Subject Spotlight

Subject Spotlight: ART DEPARTMENT

Henry Noble takes a look into what is going on in block 8, as well as catching up with a former student.

For the subject spotlight, being a photography student, I decided that it’d be a good start to talk about the Art Department. I think the college is right in saying that it’s an area strongly encouraging self-expression. For me, my personal experiences back this up, I think that it’s great to have the opportunity to work on my own creative project, an experience greatly assisted by the skills that were a focus for us in year 12.

There are four areas within the subject department; Art & Design, Photography, Textiles and 3D Design with graphics, which is all headed by Simon Davies. I think this variety offers us some great prospects in exploring our individual creative interests.

I also understand that there have been some great co-curricular schemes going on from Block 8. For example, Art & Design students have had a chance to go to Italy along with gallery visits and weekend residentials. Photography students have been able to go to Barcelona, Paris and New York in recent years (although obviously not in the past 20ish months...) too.

I thought it’d be a good idea to ask someone with a retrospective view of the department, and so on approaching Ashleigh Lowe, learning mentor and ex-student, she kindly allowed me to ask her a couple of questions about her time studying here back in 2015-16.

Remarkably, she took on three art subjects – Art & Design, Photography and Textiles – quite a feat given the admittedly heavy workloads we can sometimes get. In terms of these aforementioned opportunities, Ashleigh says she remembers enjoying the photography trip to Blackpool, as well as the one to London with Textiles.

I went on to ask her what she most loved about the department when she was here. “I most loved the sense of togetherness we could all get. If one of us was stressed out about our work, we could all relate, and I thought that was great. Nobody judged you for it either!”.

She also referred to the comfort of the department's environment. I also wanted to find out how her time in the Art Department shaped her future studies, perhaps her current career too.

At Uni, she did Fashion art direction, chosen simply through her desire to excel in something she enjoyed. Following her lockdown set graduation, she then decided that a teaching route was for her.

And so, I think Ashleigh's ‘Art journey’ signifies that the subject can genuinely offer you the chance to pursue something you enjoy.

It may feel taxing, and Ashleigh's journey did perhaps take an unusual (but positive) turn into teaching following lockdown, but I think it's safe to say that the creative experiences focused on by the department here can stick with a student far following their time at John Deane's.

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