Department of

Fine ART

Fine Art Newsletter

Kent Fine Art Graduate wins PLATFORM 2014 Award

Congratulations to Sophie Dixon (Kent Fine Art graduate, 2014) who

recently won the prestigious PLATFORM 2014 Graduate Award. Sophie

(pictured below, going up to receive her award) was chosen out of five

shortlisted graduate artists, each nominated from one of five

participating South East visual arts organisations. As this year’s award

winner, Sophie received a £2,500 bursary from Platform and a year of

mentoring from an experienced art professional. The Platform Graduate

Award aims to support graduate professional development and nurture

emerging talent from universities and colleges in the South East region,

working as part of CVAN South East. Working with video, Sophie Dixon

explores the complex dialogues created between ourselves and our

external environment, dialogues which are constantly reshaped as we

traverse the fragile spaces of memory to find our own sense of belonging

in the present. www.sophie-dixon.com

Autumn/Winter 2014

Welcome!

Fine Art at the University of Kent

continues to go from strength to

strength.

With great results in the recent

Guardian League Tables 2015, new

facilities and equipment, a superb

line-up of internationally renowned

visiting artists, a successful interim

show and one of our Fine Art

graduates winning the prestigious

PLATFORM 2014 Prize and much,

much more; we are having a great

year!

We hope you enjoy reading this

newsletter, which tells you about

some of these developments and

gives you a flavour of our

department.

Steve Klee

Lecturer in Fine Art &

Fine Art Admissions Officer

mfaadmissions@kent.ac.uk

Fine Art

Ranking

Art & Design at the University of Kent has recently polled very

impressively in the Guardian University guide 2015 league table. We

are ranked in the top ten University Art departments in the UK, which

speaks volumes for the investment made by the University and the

dedication of the entire staff team to make this a high quality and

student-centered Fine Art course. The University of Kent also scored

highly and remains one of the top 20 HE institutions in the UK.

“Imitation #1” by Nadeen Abdalla, Final Year Fine Art student

SHOWROOM interim show 2014

Interim Show Winter 2014

In preparations the 2015 undergraduate Fine Art Degree Show our final year students this year have already

exhibited new work at their interim show having created a pop-up gallery within a large vacant retail space during

December. Fine Art student Georgina Wilcox commented that “this ‘work-in progress’ student collaboration was an

opportunity to test prospective ideas, challenge our practice and respond to the physicality of the space we were

inhabiting”. This practice run also gave the students further insight into the mechanisms of the public show including

venue selection, advertising, fundraising, curation and of course the Private View.

Supported by Lecturer in Fine Art and final-year lead Tim Meacham, the group-show titled SHOWROOM was a great

success and promises great things for the Final Degree Show in May 2015. The exhibition featured work in painting,

site responsive installation, sound, sculpture, photography and video.

For updates about FINE ART DEGREE SHOW 2015 see www.kent.ac.uk/smfa

All newsletter recipients and applicants for 2015 entry will receive an invitation to our 2015 Degree Show.

Fine Art

WELCOME TO NEW STAFF The Department of Fine Art at Kent has been delighted to

welcome two new members of staff to the team this year.

Dr Andrew Conio (top right) is a writer and artist. His

moving image and script writing explores subjectivity and

he writes on a range of topics from language to the

moving Image, from economics to painting and has

published in a range of academic journals. He currently

leads the Fine Art team and contributes to modules

including Practice and its Publics.

Adam Chodzko (right) is an artist whose multidisciplinary

practice explores the interactions and possibilities of

human behaviour, in the gap between how we are and

how we could be. Exhibiting work nationally and

internationally since 1991, working across media, from

video installation to subtle interventions, and with a

practice that partly is sited within the gallery space and

partly within the wider public realm, Chodzko’s work

explores our collective imagination by wondering how,

through the visual, we might best engage with the

existence of others. Adam runs the MA and contributes to

the lens-based pathway in the Fine Art degree

programme. www.adamchodzko.com

VISITORS The School of Music and Fine Art has welcomed a number

of acclaimed professional artists this term as part of our

Visiting Artists Talks programme. Artists give a detailed

presentation of their work, share their experiences and

may also give one-off tutorials. These talks provide a

fascinating insight into the practice and work of fellow

artists.

The artists participating in this programme this term have

included Kirsten Glass (‘Collage 1’, pictured right), Jananne

Al-Ani, Hayley Newman, Hannah Rickards and Fiona

Boundy.

Fine Art

NO PLACE LIKE HOME Our Fine Art students are now all housed within

the Engineering Workshop on the Historic

Dockyard. In addition to three large refurbished

studio spaces, the Engineering Workshop

includes a large digital printer & scanner, dark

room and a photographic studio, equipped with

lights and a green screen backdrop.

KENT CULTURAL BATON The School of Music and Fine Art has recently

secured the long-term loan of a rare 1950’s

converted Air stream caravan. This is a mobile

exhibition / performance / workshop space that

will extend student activity beyond the studio, in

order to engage with the wider Kent community.

Get in touch!

If you have any questions or would like further information,

please contact us:

School of Music & Fine Art

The Old Surgery

University of Kent, Chatham Historic Dockyard

Kent ME4 4TZ

tel: +44 (0)1634 888980

email: MFAAdmissions@kent.ac.uk

www.kent.ac.uk/fineart

Twitter: @UniKentMFA