FdA Professional Practice Art & Design

Exhibition Catalogue2013

Melissa Caplan

BicycleInstallation & sculpture

I create three-dimensional artwork by using everyday objects and materials. While I use a variety of techniques in each project, my methodology is consistent. It is based on the metamorphosis of the functional, mechanic or aesthetic characteristics of an object or material. By doing that, my pieces create an unexpected juxtaposition between movement and immobility, hard and soft, comfort and discomfort.

In my piece Bicycle, I have radically transformed the functionality of the object and given it a new meaning. A bike usually has the capacity to go far and fast, especially a racing bike, which I have used in the work. A bike is supposed to be practical and easy to ride. However, it is different with this one, This bike is probably not going anywhere. The two sets of pedals are connected to each other and can not make the bike move. If someone tried to use one set of pedals in one direction, the only consequence would be that the other pedals would move in the opposite direction. Even just pushing the bike by hand is hard because thehandlebars on both sides make it almost impossible to control.

The artwork plays around the concepts of divergence, opposition and contrast. Perhaps two entities are going in opposite directions, or maybe two individualities are permanently conjoined to each other.

The title, as a recurrent element in my practice, is simply the name of the object that I have transformed, a bicycle. I want to engage the viewer conceptually without the boundaries of a defined statement. Instead of suggesting a specific meaning, I want the viewer to observe my work and elaborate their own interpretation.

Alessandro Carboni

Traffic cones = Home late Cautionary tales Near misses Bumper to bumper Sudden halt Weaving invitations Torn-up tarmac Tarmac gnomes Restricted desires Brittle roads Road raging Deviled plastic Plastic pollution Drunken hats Singing day-glow Day-glow virgins Gifted staring Daydreams plucked Glowing urges Modified molds Conical buds Budding verges

Traffic cones = ROAD FLOWERRoad flowers = Road fields

Road Flower53cm x 21cmPlastic Installation Art

http//mcaplan.wix.com/melissacapln www.alessandrocarboni.it

Lucia Fletcher Jane Musgrove

Time150cm x 200cm cm Acrylic & Pencil

For the past year I have concentrated on drawing and mark making, taking inspiration from the theme of time from which to make a series of works that seek to visually represent a moment in time or an amount of time that has been lived. It documents life, and in the making to reflect on time within time and the many layers of meaning.

My process is conceptual in that the works are planned carefully and executed with a considerable amount of rigour however the drawings are not predictable. From a self-imposed structure, it has been possible to create a feeling of freedom in the work and the outcomes are very much organic, surprising and intriguing. It is important to me that the viewer is firstly seeing a completed work that is aesthetically pleasing, even arresting for a moment. In the making, I have felt able to literally touch my own time, almost as if the work were an object with form. To communicate meaning is important; to connect with and draw response from others is touch, sensory, immersive, loosing and finding each now disappearing poetic.

http://luciafletcher.wix.com/luciafgraphics

Self initiated- Disturbance of space21.0cm x 29.7cm framed photographs, 59.4cm x 42.0cm large print & film piece

This project was reflecting on a personal theme, my relationship, history and love for dance. There has always been an interest in exploring art & design with performance. I wanted to choose dance as a subject for my self initiated project because I believe you can create anything through expressing what you want to say through your body and dance has always been my way of presenting an artistic gesture through either photography, film, typography and design.

There are a series of photographs and I had based it on an experiment that I had done 4 years ago. By re creating these photographs, I thought about emphasising on the fluidity of the body and playing on hidden repressions in a strict, public space. I chose a pirouette pose and an arabesque jump to show the movement of my body whilst in the air. I purposefully chose to wear a flowing dress to emphasise on the motion. I wanted to show the jarring contrast between the two. I wanted to shock, change and disturb a repressed public space and this is exactly the response I got when I chose the supermarket.

I was trying to make the supermarket become my grand performance stage. I was interacting with the place such as dancing with the supermarket foods and using the trolley and baskets within my routine.

Finally for the stop motion film, I had chosen Fantasia the children’s musical because Fantasia was my favourite film growing up. It is what inspired me to start ballet when I was 5 years old. This music connecting to the motion of me dancing in the aisles, is representing me still wanting to prance around like when I was little, and Fantasia is also about an imaginative child like theme with disney and cartoons.

Rita Smith

Beauty is EverywherePlaster

Through my artwork I have an ongoing quest to question and explore this mysterious journey of life. The fundamental inspiration for my art practise: Romance, love, poetry, music, nature, various cultures, death, decay, surrealism, myths and legends

In my art practice I incorporate and experiment with various materials e.g.: plaster, fabric, plastic, paint and ‘found objects’ I also employ a wide range of techniques and skills e.g. screen printing, life drawing, embroidery, video and graphics through to metal craft to produce the desired outcome .

Continually I explore and document ‘London life’ with photography to capture the colour, eccentricity and change. This method of working feeds through to my art practise and injects an edgy diverse and visual vibrancy to my work

Celine Samson

Red Smoke II84cm x78 cm digital print

In my practice, I am interested in dealing with fragments of autobiographical narratives that convey qualities of universal human emotion and existence. I like to reveal beauty in the mundane and to investigate the mysterious.

I work with a variety of media, comprising painting, collage, photography and video. I also create 3D works (mainly based on upcycled materials) and I have made artist books and sounscapes. I view poetry as an essential creative principle. My background as a linguist and library worker could explain why my production sometimes has a sequential feel in which the written and the spoken word may feature. My work is influenced by founding myths and by metaphysical and existential concerns; it is often sombre in nature but can be suffused with a strain of humour and joy. The themes I explore are those of the peripheral states (such as the in-between, the twilight, the dreaming and the absurd), silhouettes, the positive and negative, emotions and the vicissitudes of love.”

www.celinesamson.co.uk http://www.weebly.com/weebly/main.php

Orla Flood

Black Ink

I originally started as an illustration student but found myself drawn to fine art as it gave me more freedom to explore conceptual ideas in a range of mediums. I’m not always sure of what I’m trying to achieve at the outset, but I think I’m generally trying to make sense of things that are often outside of our control whether it’s the everyday distractions of contemporary culture or the inevitable passing of time.I think my work still retains an illustrative quality. I am conscious that I try to create work that is beautifully composed with a strong narrative aesthetic and I am definitely still drawn to the evocative silky quality of black ink.

Clifford Gabb

Doge with Floating Head30cm x 42cm Pastel on paper

Drawing and painting are the techniques that come most naturally to me. I feel more in control and more able to express myself through these media. My work is composed of elements both of the abstract and the personal. On the abstract level this involves the investigation of composition and colour and how they interact. On the personal level it is the use of these elements as tools in the process of investigating the relationship of people to each other and to their surroundings – the ‘everyday’.

One of the main subjects that interest me is the relationship between balance and imbalance, both in terms of composition and colour, and in relationships between people and place. As in life, things don’t always turn out as you had hoped or planned. Chance or mistakes can be interesting and if they happen then make the best of them. Something can always be manufactured out of a mess. In this respect, the imbalance of the mess can always be set against a visual counterweight.

My work refers back to previous periods and draws on means of expression used by artists in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th Century, all as a means of reflecting on the current social situation that we see about us.

Clifford.gabb@btinternet.com

Bekki Perriman

Picking Holes25cm x 17.5cm Destroyed copy of book DSM-IV

The DSM-IV is the current diagnostic manual psychiatrists use to make a mental health diagnosis. The new DSM-5 is due to come out at the end of May and is causing huge controversy about how we label people and what these diagnoses actually mean. This work is a small installation piece. I have destroyed the manual by drilling holes right through the book – the holes are a metaphorical statement about the holes in diagnosis. Being given a psychiatric diagnosis can have such a profound impact on a persons life. It changes how you think about yourself and how other people think about you – for some people it is a positive experience and helps them gain understanding, for others the experience is of being judged and many of these diagnoses carry a huge amount of stigma.

Maggie Pettigrew

A Return to Order3 x 2.5 x 3 metres Cotton, plaster, oil

Classical imagery is referenced when times are uncertain and people feel threatened. This ‘return to order’ is referenced in dystopian films and art movements that followed major conflicts such as the World Wars. At such times, artists and filmmakers have recreated classical Greco-Roman statuary to engender a sense of reassurance and stability by connecting with the past.

In the installation, hangings of cotton fabrics soaked in plaster portray our desire for reassurance through classical references as we seek to regain control and equilibrium following bereavement or abandonment. Pleats reflect the soft, fluid folds of gowns and cloaks that were then sculpted in hard materials.

Monochrome images of life casts of heads are projected into the space. Sections of the images ‘catch’ on different hangings so that the heads are fragmented. Combining the reproduced images and actual objects blurs the distinction between what is real and what is not. The lack of colour gives a sense of tranquillity. As Joseph Conrad comments in Heart of Darkness, white objects ‘always carry with them an uncanny sense of coldness, inertia and death’ but they can also represent an enduring search for peace and restfulness.

maggiepettigrew.wordpress.comzbekkiz@hotmail.com

Felicity Field

Plastic & Net Installation Art

“Nature is my playground but the cityscape my inspiration”.My installations are created out of mundane objects, often retrieved from the streets

It is during the act of dissembling these objects that their unique qualities begin to emerge and guide me in the process of their re-construction.Living in a consumer-orientated society dominated by accumulation and waste, re-establishing simple discarded objects gives me a great sense of satisfaction.My Photography is my way of coming to terms with the environment I have chosen to live in, being captivated and absorbed by the colours, designs and abstract forms of light that form part of this cityscape.‘Scaffolding nets playing tricks with the eyes, as the sunlight penetrates their translucent surfaces revealing new dimensions and shadow theatres of light - coloured surfaces contrasting and clashing with each other, railings and grids dividing structures into abstract forms and designs’ It is all there to be seen.As I cycle through the city, I am aware that these visions captured en route are my great treasures and means of escape from the harsh, often impersonal pace of urban living.

felicity.field@btopenworld.com