Study Trip to Krakow

This year’s residential to Krakow in Poland was both emotional and inspiring. The Polish hybrid tradition of art and crafts and of art and design was evident in all our visits to galleries and museums throughout the city. The Ethnographic Museum was particularly informative showing how these regional folk traditions have manifested themselves in their contemporary image making particularly in the classic poster design school.

A large group of our students took the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau about 40 minutes from Krakow. The scheduled visit was very difficult and emotionally challenging for staff and students alike dealing as it does with the carnage and devastation inflicted by the Third Reich. 

Photography students were encouraged to make work whilst in Poland responding to the new environment and discussing how this can change approaches and inform new ideas and opinions. They also spent time with Polish photography tutors and students. Dr Jerzy Gawel a director at the Krakowskie Szkoly Artystczne organized an interesting day culminating in an invite to the final years students graduation show.

Design students spent a day at the The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, or Kraków Academy of Fine Arts where Rector, Professor Adam Wsiołkowski made them most welcome. A film was shown outlining the philosophy of the Academy and a tour of the facilities by Joanna Kaiseer-Plaskowska, Professor of Graphic Design was most enlightening. Discussions are now underway exploring the potential for student exchange through the Erasmus programme. The potential for staff mobilities is another possible option.

Further meetings with artists and designers resident in Krakow took place including visits to Studio Bomba a multidisciplinary Design company and Karol Gadzala a typographic illustrator.

Students from the Foundation Degree in Television Production worked alongside their Polish counterparts from the Jagiellonian University to realise six short documentary pieces. Filming abroad proved a particularly challenging experience - but with such expert collaborators it was made easier as we were given easy filming access to Oscar Schindler's factory, museums and art galleries throughout Krakow - as well as being schooled in the fundamentals of Polish cuisine!

Lord Whitney Visit

On 21st November, Lord Whitney gave a lecture to the BA (Hons) Design and Visual Arts students. Lord Whitney is a partnership made up of Amy Lord and Rebekah Whitney. In their own words, they are 'inspired by the nonsensical, humorous and the everyday'. The describe themselves as 3D illustrators who utilise photography, prop making and set design in their work. They often work to scale creating life size installations.

They presented their work from the perspective of two practitioners who have made the transition from students to professionals. All too often students are exposed to highly finished work without being made aware of the experimentation that preceded it and all the bits that go wrong. Lord Whitney were engaging, entertaining, honest and humble about their journey into what they can now call a 'job'. What was most impressive was their incredible resourcefulness, creativity and relentless pursuit of what they believe in; fantastic role models for our students.

Alamy Stock Photo agency visit the School of Arts, Design & Media

Emily Hoskins from Alamy Stock agency, Oxford visited the college recently to give a presentation to  the Foundation Degree Commercial Photography students about producing photographs for the stock industry and to introduce their new student 100% royalties campaign.

Emily began by explaining that stock photography is responsible for over half of the money made through commercial photography today. Images that are used in newspapers, magazines; ad campaigns etc were largely sourced from stock agencies. Customers sometimes choose to use images from stock agencies to save shooting original material themselves. It can be cost effective, saves time and the resources are limitless.

The students participated in discussing what were the differences and issues between rights managed and royalty free images. Emily explained why they were in a unique position to submit images that did not fit the stereotypical images that were in expected in stock libraries and clients were asking for new styles all the time.  

The foundation students were invited to submit images to the agency

                 

The Raw Material

‘The Raw Material’ is an event organized and publicized for the BA (Hons) Design & Visual Arts pathway in Graphic Design course by three third year students Sarah, Laura and Tomm. The aim of the event is to help introduce second and third year students to the reality of graduating from the course in the summer and the challenges of finding a job within the Graphic Design industry.

Graduates of Stockport College have been asked to come and share their stories/journeys and provide advice to current students. It is an opportunity for students to ask questions, find out the highs, the lows ... and possibly the ugly, of the graphic design job hunt. Each graduate will give a brief presentation of what they have been up to. Then in small groups initiate an informal chat and discussion with the third year students. There will also be food and drink to add to the relaxed atmosphere for an evening of honesty; and who knows, possibly help make contacts within the industry as friends.

Stockport College thrives on getting students out into the industry and making connections, so what better of a way to do it than getting the students themselves to organize the event and ask graduates of the College to come and give something back.

Design students respond to the written word

Work from first year BA (Hons) Design & Visual Arts students is now on show on 4^th floor Reuel Harrison. The exhibition which responds to two twentieth century seminal texts, marks a breakthrough in how design students engage with writing and interpret the written word visually. It is a progressive step to promoting the influence of writing as an essential part of critical design practice.
Olga  Borisova's response (top left) demonstrated a highly creative response which conveyed both the complexity of the text and its flow and rhythm.