Congratulations to the Class of 2013!



The Class of 2013 Graduation ceremony at Liverpool cathedral

 Today saw the graduation of our final year students at the graduation ceremony held at Liverpool Cathedral.

We wish all the graduates the very best for the future and we will take great interest in their careers as the develop over the coming years.

Bookbinding Magnum Style

 

'Postcards From America' boxed series

We are delighted to announce that a student from the BA (Hons) Contemporary Photography course has been invited to join the Magnum Book Making Masterclass, an event organised by the global photography agency Magnum. Drawing on the initiative she created during a module on her course, Hayley Andrew secured a place at the event creating a book making workshop for photographers. This workshop is a prestigious event, and Hayley was employed to bring her knowledge of editing, design, book production and distribution to the workshop which ran over two day and then culminated in a symposium.

Fiona from Magnum Discussing the Exhibition

Hayley was part of a team which included the following professionals: Stuart Smith, Gordon MacDonald (GOST publishing), Harry Hardie of Here Press, Philipp Ebling of Fishbar and Magnum photographers David AlanHarvey and Susan Meiselas. The event was coordinated by Fiona Rodgers atMagnum.

Richard Mulhearn, course leader for BA (Hons) Contemporary Photography said, 'This is one of the successes of the course; that as result of encouraging professional collaboration whist on the programme, students learn what is required, they make mistakes, but these are what facilitate resilience and progression.'

Graphic Arts & Design Graduate to join Arighi Bianchi

We work hard at Stockport College to ensure that our graduates are employable and ready for the world of work. This week, Katherine Smith, a graduate of the BA (Hons) Graphic Arts & Design course has landed her first job! Katherine Will begin work at Arighi Bianchi in Macclesfield shortly after the Travelling Degree Show at MadLab in Manchester later this week.

Arighi Bianchi, one of the North West's leading furniture specialists, contacted programme leader, Lucy Brown, in search for graduate talent. Of several graduates who applied for the post, Katherine was successful. She will join Arighi Bianchi's creative team as a junior designer full-time, working on the e-commerce arm of the business.

Katherine said, "I'm thrilled to have a job so soon after completing the course. I feel confident that I have the skills and professional ability to succeed in the world of work and have really enjoyed my time at Stockport College."

Here’s One I Made Earlier

A project to find the next “Here’s One I Made Earlier” for the BBC’s Blue Peter has lead to Level 5, BA (Hons) Illustration student, Cathy McConnell to be asked to run workshops at the BBC’s The One Show Roadshow over the Summer.

Cathy McConnell

Cathy showed Assistant Producer, Michelle Ackerley a series of plasticine objects in bottles. Michelle thought that Cathy’s ideas for Blue Peter were wonderful and would suit an upcoming opportunity within the art zone to teach passing visitors how to create ships in bottles.

The event takes place on the 6th & 7th August in Weston Super Mare beach.

UNLEASHED: The Best in the North

The School of Arts, Design & Media is pleased to announce that our BA (Hons) Illustration students have again been shortlisted for the annual competition UNLEASHED/ The Best in the North, a competition for final-year illustration students from Northern art schools.



Megan Thomas

The best artwork from the degree shows is featured in an exhibition and sale, at Mr Thomas’s Chop House in Manchester. The event culminates in a charity auction on the 18th July of the shortlisted and winning works. The auction money is split equally between the student and The Northwest Air Ambulance charity.

 

Bryony Hopkins



Two of our students Megan Thomas and Bryony Hopkins have made it in to the Top 25 Shortlist. Judges included Lise Brian, Creative Director at The Chase, and Illustrators Ian Whadcock and Rebekah Whitney.

RIPE Graduate Arts, Design & Media Shows 2013

The Arts, Design & Media Graduate shows were again a huge success. The branding for this year's show was RIPE, which draws on the analogy of how the graduates have grown and their ideas and projects have come to fruition. Comments about the show this year include observations about how diverse the show is and it was a collective show of inviduals with their own ideas and approaches to their disciplines.

The opening night once again provided an opportunity to awards best incategory and best in Show. The judge this wasthe designer and Illustrator, Barney Ibbotson. The results were as follows.

Best of Category:
Illustration Megan Thomas
Graphic Arts Katherine Smith
Photography Edwina Cagol
Moving Image Luke Haslam 
Design & Advertising Howard Marmion
Interior Design Yasmeen Chaudhary

The best in show was awarded to illustrator, Megan Thomas. Congratulations to Megan for a stunning show.

A selection of graduate work from the show will now be travelling to Mad Lab in Manchester City Centre and will be open to the public on 27th & 28th June 2013

Graduate selected for BJP Portfolio Review

Susie Tsang, a final year student on the BA (Hons) Photography programme has been selected for a graduate project review in the British Journal of Photography (pp21/22). Susie shows some of her latest work in a double page spread in the journal which is published both nationally and internationally.

In her project, What’s Left is Unsaid’ Susie explores her relationship with her mother and her Anglo-Chinese identity through a look at her family photograph album, her final book brings together both British and Chinese ways of writing alongside images which have been partially destroyed though a number of both natural and artificial processes. Susie was inspired by the photographic work of Dinu Li, another graduate of the BA (Hons) Photography course at Stockport.

 

Susie’s work will be on Show alongside all the other graduate photographic work in an exhibition of work titled, 'The Sum of All Parts' at the Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester from the evening of Wednesday 12^th June through to Sunday 16^th June 2013.

Growing Together Project selected artwork

On the 25th April this year we blogged about the Growing Together Project, a collaborative initiative between the School of Arts, Design & Media, the Recover and Inclusion Team (R.I.T) and Stockport Progress and Recovery Centre (SPARC) with the aim of improving mental health in the area, through an engagement with nature. The project is based at White Hill Allotment in Reddish, Stockport.

We are pleased to announce that Artwork by Raymond Chan, BA (Hons) Graphic Arts & Design has been selected. His poster draws together the collaborative spirit of the project with the metaphor of growth and development.

Artwork by Raymond Chan, BA (Hons) Graphic Arts & Design.

D&AD and YCN Graphic Design Award Winners 2013

Two students who will graduate from the BA (Hons) Graphic Arts & Design course this year have received awards for outstanding graphic design work. 

Dan Richardson has been awarded Commended for his UK Greetings work entitled Little Poppets, at the annual YCN (Young Creative Network) student awards. 

In addition, Dan Lane has been awarded Best of Year for his It's Nice That promotional work, at the annual D&AD (Design & Art Direction) student awards. 

Little Poppets by Dan Richardson

Not only is this a great achievement for these two students, it is a great achievement for the course. Programme Leader, Lucy Brown, said, "We are extremely proud of the two Dans! These awards are a springboard into their creative futures and will stand them in good stead. Student award briefs are a part of the Level 5 and 6 curriculum each year, and we hope to build on the successes of 2013 over the coming years."

It's Nice That Promotion by Dan Lane

Dan Richardson's full portfolio can be viewed online at: http://www.danielr.co.uk

Dan Lane's full portfolio can be views online at: http://www.dnylne.com

For more information on YCN visit: http://www.ycn.org

For more information on D&AD visit: http://www.dandad.org

CLEAR, an interim exhibition of photographic work.

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Last night marked a successful end to the second year photography student’s busy academic year. The ‘CLEAR’ exhibition of photographic work, which is totally organised and funded by the students themselves, opened in Piccadilly Place in Manchester City Centre.

This interim photography show features the work of 15 second year students on the BA (Hons) Photography course and displays a wide range of personal projects and conceptual approaches demonstrating an eclectic mix of individual photographic work. Paul Proctor, Assistant Dean for the School of Arts, Design & Media said,

‘it is a credit to the staff and students on the course that they have managed to create such an astonishing  2^nd year exhibition of high quality work. Many photography courses at this level would expect this work to represent their degree show. They have achieved beyond all expectation and I’m already looking forward to seeing their final degree show exhibition next year.’

The show at Piccadilly Place, Whitworth Street, Manchester M1 3BN will be open to the public until 25^th May 2013.

After Hours: Lost & Found Manchester Museum

Over the past three years, the School of Arts, Design and Media at Stockport College has forged a reciprocal relationship with Manchester Museum, taking creative inspiration from its rich resources and producing visual material for display in the museum and beyond.

The work included in this After Hours event, by students, an alumnus and a member of staff from the BA Honours Contemporary Photography course, was originally a response to the theme of biodiversity, but has since evolved along a variety of related themes. Each artist has provided a brief account of his or her project overleaf.
After Hours: Lost & Found 16th May 2013
Artists’ Projects

Alex Keep

The mechanics of nature so often goes unnoticed. Photo Synthesis explores the secret life of a plant, its cyclical forms evoking the proliferation of life on many levels, as well as its inevitable decay. The work acts as a living image, a visual metaphor for the continual redistribution and degradation of bio-matter.

Breed is a different kind of living image, based on bacteria. Bacteria are truly omnipresent organisms, inhabiting every corner  of human existence, thriving under all kinds of conditions. This piece is an active sampling exercise, exploring growth, change and metamorphosis.

Alex Lawler
In a city, nature is often forgotten and neglected, pushed into sanctioned spaces such as parks and gardens. We forget about the persistence of nature, overlooking or destroying the plants that encroach upon our urban environment. This project celebrates these plants, recording them temporarily using the pre-photographic process of anthotypes and using the conventions of the museum to catalogue and display them.


Eleanor Mulhearn
Eleanor has an ongoing interest in drawing and memory. For this piece she has collected people’s memories of plants, birds and insects, producing interpretative drawings of these life forms in a way that reflects their absence. The project forms part of a wider body of work called The Cabinet of Conversations.


Michele Selway
A bridge can be more than just a link between two physical points. Castlefield viaduct has a rich history, representing both Manchester’s industrial heritage and, in its state of dilapidation, the uncertainty about the city’s post-industrial future. The structure has many echoes, posing many questions and stimulating debate. It can be represented from numerous perspectives - artistic, botanical, architectural and historical amongst them. It leads to unknown places, occupying  a liminal space between what it was and what it might become.


Jana Smoca

Jana’s project explores the biodiversity of one particular tree  and the area around it. It reflects the artist’s connection with forest environments, based on her personal experiences and cultural  heritage. Alternative photographic processes have been used to  create a poetic record of her findings and observations.


Jen Dimelow
Jen’s project, entitled Hidden, explores the metaphoric properties  of natural forms. Focusing on moth cocoons, she uses innovative photographic techniques to take the viewer inside these capsules, creating images that evoke the transformational processes that they conceal and protect. She also considers this in relation to human  psychology – how facets of individual personality can develop  over time.


Adam Swindells
Adam’s work draws on Zen Buddhist ideas of interdependency and equivalence. Through photographing cosmic scenes and microscopic natural forms, he encourages us to reflect on the relationship between the two, and on the common origins of all matter.

PUSH blog interviews graduate

PUSH, is a collective formed of student photographers from all over the south west. Their aim is to collaborate on inspiration and to showcase new, exciting work in many formats.

Richard Higginbottom, a graduate of the BA (Hons) Photography programme at Stockport has recently been interviewed for the PUSH blog. Richard talks about his influences, his photographic work and offers advice to students on how to survive after college. To see the full interview click here