MA Degree Show 2015

Bath school of art & design ma degree show

MA2015

Bath School of Art & Design MA Degree Show 2015

Situated in one of Britain’s most beautiful and historic cities, Bath Spa University offers a range of taught postgraduate and higher research degrees across its five Schools.

The breadth and depth of this disciplinary engagement with a focus on creativity, culture and enterprise ensures a vigorous and lively postgraduate culture for our students; one that is academically challenging, vocationally relevant, and one that celebrates our unique history and context.

Bath School of Art & Design was established in the early 1850s and has a proud and distinguished history of producing highly successful artists, designers, curators and thinkers who have contributed to the creative and cultural sectors in extraordinary ways.

With a focus on practice-led enquiry, exploration of ideas, experimentation with process, and direct engagement with the creative industries, the development of a deep and expanded knowledge and understanding for each of our students is individually facilitated.

It is with great pleasure that we celebrate the creative achievements of our MA students in Curatorial Practice, Design: Ceramics, Design: Fashion and Textiles and Fine Art through the showcase of the MA Degree Show exhibition and catalogue.

We wish our new graduates every success in making their unique contributions to the creative, cultural and economic landscape of the UK and beyond as they progress to the next stage of their professional careers and join the illustrious alumni of the Bath School of Art & Design.

Professor Anita Taylor Dean of Bath School of Art and Design

MA Curatorial Practice

The Masters in Curatorial Practice addresses curating as a contemporary practice. Students study and work within historic and collection based settings, in contemporary venues and in site-specific projects. We affirm engagement and understanding audiences as central to curatorial practice, integral both to the curating of collections and the presentation of new works of contemporary art and design.

The nature of decision making in curating, and the role of artists, writers and other creative practices as intermediaries and interpreters have been a significant area of enquiry and practice for the student group.

Over their programme of study students explored both history and theory and worked in ‘live’ projects, from major national museums and galleries to ‘pop up’ projects in temporary venues. The nature of engagement was a key theme, as was the processes behind major exhibition and touring projects. The collaboration and openness of curators and organisations has been welcome and appreciated, however the success of their projects reflects the imagination and commitment of the students.

Mike Tooby Course Leader

Roz Bonnet MA Curatorial Practice

Project management and analysis of artists and their roles in museums, galleries and ‘pop-up’ venues.

Illustration: still of touring exhibition Confected, Borrowed and Blue… An Installation by Paul Scott at The Holburne Museum, Bath.

rozbonnet@gmail.com

Kate Burbidge MA Curatorial Practice

kate.burbidge.27@gmail.com

Kate currently lives and works in the South of England, having returned from seven years and diverse experiences in Cambodia to formalize her academic interest in art, history and cultural heritage. During her BA studies, Kate’s interests expanded from art to artefact and the physical and conceptual functions of both in society at large. During the course of her MA, Kate explored the role of contemporary artists in the historic collections of museums and other heritage institutions; her long study examines their particular importance as intermediaries between institution and audience, each drawing the other into their own world.

Illustration : detail from Labelled by Dail Behennah. An installation of 500 enamelled labels for Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery from my study of Plymouth Museum & Art Gallery's residency and commission programme. By kind permission of the artist.

Sarah Knight MA Curatorial Practice

sightlinesprojects.org heulwen@hotmail.com 07970619413

With undergraduate degrees in Fine Art from Southampton Solent University and in Art History from Concordia University, Montréal, Canada, Sarah Knight has a wide-ranging interest in the visual arts in general and in contemporary arts practice in particular.

The focus of her MA Long Study was an exploration of the creative nature of curating, the exhibition as an artistic medium, and the popular convergence of artist/curator roles.

During the course of her MA, Sarah enjoyed undertaking a number of curatorial projects, including ‘Quies’ at Bristol’s Edwardian Cloakrooms and ‘Open Lens: a screening of video works by Anri Sala’ at Hauser & Wirth Somerset.

She is one half of a curatorial partnership called Sightlines Projects and works as a French-English translator in the visual arts sector.

Nicola Lane MA Curatorial Practice

nicolalaneart.wordpress.com nicolapeola@gmail.com 00353(0)868647451

Lives and works in Ireland.

Completing an honours degree in Fine Art Sculpture at the National College of Art & Design in her hometown Dublin, during which she did a scholarship in durational art in Rhode Island School of Design, Lane went on to co-launch an independent artist led contemporary art space in Ireland.

An art practice centering largely on time based site-specific work, led to her interest in developing curatorial projects examining the relationships between artist and context.

Lane sees curating as an extension of her practice. Interested in the emergence of ‘open’ meaning in the field of interpretation, and driven by the conviction that the artist is a valuable yet underexploited catalyst for new interpretive approaches, she is keen to develop the practice of artist ‘interventions’ in museums and other institutions.

This is reflected in her long study, for which the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) commissioned her to make an interpretation film for their exhibition ‘Trove’ (November 2014), in which artist Dorothy Cross selected artifacts and artworks from Ireland’s national collections, held in the National Gallery, National Museum, National Library and Crawford Gallery.

Lane conducted a series of six interviews with the curators of the lending institutions - shown in conjunction with the exhibition, which has opened up a whole new direction in her work.

Illustration: Preparing to interview curators for interpretation film commissioned for Dorothy Cross’s project ‘Trove’ by the Irish Museum of Modern Art

Kim Wood MA Curatorial Practice

wordsinthegallery.com kim@angelmedia.co.uk 07738932118

Exploring boundaries and transitional or liminal zones has been a recurring theme in my curatorial projects. I am interested in revealing coherent dialogues, or at least the inter-connectivity between phenomena that may appear quite distinct.

As part of the MA in curatorial practice I researched and curated the exhibition SHIFT that looked at the changing role of craft in contemporary fine art practice. I have also researched the representation of female sexuality and prostitution within the arts with a view to developing projects in this area.

A fascination in the relationship between words and art has led me to initiate a regular writing workshop at Black Swan Arts (Frome, UK) that engages local writers with artworks in the gallery. Participants in the workshop respond to the artworks in words; a practice often referred to as ‘ekphrasis’. I have created and maintain an incremental online archive of the ‘Words’ sessions that situate the words next to the artworks that engendered them (wordsinthegallery.com). Future projects may include expanding the ‘Words’ group to include more of a discourse on the nature of ekphrasis itself, and further experimental word/art, writer/artist collaborations.

MA Design: Ceramics

This year’s graduating students from MA Design: Ceramics are further and on-going proof to the vitality and versatility of this most ancient of materials. The course is a negotiated individual programme of study that reflects personal conviction and a collective willingness to push the capabilities of the medium.

Very quickly students graduating from the course have announced themselves nationally and internationally in the established and emerging fields of contemporary Ceramics.

Increasingly they are doing so whilst still on the MA course, through live projects in collaboration with the Holburne Museum and successful submissions to international competitions and overseas residency programmes, but most importantly they are creating fresh contexts and new personal definitions as to what constitutes ceramics practice.

It has been a real pleasure to be part of a team of visiting lecturers, Masterclasses and specialist technicians who have all played a vital part in supporting the development of these new bodies of work. I am excited by the possibilities of where to go next.

Keith Harrison Course Leader

Chunquing Lu MA Design: Ceramics

all4junson@yahoo.com

I am from China. I graduated from JingDeZhen Ceramic Institute in 2014. During my undergraduate time I focused on the decoration of ceramic, using this material as a carrier to present my drawing skills.

Whilst studying for my masters, I have been attracted to Yukiyo-e, one kind of Japanese traditional wood block painting and in particular to Hokusai’s ‘Giant waves off Kanagawa’. This has made me consider the possibility of creating giant waves using ceramic. I want to transform two dimensions into three dimensions; I choose ceramic sculpture which I think can convey the strength of nature more directly. I pay more attention to the form of clay, rather than to the surface.

I want to express the power and strength of nature in my work.

07774389833

I am attempting to blend traditional culture and art in a contemporary context.

Berni Vinton MA Design: Ceramics

bernivinton.wordpress.com berni@bvinton.freeserve.co.uk 07954995127

I have an interest in movement and our peripatetic experiences. Drawings of things in motion - people playing, dancing, diving, and clouds which transform across the sky before us continually, explore this interest. This sense of dynamic energy is then expressed through the materiality of clay. Inspiration has also come from Paul Klee’s drawings and writings, and the practice of ancient Chinese Calligraphy.

Initially, forms are thrown and then cut as they firm. These loops then become clay drawings in space. Tension, timing and the materiality of clay all lead to an energetic and dynamic result; where the energy comes from the immediacy of the process and in pushing the limits of the clay. The process is playful, and always carries a fresh sense of discovery.

The use of throwing, mirrors the interest in movement which is taken further, as some pieces in firmer clay are literally made with a few bends and stretches- a ceramic ‘backward flip’. Some pieces are extruded, to provide a different quality of line, which offers a feeling of pacing to the work.

A fascination in working with different qualities of clay, line in different states, and at various speeds – sometimes to music- has led to an investigation into the creation of a sense of animation, dancing, tumbling and skipping, in ceramic sculpture and installation.

MA Design: Fashion & Textiles

The MA Fashion and Textiles course at Bath School of Art & Design aims to nurture ambitious and visionary minds through encouraging the development and extension of existing knowledge and understanding of textiles, the embracing of new technologies and craft applications, deep investigation into materials and process, and the challenging of ideas and traditions in the pursuance and development of a uniquely personal practice and identity.

Our graduates are increasingly visible in the sector, appearing at major shows and exhibitions nationally and internationally, selling designs, products or services to agents, buyers and retail consumers, and continuing to innovate and move with the times, successfully making their ways in the world.

This year’s graduate portfolio is typically disparate and includes: woven textiles for fashion accessory and interiors; stitched white work inspired by family samplers; contemporary takes on rich cultural traditions; surface-design solutions for health environments; exquisite embroidery for fashion combining hand and digital technologies; surface design for lifestyle and interiors inspired by plants and paper folding; and printed and embroidered bags and accessories.

We wish them every success with their continuing journeys of self-discovery, creativity and invention.

Tim Parry-Williams Course Leader

Kate Bond MA Design: Fashion & Textiles

katebond.co.uk kate@katebond.co.uk 07920055736

The objective of my MA was to create coordinating print designs for fashion and interiors. My surface print designs explore vocabularies of visual research and digital manipulation to create distinctive, painterly surfaces with engaging detail. Carefully observed plant and floral studies are contrasted with visual pleats informed by the folding, colouring and photographing of paper and fabric. My BA was in Jewellery and Silversmithing and this sparked my interest folding and surface manipulation. To fuel my passion further I recently took an internship at Ciment Pleating, London.

My work is hand-crafted with a exceptional attention to detail, but I have also embraced modern technology and all the advantages this brings. Therefore, there is a flexibility in possible lifestyle applications. My designs have the ability to be truly bespoke ‘one-offs’ or licensed for larger scale reproduction.

Jayne Goulding MA Design: Fashion & Textiles

jaynegoulding.com jaynegoulding@googlemail.com 07775853202

This collection of fashion swatches employs the use of digital embroidery. The collection is for AW 16 and is a range of sophisticated designs of varying weights and textures with an offering of an alternative more directional range pitched at the younger market.

After completion of the MA I hope to build a reputation as a digital embroidery designer and to further extend my technical knowledge.

With my portfolio I want to inspire designers and buyers to integrate my conceptual designs into their collections and ranges.

I have predominantly used digital embroidery alongside more traditional embroidery and fabric manipulation techniques. I manually input each detailed stitch by hand to the software, ensuring there is a ‘hand’ crafted feel to the digitally stitched fabric. I aim to sensitively re-interpret the historical textiles and to give them new life and a contemporary edge through innovative use of colour, stitch, fabric and composition.

Selected: Texprint Awards 2015 - Presented collections at Première Vision Designs, Paris

Bronwen Gwillim MA Design: Fashion & Textiles

willisnewson.co.uk

softening hard surfaces strengthening the delicate giving the artificial a natural feel employing both technology and craft offering reassurance and surprise

Bronwen Gwillim is a surface designer who is inspired by the challenges of designing healthcare environments. She is Creative Director at Willis Newson, the UK’s leading arts and health consultancy.

bronwen@willisnewson.co.uk

Sana Khan MA Design: Fashion & Textiles

The collection for the Masters project is a range of cushions that are hand-woven and embroidered. My work has been driven by the various cultural influences that I have accumulated while travelling abroad. I have designed primarily for my home country, Pakistan, where cushions are an essential part of every household and are used for both comfort and decorative purposes. The range of cushions, are inspired by a juxtaposition of Mughal architecture and interiors of the subcontinent with Scottish tartans.

sanasohail_20@hotmail.com

Omobola Ososanwo MA Design: Fashion & Textiles

The MA programme in fashion and textiles at Bath Spa University has afforded me ample opportunity for studying and comparing ancient textile techniques (Batik and Ikat) wellused in Nigeria to the Japanese technique of Rozome and Kasuri well-known as Batik and Ikat respectively.

During the course of the study of the techniques, the programme’s scope allowed me to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of these two techniques in both cultures. Equipped with what I have learnt, I have combined the advantages of the technique in both cultures to create a contemporary and sophisticated textile intended for high end fashion.

m.ososanwo@gmail.com +2348039295364

Kukhanya Kay Sibanda MA Design: Fashion & Textiles

kkktextiles.wordpress.co.uk kukhanyasibanda@yahoo.co.uk 07470122992

During my MA at Bath Spa University, I was inspired by Traditional Batik Textile Design, how it developed historically over a period of time. My research investigated how I could produce Batik Design by using a Wax Resist method that uses a technique of scratching on card to produce Wax Resist Patterns for digital print.

My creative practice developed from Textile Design to a stage of achieving a ladies accessories label I am currently working on. My Wax Resist Pattern Design is original and therefore reflects my personality and experiences in a postmodern context. I hope to develop my work into a business.

I am interested in Textile Design and in fashion accessories for ladies. My work as a Designer in Textile Print and fashion, uses mixed media.

It also promotes sustainability of crafts. My Wax Resist Patterns have inspired me further: to produce Paint Resist Patterns, to screen print them, to laser cut them and embroider them in producing textile materials which I have used to make my current MA Collection. I will use some of these materials for my future collections beyond my MA. The collections I will make using my Wax Resist Design in the future, will not necessarily be in Fashion Accessories, but may be in Summer Dress Collections, Winter Jacket Collections for either ladies or men etc.

This was a rewarding course for me as I have a lot of ideas and skills to take away with me and use them in my future projects.

Abdu Smai MA Design: Fashion & Textiles

I am simply attracted to abstract motifs, symbols and culture. I am also interested in identity and diversity of people. These have somehow shifted my motivation to mark making. On this MA course I have deliberately researched and stumbled on interesting semiotics from Nigeria. Exploring ethnic signs as a chosen area, I have enjoyed playing and seeing them translate to design on fabrics.

abdusmai@yahoo.com +2348055223399

Charlotte Thompson MA Design: Fashion & Textiles

Swimwear and Print collection.

A collection of abstract designs, based on graffiti & geometric imagery.

charlotte.thompson92@hotmail.co.uk 07905702177

MA Fine Art

MA Fine Art at Bath Spa University is a studio-based programme designed to develop students’ individual creative potential in a critically challenging environment. The course focuses on students’ own emerging practice and how it is situated in the world of contemporary art practice and the critical and changing world debates that surround artists’ practices today.

The MA final show marks a high point in the academic year. It is very rewarding for all the Fine Art staff to see the abilities of each student realised in a body of stimulating, professional work. Their achievements are outstanding and are the result of meticulous engagement in enquiry and invention and the application of this research in the development of their work.

Many of this year’s graduating students have already exhibited their work in national and international contexts. With the work that can be viewed here, we look forward to seeing them succeed in many more exhibitions and to following their careers as artists.

Congratulations on these exhibitions; we wish the 2015 MA Fine Art graduates every success for their futures.

Roger Clarke Course Leader

Beth Biddiss MA Fine Art

bethbiddiss.wordpress.com bethbiddiss@gmail.com 07815 135761

My work seeks to investigate the idea that everything that exists is in a constant cycle of transformation, yet our human-oriented perception of time and space often masks, confuses and attempts to control this. We are surrounded by matter in fluctuating states of value, functionality and durability, even when confronted by an impression of stasis.

Through a specific emphasis on creating pauses, delays and diversions in my work, attention may be focused upon that which Ralph Rugoff refers to as ‘the quietly outrageous metamorphoses in process under our noses and under our feet’ (1999: 16).

Rugoff, R. (1999) Anya Gallaccio: Chasing Rainbows. Tramway: Glasgow.

Zander Buchan Jones MA Fine Art

My work has always been concerned with the exploration of space. For me the sculpture and its surroundings are bound together in meaning, in a two way process. My work sets out to explore the question of boundaries in the context of the studio/ exhibition space.

I’m also interested in the idea of “perception”.

When we look at an object we see it from all different angles and all depths of human experience. The space around the object is important to its interpretation.

zanderbuchanjones.co.uk zander@zanderbuchanjones.co.uk

Wayne Elkins MA Fine Art

My sculptures are the outcomes of an investigation into the physicality of materials which have undergone torturous processes of repetition and duration. The disruption of form and surface resulting from deconstructive action is informed by gravity, weight and space.

wayne.elkins@hotmail.co.uk

April George MA Fine Art

Encompassing a history of painting and concerned within the context of still life, this current body of work is an interpretation of memory and the fragmentation of an initial response. Imagery of nature morte enhances the sense of the familiar and reflection.

The integration and juxtaposition of paintings with the residues of the painting process, questions the history and process of painting and the values placed upon it.

aprilgeorge.co.uk freshwindow1@gmail.com

Steve Joyce MA Fine Art

stevejoyceartist.com stevejoyce.artist@gmail.com 07791463533

A bruised and battered traffic barrier and felled lampposts are replicated in plastic and cardboard - they faithfully copy error and misfortune and act as a record of the gap between intention and realization - memento mori to the unpredictability of contemporary life.

Attempting to counteract these monuments to human frailty is the perfect antidote ‌ a jigsaw of a clear blue sky. However 4000 similarly shaped and coloured pieces means it is impossible to complete the puzzle and its incompleteness is digitally frozen as a backdrop to the other witnesses – these cherished accidents.

Tom Mence MA Fine Art

tommence.wordpress.com tom.mence@hotmail.com 07890015578

Using different painterly techniques and materials, principally egg tempera and oil paint, I aim to explore our relationship with the domestic interior and the objects therein.

In doing so I hope to pictorially examine Gaston Bachelard’s statement that, ‘the house is one of the greatest powers of integration for the thoughts, memories and dreams of mankind’.

Pia Pack MA Fine Art

piapack.co.uk piapack0@gmail.com 07957 435 122

Seen from above, these paintings are the gestures and the body language of figures in social engagements centered around sharing a meal.

Pack constructs her work through a series of methodical actions: starting with video recording meals seen from above, transcribing the still frames from the films into mapped sketches which are then used as the studies for the painted works.

Becca Quirk MA Fine Art

‘I cut a hazel-coppice pole out of my wood and used it as a curtain pole in my bedroom. It works well.’

Roger Deakin Notes from Walnut Tree Farm

beccaquirk@yahoo.co.uk

Ian Shipton MA Fine Art

wilfredbeehive.wordpress.com ian.shipton@me.com 07446 148738

My work is concerned with portraying a personal “sense of place� found in the most ordinary of locations.

This series of paintings were all initiated from observation and portray a very particular geographical location, in this case defined by the boundaries of a local park. The limited size of the majority of the canvasses necessitated a focused approach to finding and painting images. This has resulted in the disclosure of particular qualities that resonate with my experience of this location. Once identified these qualities became the subject matter for larger work.

This process, through repetition, has allowed the resulting fragmentary images to accumulate to be a record of my response to a particular place, over a period of time, shaped by experience, and revealing my engagement with the world around me.

Clare Thatcher MA Fine Art

Centred around my inquiry of liminal space, the British landscape is used as part of the process of discovery. Transition and consequences of perpetual flux are referenced within my oil paintings.

Colour is used to represent an internalised record that synthesises atmosphere and sensation. Creating a painting language of different and similar qualities of opacity or transparency, echoing the intangible experience of place. This is embodied not only in colour itself, the pigmentation, but also how light penetrates or reflects off the painted surface.

clarethatcher.wordpress.com clarethatcher@me.com

Caroline Truss MA Fine Art

casartruss.wordpress.com caroline.truss@hotmail.com 07581308491

My work portrays friends and their immediate family living a contemporary modern life. My subjects are also taken from photojournalism and media sources. My aim is for an ambiguity in the image to be interpreted as an imagined reality.

Beryl White MA Fine Art

I am interested in how thought is made material, and the contradictions between the immaterial and the material. Heidegger describes the opening of an imaginative space between the artist and the viewer, a sort of structureless structure, which we fill when we visit an art gallery. This idea of a structureless structure can be seen in my paper sculptures, which have no fixed form, but exist in time and space and become the subject of our thoughts.

berylmjohnatone@Aol.com

Contact Details

MA Curatorial Practice Roz Bonnet — rozbonnet@gmail.com — Kate Burbidge — kate.burbidge.27@gmail.com — Sarah Knight sightlinesprojects.org heulwen@hotmail.com 07970619413 Nicola Lane nicolalaneart.wordpress.com nicolapeola@gmail.com 00353(0)868647451 Kim Wood wordsinthegallery.com kim@angelmedia.co.uk 07738932118

MA Design: Ceramics Chunquing Lu — all4junson@yahoo.com 07774389833 Berni Vinton bernivinton.wordpress.com berni@bvinton.freeserve.co.uk 07954995127

MA Design: Fashion & Textiles Kate Bond katebond.co.uk kate@katebond.co.uk 07920055736 Jayne Goulding jaynegoulding.com jaynegoulding@googlemail.com 07775853202 Bronwen Gwillim willisnewson.co.uk bronwen@willisnewson.co.uk — Sana Khan — sanasohail_20@hotmail.com — Omobola Ososanwo — m.ososanwo@gmail.com +2348039295364 Kukhanya Kay Sibanda kkktextiles.wordpress.co.uk kukhanyasibanda@yahoo.co.uk 07470122992 Abdu Smai — abdusmai@yahoo.com +2348055223399 Charlotte Thompson — charlotte.thompson92@hotmail.co.uk 07905702177

MA Fine Art Beth Biddiss bethbiddiss.wordpress.com bethbiddiss@gmail.com 07815 135761 Zander Buchan Jones

zanderbuchanjones.co.uk

zander@zanderbuchanjones.co.uk

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Wayne Elkins — wayne.elkins@hotmail.co.uk — April George aprilgeorge.co.uk freshwindow1@gmail.com — Steve Joyce stevejoyceartist.com stevejoyce.artist@gmail.com 07791463533 Tom Mence tommence.wordpress.com tom.mence@hotmail.com 07890015578 Pia Pack piapack.co.uk piapack0@gmail.com 07957 435 122 Becca Quirk — beccaquirk@yahoo.co.uk — Ian Shipton wilfredbeehive.wordpress.com ian.shipton@me.com 07446 148738 Clare Thatcher clarethatcher.wordpress.com clarethatcher@me.com — Caroline Truss casartruss.wordpress.com caroline.truss@hotmail.com 07581308491 Beryl White — berylmjohnatone@aol.com —

Design Rebecca Petts Davies rebecca_rhosyn@live.co.uk

Cover artwork April George aprilgeorge.co.uk

Bath School of Art & Design @artbathspa artdesign.bathspa.ac.uk

bath school of art & design