Graphic Arts Study Trip: London

With another jam-packed itinerary under our belts, the BA (Hons) Graphic Arts & Design course took to the streets of London recently for the 2013 trip to the capital.

 

Our first stop was The Times newspaper. The course has a good relationship with design editor, Jon Hill, who was good enough to speak at our graduation ceremony in 2012. We met with Fraser Lyness firstly. Fraser is a designer at The Times - a member of Jon's team. Fraser is alumni of London College of Communication and studied with programme leader, Lucy Brown. Fraser kindly gave students a tour of the building before a Q&A session about the industry - later joined by Jon. Fraser emphasised the importance of work experience to the students, as well as the ability to diversify within your role once you have one. The role of graphic design in the newspaper industry is ever evolving. On a daily basis, both Jon and Fraser are faced with the challenge of keeping design directly behind and in support of editorial. Jon also spoke of his willingness to have students on placement at The Times which is wonderful. As I write this, students are coming to me to discuss their portfolios before sending them to him. This emphasises the importance of such trips, and in making a human connection, face-to-face.

 

Later in the day we were given a whistle-stop tour of the LCC letterpress facilities by Alex Cooper, before learning all about the life and works of iconic filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and prolific designer Tom Eckersley over a few hours spent with the staff of the University’s Archives & Special Collections facility.

 

On Wednesday, student's visited the offices of popular culture website It's Nice That, and later visited either the Duchamp exhibition at the Barbican, Designs of the Year at the Design Museum, Schwitters at Tate Britain or Lichtensten at Tate Modern. Such visits enabled students to consider the

 

Thursday bought the joys of a letterpress workshop, run by graphic designer/educator/printer/philosopher/wonder, Sheena Calvert. Sheena works from a small studio in Hackney Wick. She happily spends hours at the press, setting metal type and getting inky fingers. Sheena talked students through a whistle-stop history of printing, before encouraging them all to set and print their own letterpress design. To be able to deal with physical letterforms is an invaluable, tangible way to educate students about typography. It was a wonderful day and completed our time together in London perfectly.

 

Lisa Dale, 2nd year graphic design student, wrote the following about her time in London:

"This year's trip to London was an aspirational journey in discovering what lies outside of Manchester. London is a big place but with so many people willing to help and give advice. It's now easier to see that my goals are not impossible to reach just by meeting fascinating people like Sheena and Jon who were full of wisdom and willing to share their journey. The Times gave me an outlook on design I had never considered until then, working for a newspaper. It's Nice That was inspirational hearing the story of the founders from students to then building a company. It gave me confidence that it really is possible to achieve yourdreams. My favourite part of the trip was meeting Sheena and her world of Letterpress. I have a lot of respect for the craft and the most important thing is I have came away feeling hungry and wanting more. Thank you to the tutors for making it possible."

The Wellspring Centre Project

Year 2 students from our BA (Hons) Graphic Arts and Design and Illustration courses have recently collaborated on a number of projects aimed at bringing together their wide range of skills and ability to problem solve in different ways. This form of collaboration mirrors the way professionals today operate in industry. 

Course Leader of BA (Hons) Illustration course, Joanna Spicer contacted local charity The Wellspring, a resource centre for homeless and disadvantaged people, with the view to doing a live project. Jonathan Billings of the charity was delighted to take part in the project and set the students the challenge of designing a set of leaflets to promote and provide information about the services available to the people they help.

The designs had to incorporate text and image in an imaginative yet simple way. Services to be promoted included advice about housing, health, drugs and alcohol, employment and benefits. Teams of Graphic Designers and Illustrators worked together to come up with ideas and concepts. They pitched their designs to The Wellspring team and one team were selected to have their work used by the charity. The team had to make changes to the designs to meet the needs of the client. artwork for five of these headings.

Jonathan said,  "I'm delighted with the results. I'm having some samples of the prints dropped off one day soon. Many thanks for all your support and work the whole process has been brilliant! I look forward to working with next years students! It's been brilliant."

Lyndsey Hall, from second year BA (Hons) Graphic Design who led the team said of the experience, "Working with The Wellspring was a great opportunity and a fantastic way to improve my working technique. The team are really dedicated to providing for and supporting people living with difficult circumstances. I am very grateful to have been able work on a live project to promote the great things The Wellspring offers to the community."

Hoax Calling: A Collaborative Project

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The cast, crew, fire, police and prison service professionals involved in the project



Today saw the launch of the Hoax Call project, a highly successful collaborative project which brought together our Foundation Degree TV Production Students, local magistrates, the emergency and the prison services.

Senior Magistrate, Len Howarth

The project was originally the brainchild of local Senior Magistrate Len Howarth who approached the School with an idea that he wished in some way to realise on-screen. The basic premise was to develop learning materials which could be taken out into local schools to highlight the dangers of involvement in the current habit of making hoax telephone calls to the emergency services. Given Len's senior position on the local bench, he was uniquely placed to call in co-operation from a number of local high-profile agencies: including the Police, the Fire Service, the Prison Service and the local courts. This has raised the level of the project substantially and enabled many of the traditionally problematic areas associated with drama production to become much more easily realisable.

The piece follows a central character, Jake, played by Ash Henshal, as he engages in his favourite pastime, making hoax telephone calls. The film follows the identification and gathering of evidence, his arrest and eventual sentencing by magistrates to a custodial sentence. Key ‘professional’ roles were played by established professionals and real-life Magistrates, Police Officers and Fire Operatives played themselves.

Laura Saidler Fire & Rescue Community Co-coordinator, Kelly Jones GMP Community PC and lead actor Ash Henshall

The project brought a number of emergency services together as well as some of our A’ Level Law students and performing arts students.

The launch event was attended by:

The Chief superintendent Chris Sykes
George Almond High Sheriff of Greater Manchester. 
Peter O'Reilly  Assistant Chief Fire Officer
Bill Myers  Stockport Borough Commander (Fire Service)
Jax Effiong Community Safety Manager (Fire Service)
John Wren Geoamey
Hanna Lane Acting Governor Manchester Prison
Paul Leahy Head of Residence Manchester Prison
Paul Brieley Magistrate Deputy Chairman (Stockport)
Nick Buckley ASB Charity
Maureen Mather Witness Services
Dave Dunstford Actor
Dave Fairhurst Actor
Kelly Jones GMP Community PC
Lou Brennan GMP
Mathew Beaden GMP
Ash Clarke GMP
Laura Sadler GMFS Community Officer

Format Photography Festival March 2013.

BA (Hons) Contemporary Photography and Foundation Degree Commercial Photography students attended the Format Festival in Derby last Thursday. 

The festival occurs across a wide variety sites and institutions, from gallery and museums, to factory spaces and disused shops. The work on show covers an equally diverse range, and the experience of seeing so much work over the day means that there is always something for all. 

Petra Stridfeldt Images

We had the added value of Petra Stridfeldt, one of our alumni (2011) being part of the festival, which provided an excellent opportunity to see that with sustained effort it is possible for our students to position themselves and their work on such a prominent platform.

Other Highlights would include Eric Kessels show ‘Album beauty’ which celebrates the photo album, the work re-appropriates the images from a wide range of photo albums from all over the world. What was evident in walking around the work, looking at it and listening to the comments of other viewers, was the nostalgic familiarity to those who knew about, and had had experience of this form of photographic culture. In contrast to the alienation of those who only knew the photo as a transient file, forever stored but never physically experienced.

Brian Griffin had worked on a commission especially for the festival, photographing people from Derby based industrial communities, and drawing on the composition gesture and lighting techniques used by the painter Joseph Wright. A lovely show, it was great for the students to see the quality of the work, the experimentation, and the relationship to and influence of painting.

Also at the Museum were two other excellent shows, Archive of modern conflict ‘on notes from home’ – as with Kessels, re-appropriates found imagery and photography, again, well presented and curated, the narratives emerging from the real and imagined. Finally at the museum was another excellent show by Andreas Meischner ‘TUV..towards the acid test’, the absurdity of human behaviour surrounding the testing of household objects, the show made for interesting and amusing viewing, showing how the photographic moment can create a number of possibilities outside of the time based, or durative experience.

 

Finally the show at the Chocolate factory site was the most exciting, housed in a factory space, and the work curated around the building, it appeared the workers had left just before the exhibition started. This echoes curatorial methods seen at festival such as Arles, photography festival in France , which Format seems to grow closer to with each festival. The work is current and the methodologies contemporary. Thomas Sauvin shows ‘the Bejing Silvermine’, images, negatives rescued from China, a real surprise due to the preconceptions of life under communist rule and media representation of the period – a definite highlight. A large amount of work here, and due to us running out of time, did not pay the attention I/we would have liked to, so briefly would point to Chris Coekin’s – The Altogether which looked very interesting, as did Rob Ball and the obsolete studio – interesting curation of contemporary tin types, the Caravan galley – Is Britain Great? And for Coal Story - Darek Fortek. 

An excellent day, that left all of us quite shattered, but happy, full of experiences and the memory of some really good photography.

Scenes from New York City

Scenes from
New York City

Photographs taken by Degree students from the
School of Arts, Design & Media


Photographs currently exhibited in the College's main reception are a response to a residential visit to New York City by 100 Art, Design & Media Degree students last November.

The residential provides students with a unique opportunity to visit the Big Apple, meet American students, visit artists and designers and see international exhibitions. The trip was another great success with College staff and students making valuable contacts. We will visit again in three years’ time.

We hope you enjoy the exhibition. We value your feedback so please contact paul.proctor@stockport.ac.uk

Emily Mann New York Avenue

Mathew Coffey, View of Empire State from Rockefeller Building

Nikita Gill Police Patrol, Queens

Mathew Coffey New York subway

Nikita Gill New York Street

Solomon Hughes Car, 5th Avenue

Paul Proctor 9/11 Memorial

Solomon Hughes New York Skyline

Tom Twibell, Uncle Sam's Missing Finger

Tom Norris Cards

Tom Twibell, Rockefeller Building on Election Night

Gareth Hollis, No Standing Post

Meet, Make, Do

Students from the BA (Hons) Graphic Arts & Design course were yesterday involved in creating a pop-up shop in Stockport Town Centre as part of the teenage market initiative. Meet, Make, Do  focuses on promoting entrepreneurial partnerships. The graphic design students have one-to-one meetings with business owners in Stockport to discuss their marketing and design needs and then the students spent the day responding to this. In the afternoon students pitch their ideas to their client. The client paid for the idea which best suits their needs.

Rosemary and John Barret who run Glass Umbrella, an organisation which promotes activities in the market place said that the students and the clients enjoyed the day and both got an enormous amount from it. The pop-up shop continues on Friday where more businesses stand to benefit from a focused design solution for their businesses.

Student designer, Lyndsey Hall, said, “Our day working at the Glass Umbrella has really benefited me as I now have more knowledge about working for real clients. The project made me realise that in the industry there will be very strict deadlines and by working in a team you are able to meet these deadlines by co-operating and working as hard as possible. I really enjoyed the project as I had chance to collaborate with my peers who I hadn't yet worked with. It was a great chance to see the different styles and techniques of working combine into one. From the project I have continued to work along side my client to produce flyers, a new logo and packaging design. There is also a mention about designing a catalogue for his second business in the near future!”

 

Local business owner, Mike, of Jewel on the Hill said, “For an old dinosaur, very much set in his ways, like me, it was good and probably necessary too to get a younger generation’s view on how to help and improve my business with promotional flyers, ideas, Facebook presence etc, etc. I have been greatly impressed with Lyndsey and Jess’ team efforts and the flyer design they have come up with for the shop. I have had quite positive responses to my enquiries and they have improved on ideas that I have suggested. I hope to continue to work with them on further projects too. I hope their input and involvement becomes very much part of Stockport’s future.”

 

Programme Leader of the course, Lucy Brown, said "We're really excited about the success of this project and hope to run it again in coming years. Not only has it been of benefit to local businesscommunity tremendously, it has also been invaluable experience for our students both on the grounds of creative development and also entrepreneurial skill.” The School of Arts, Design & Media, Stockport College University Centre pride themselves on building strong links with the local community through responding to real design problems.

Alumni Evening

Graduates from the BA (Hons) Graphic Arts and Design course are holding an alumni event this evening.

Full Circle represents yet another opportunity for our current students to learn from the expereinces of our graduate who are now designers in their own rights.

'Nature & Me' Project Celebration at Manchester Museum

The 'Nature and Me' project, a collaboration between the School of Arts, Design & Media and Manchester Museum Culminated last night with a celebration of the 42 films that  our Foundation Degree TV Production students provided over a five month period.
The evening was also to celebrate the work that our graphic design students produced in response to the project and, of course, all the participants and collaborators who featured in the films.

Head of Collections and Curator of Zoology, Henry McGhie thanked all those who has been involved in the project and talked about how important the collaboration was.

The films can be viewed on Manchester Museum's YouTube channel here.

STOCKPORT College welcomes survivor from the Holocaust Educational Trust to mark Holocaust Memorial Day

A thought-provoking Holocaust Education Day programme, organised by the School of Arts, Design & Media was hailed a success this week.
On Tuesday 19^th February, Degree students from College heard a testimony from Guest Speaker Helen Stein as part of a visit organised by the College.
The event was attended by Higher Education students from across all arts, design and media degree courses who have also be invited to take part in a poster competition on the theme of "Keeping the Memory Alive - Journeys through the Holocaust".
Ultimately the aim of the day was to motivate students and engage them to ensure that the horrendous crimes of racism and victimisation committed during the Holocaust are never forgotten.
Gary Spicer who organised the day’s programme said: “It is a privilege for us to welcome Helen to the College and her testimony will remain a powerful reminder of the horrors so many experienced.... we hope that Helen’s testimony will encourage our students to learn from the lessons of the Holocaust and make a positive difference in their own lives.” 

Gary Spicer, Helen Stein and Paul Proctor

The day’s events were recorded by Television Production degree students and also included presentations from Gary Spicer on the context and Background.

Critical Studies lecturer, Jane Chavez-Dawson gave a moving talk on ‘Discovering Belson’ where she spoke of her life as a young person discovering and understanding the horrors of the holocaust when she lived in Hannover.

Then Paul Proctor Assistant Dean; of the School of Arts Design & Media HE gave a lecture on Photography and Memory  and how the photograph is so inextricably linked to memory.

Mr Proctor closed the day’s memorial programme by commenting on how engaged the audience were with Helen testimony.

He said: “It’s really important for the students to learn about the Holocaust and be made aware of the conditions and attitudes which lead up to such a catastrophe. I hope what this day does is urge students to take an active role in speaking out against social injustices.”