MA 108

MA Design

Our MA Design programme gives completing undergraduates the opportunity to progress their studies to an advanced level, specialising in fashion, graphics, illustration, jewellery and metalwork, packaging, product or interior design. Your studies at this level will be project-led and developed through researching, designing, producing and exhibiting your work, supported by lecturers who are specialists with extensive industry experience. All students on the MA Design programme have the opportunity to work with industry and research partners on live research and practice-based projects, often in partnership with our Art and Design Research Centre and its award winning consultancy, Design Futures. You also take part in field trips. This year, we have students travelling on travel bursaries to the USA, Germany, Italy and London. Meet MA Design course leader, Roger Bateman, on page 39 of this book. Find full details of the programme at www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus

Sheffield Institute of Arts | Part 04. The Courses

Taking your studies to the next level

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To find out more about Sheffield Institute of Arts, and the community that makes us what we are, visit our website www.shu.ac.uk/sia

This book has been created by a team of people. Some of those people are students and alumni from Sheffield Institute of Arts. Design, Art Directed and Edited by — Peter and Paul Design Sheffield Foreword — Brendan Dawes Writing — Tom James (Part 1 and 2) Peter and Paul (Part 1 / 2 and 3) Sheffield Institute of Arts (Part 4) 110

Photography — Part 2 photography by India Hobson Part 3 photography by Dora Damian doradc.co.uk Illustrations — All illustration work has been produced by Sheffield Institute of Arts students and alumni: Tom J Newel tomjnewell.com Matt Harrison Clough mattharrisonclough.com Lewis Currie cargocollective.com/lewcurrieillustration Helen McClafferty hvm-illustration.strikingly.com Rowan Roberts rowanrroberts.tumblr.com David Hill davehillustration.tumblr.com Briony Firth brionyfirthillustration.com Vector That Fox (Jo Breese) www.vectorthatfox.co.uk