Year 13 visit 'The Turner Prize' and Tate Britain

Just before the October break the Year 13 Visual Arts and Design Strand students took a trip up to Tate Britain to visit the Turner Prize. Although this years nominees have been seen by many as not as controversial as in previous years, the work still prompted a huge response from the students including the inevitable 'What is Art?' debate. Students have used this important and thought provoking exhibition to inspire further development in both their current projects based in painting and photography. The contemporary and thematic content of the work served drive our students into questioning in moredepth the reasons behind why they are creating art and also served to help push the boundaries on how this work can be presented in a non-traditional and conceptual fashion.
Students also seemed to be completely divided on which artists work they preffered and although Lucy Skaer seemed to be quite popular, all four nominees recieved support by different students. You can make your own decisions by visiting the website here or by making the trip up to Tate Britain yourself.

Marketing Markets: YR10 Strand present work at assesmbly

YR10 Strand Visual Arts & Design presented their project "Marketing Markets" at the Language Assembly in term one. For this project students went on a trip to East London and selected a market stall each from Whitechapel market. They have spend the folowing weeks designing a brand and logo and a series of paper bag designs for their market stalls. Above students hand out paper bags at assembly.

Year 10 trip to East London

The Year 10 Visual Arts and Design students recently visited East London to gather visual research for two projects they were beginning. The first project is a painting project exploring artists like Jock McFayden, investigating composition and mixed media to produce individual outcomes. The second is a bag design projects where students have looked at processes such as print and embroidery to produce bags for fictional market stall based on the ones they saw on the trip. The students had a great time and got to see a diverse, creative and multicultural part of the city.

How Do You ?

Year 12 Visual Arts and Design students worked extremely hard this week to produce a huge number of interactive and hand crafted objects and events based on the theme of 'How Do You Do?'. The students wanted to create an opportunity for students from other strands to introduce themselves to each other and make friends. Guests were greeted with the Info Desk and given a programme of the activities taking place. Guests could have their tarot cards read by Aoife, receive a gift and a hug from Jamsine and go on a speed date with Ruby and Matt. All activities were designed to encourage students to interact and learn about each other. The event was a huge success and we would like to thank everyone for coming.

Felting Making Workshops

Last week students from Visual Arts and Design department were visited by Isabel Norwood who came to give a felt making workshop. Izzy showed us examples of her work and we made samples of some of the technques. Over the week, students began to design and produce a bag. There was a variety of different purposes and techniques used and the students were very impressed with what they learnt and in turn produced. Check out the pictures here.

Here are some of the students comments:

"I really enjoyed making the bag - something i'd consider doing as a career."

"Genuinely i think it was a very useful and fun workshop."

"I enjoyed being able to create our own designs quite freely."

" I had a great time learning something new so thank you Izzy!"

Ex-student Michelle Begley's degree show- Goldsmith's College of Art

Calling alumni! With the degree show season upon us, Michelle Begley has got in touch for us to post information about her forthcoming BA Fine Art show at Goldsmith's University 18- 22nd June:


‘Anecdotes of illusion in transitional space.’ 2009

In a space where foundations are made porous, she provokes her identity to its limitation and negotiates the concept of time and ʻdwellingʼ. Projections of desirable places intervene her experiences and impose upon her body, separating the mind from the heart.

Sculpture 100cm x 50cm

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About the BA Fine Art show from the Goldsmith's website:

BA Art Show

A platform for the emerging artists, the Goldsmiths 2009 Undergraduate Degree Show will showcase a broad spectrum of work by students graduating from BA Hons Textiles, BA Hons Fine Art, and BA Hons Fine Art and History of Art. Dealing with the minutiae of life as well as more fundamental issues, exhibits will include a broad spectrum such as photography, sculpture, painting, digital media and performance.
When: Private View: 18 June 6-9pm, Public View: 19 June - 22 June (inclusive) Open 10am-5pm except Sun: 12-4pm
Where: Goldsmiths, University of London
Admission: FREE
Contact: For more information, call 020 7919 7671 or e-mail art@gold.ac.uk.
See further information on the Art website."

Visual Arts and Design: Final Shop show 14th May 2009

Images from Final Shop Show on our Flickr gallery

Hello! Our final show had over 350 people exploring our Shop, not only family and friends but, the less usual art audience of passers by out shopping in the Whitgift, or going to catch a tram or bus, or those on a lunch break from work. This real engagement with the community was fantastic for our students where the artist in a traditional gallery situation, is absent upon the audience's viewing.... To read more see our Shop blog