IB Visual Arts 2015

Dear All, I have been away for awhile and will go away for awhile. But this blog will continue with my fabulous colleagues at St. Julian's. I has been an amazing time for the past 9 years in this incredible Art department. I leave you our new IB video. Just press the photo above to watch.

We are back with Life Drawing

Dear readers, once again I ask for your apology for the prolonged absence. We are back at work in the Art Department. Life Drawing has started again and I leave you a few early sketches of what will be a set of outstanding oil paintings.

Miguel Branco visits St. Julian's

Yesterday morning Miguel came to visit the Art department and brought with him a few of his works to show our lucky y12's. I have to say I am impressed with how all the students took this opportunity to learn about Miguel, to question him with pertinent questions and to reflect on their own practice. They have been experimenting with paints and I leave you a few transcriptions of Miguel Branco's works. Thank you Miguel!

Francisco Zhan

Francisco completed his IB at St. Julian's in 2012. He was a brilliant Art student and went to study a Foundation year in Art and Design at Falmouth. He is now studying at Goldsmiths in London.
Francisco wrote to the Art Department Blog updating us on his experience as an art student and sent us some examples of his work. Thank you Francisco, it is so great to hear from you!

"Hello my name's Francisco. I study BA Fine Art at Goldsmiths University in London. Personal statements don’t fit my work, so instead I give you this:

 ~

Fake tourism

Acquired taste

Very present very useless

home to the homeless, the single

motherland

Peas not peace

...s

 ~

In art school, I'm allocated an individual studio space which I can use anytime. I'm free to learn skills in any of the specialist workshops: wood, metal, casting, ceramics, photography, textiles, printmaking, sound and multimedia. I present my work several times a term to peers and tutors, who are practising artists. I have lectures on visual cultures and write essays in response.

Everybody in the course comes from different countries and arts teaching backgrounds; for instance I know a guy in first year who so far has been an actor, stage engineer and primary school teacher. For the first time he is now painting. Somebody else has been trained their entire life in classical painting and is now giving it a go at making an installation with sea salt and toy figurines to express an idea that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. As the course is open and entirely self-directed, it’s most enriching to literally learn from each other.

Often students collaborate to organise exhibitions and performance events outside of art school to show their work - the school is happy to lend some equipment to mount shows.

I graduate next year. In the future I hope to be a practising artist. Or a writer. Or a curator. Or an interior or fashion designer. Or a carpenter. Or an educator. Or a tour guide. Or a masseuse. Or a something else that doesn't yet have a name. Or all of the above.

At best, one would hope to graduate from an art course with the technical confidence to produce any object, image or performance they have in mind; a sensibility to be able to sustain a creative contemporary practice (whether or not an art practice); and a knowledge of marketing strategies. However, like in any course, you only get as much as you make of it. So neither art nor any other course is ever an easy way out. To study a degree is to take a subject seriously. And to love it."

Video: http://vimeo.com/zhanfrancisco/idontknowhowtoknit

Update on ceramics

Explosion in the Art Department

Yesterday morning we opened the kiln door and found this....

I cannot really describe how it felt to see this, but what we had put in there the day before were three sculptures, one of which was a ring by Mariana Botte in year 13:

Needless to say, Mariana was heartbroken, and so was the whole staff who watched her spend weeks working on the details on this piece. Today, early in the morning I found her and convinced her to work on a new piece, not necessarily the same, but hopefully as interesting. Mariana made a huge effort to overcome her disappointment and a new piece is indeed being created. I hope I can share an image of it intact after firing it at half term. 

Luckily there are some stunning photographs if this ring. These things happen but we are never really prepared. Another piece in the kiln was a sculpted guitar by one of our year 11 students, the second version of a previously exploded guitar... Today we carved a third version. 

Whatever happens...we do not give up!

glass and glaze

Below are two images of a recent sculpture by Paola Kassakowska. One was taken before it was fired and the other is a detail of the glazed surface of the face. In case some of our viewers are not familiar with the word "glaze", here is the basic description of what glaze is made of (from wikipedia)

Ceramic glaze raw materials generally include silica, which will be the main glass former. Various metal oxides, such as sodium, potassiumand calcium, act as a flux to lower the melting temperature. Alumina, often derived from clay, stiffens the molten glaze to prevent it from running off the piece. Colorants, such as iron oxide, copper carbonate or cobalt carbonate, and sometimes opacifiers such as tin oxide orzirconium oxide, are used to modify the visual appearance of the fired glaze.

 

It is still not obvious, how glaze works, unless one is familiar with glass. I leave you a beautiful film where you can see how glass behaves in the making. A contrast between the traditional glass making and the industrial machines that produce glass items en masse.

Glas Glas won master film maker Bert Haanstra a well-deserved Academy Award® for Best Short Documentary in 1959. The film contrasts the production of hand made crystal from the Royal Leerdam Glass Factory with automated bottle making machines in the Netherlands. An industrial film with a bebop heart, its lyrical use of light and sound still looks and sounds fabulous, nearly 60 years after it was made. Director Biography: Bert Haanstra (May 1916 – October 1997), was an internationally acclaimed Dutch film maker with a career spanning four decades. Though he made several forays into fictional cinema, it is his documentaries, which cast a sidelong and often idiosyncratic glance at the human animal, for which he is best known. Director: Bert Haanstra Producer: Government of the Netherlands Running Time: 10 minutes Website: www.berthaanstra.nl/english.html

New batch of cyanotypes

Our new year 12 group has started the year with great energy and enthusiasm. We changed our theme and the syllabus is new but the old cyanotyes are always pertinent and, well, just great!

Maria Kiseleva

Ana-Maria Mikhail

Orient Museum Visit

Last week we took out year 12 and 13 students to the Museu do Oriente in Alcântara. We spent the day looking at shadow puppets, funerary sculptures and miniature japanese inrôs and netsukes. Our students heard stories about the collections and the cultural traditions and myths behind the artwork and were allowed to make drawings. This was a great experience for all of them and here I present some images of the day.
We want to thank Constança Arouca, our guide and lecturer for such a fascinating day.



 

Claudia da Lança

Dear All, It is a very busy time for us and I have not been very good at keeping the posting active. I received an email from a former student recently and I want to share this with all of you:

"It was through the production of my art work for the IB art course that I discovered my interest in the historic past and in particular people's lives. The course gave me the flexibility to develop this interest and ultimately decided my university degree subject for me, Archaeology and Anthropology.

My degree combined a factual study of history as well as an in depth exploration of the way in which people, past and present produce cultural objects. I therefore spent a lot of my time in museums and art galleries studying the way in which art objects and artefacts both fall into the newly developed category in Anthropology, Material Culture, and are significant in defining human being's cultural identities. Material culture has been recently defined as a distinct area of study within Anthropology and I was fortunate enough to study at UCL where the Anthropology department is at the forefront of this newly defined discipline. While studying for my degree I realised how valuable my background in fine art was in providing me with an in depth understanding of the way in which society has evolved through material culture, and the way in which it continues to develop with a focus on aesthetics and visual representation. Having completed the degree I am pleasantly surprised to find that there are actually several career avenues open to me. I am currently looking at masters in curatorship of galleries and museums as well as gaining NGO experience in the hope that this will lead to a career that involves both the preservation of artistic and cultural heritage and the adaptation of heritage to meet the current socio-economic needs of present day society. "


We are so proud of you Claudia, thank you so much for keeping in touch and sharing your experience with us !

One of Claudia's mixed media pieces I found in an old folder in our server. 

Ageing - The accelerated self portrait of Noah Kalina

In November 5th 2008 I posted a video by Noah Kalina called EVERYDAY, where he photographs himself everyday for 6 years and then accelerates the photos to create a stop motion film of himself ageing.

 Today I found an updated version of the film EVERYDAY UPDATED.

 another 6 years...........

Time flies!

Punching clay

Plaster of Paris, a lump of fresh clay and a good "macro" lens:

These experiments were made by Mariana, one of our year 12 students.

Julie on the importance of learning art

Julie Myck

"Studying art in IB was definitely not an easy course to take, but one which I can confidently say is necessary. It resulted in a kind of relaxation from the rest of the stressed caused by school, work or any other factors. The focus and concentration lead to forgetting about anything else on your mind and drifting away into another dimension.

Almost like meditation, I learned the complete importance of taking time for oneself , to have the power to stand above a situation and have control of your decisions. Always take time to breath and look around you.

It seems difficult to describe how art contributed / contributes to my life in a short statement but the best I can say is everything which art is (spiritually, metaphorically, physically) is what you learn or get out of it.

This allows you to take a step further and analyse the world around you in a different light, perhaps an essential light. We are all built to use our senses (to see, feel, hear....) and art, design, beauty, matches these senses.

Relating to where I am right now, I have really pushed myself out of my comfort zone. I am now studying interior architecture, taking on modelling and also conquering the business world and getting as much experience as I find I have the appropriate energy for! My days are usually full but I always manage to find time for fitness and health and being with people who truly matter to me in my life.

How did art contribute to this? Honestly, I would not spend my time writing this if I believed art (or any course in IB) didn't impact where I am now. Art is taking something you love, and continuing to work on it regardless of other happenings around you.

The same as working on a painting for example, you have a vision, or a concept even, and you work on it, slowly and with patience and you begin to see outcomes and something beautiful appears. This applies to myself; Things take time and require patience. Nothing fantastic will happen without the appropriate work or effort or finally without the positive energy to it.

With uni work, rather than trying to be the perfect student and match exactly what the paper says, I want to know what I can learn from it and I do not visualise the final outcome, it is about going step by step. I am after all taking an educational course, not a competition.

Modelling is something I find beautiful because it is like a minimalistic form of acting (an art). To be able to reenact a style, mood or a concept and express this through a photograph or film is fantastic. It is also a direct link to fashion which is something I am hoping to get strongly into in the future.

This leads on to me having the ability to travel in and out of London. I am slowly gaining great contacts and networking. I am very self driven and would love to one day run my own business - hopefully one day I will be there.

 Just like art, I learned that to get something you want, something you truly desire, you must be patient and keep working hard (but not over working yourself) and eventually, without question, you will get achievements, each one better or higher than the next."

Julie left St. Julian's in 2012. You can see more of Julie's modelling work in her facebook page here.

THANK YOU JULIE!!!!!!!

Margarida Fernandes advises our current students

Margarida Fernandes studied IB Visual Arts with us and achieved the top grade (a 7) in 2009.  She has just graduated from the London College of Communication. Margarida has written a few words of advice to our current year 12 students about life after St. Julian's towards a creative career:

"When I left St. Julian’s in 2009, I took a Foundation year at Camberwell College of the Arts – while it was an enjoyable experience, and especially helpful for getting adjusted to London life. I think that, if you have managed to reach a high grade in Visual Arts at IB level, you are most likely already well-prepared enough to start your studies at BA-level; most UK students take a Foundation year as a time of exploration – if you are still unsure as to what you might want to do, taking this degree might be the right choice. The perks of entering at foundation is that you will most likely get in, and when you finish the degree and are applying once more through UCAS, you automatically get to the portfolio review stage of applications for any of the UAL colleges. (St. Martins, Wimbledon, etc.) However, you are not guaranteed an interview.

I’ve only just recently finished my BA(Hons) Graphic Media Design degree at the London College of Communication. It’s a three-year course, but you have an option to undertake a one-year ‘Diploma in Professional Studies’ (DPS) – basically, a year in industry but for creatives.

The LCC is a massive university with great facilities – printmaking, bookbinding, and so much more.  There are hundreds of students, so you have to take an interest and persist to get attention and learn how to use the facilities. Don’t be a wallflower.

At LCC students are very much encouraged to be independent – if you have had a chance to visit any student shows in London in the past, you would be able to notice that there is not one defining ‘look’ to the student body of work. This is one of the strongest selling points of being a student there – at Chelsea or St. Martin’s there is very much a ‘look’ that comes from having attended the college, and the tutors regularly let you know what is ‘wrong’ or ‘right’.

If you are interested in interaction and moving image, I strongly suggest looking into the IMI course at LCC – it’s still small and has been getting great reviews – a very hands-on course that’s doing a lot of very forward thinking stuff.

I took a year out because I needed a break from university life and to explore my options for the future, while building my CV. The course director for DPS has a number of connections, and essentially bombards you with emails for the whole year. Like everything else at university level – it is what you make of it. Having a plan of action for the future always makes things easier, but also being open to opportunities you didn’t foresee also comes in handy.

If you are interested in a Visual Arts degree, you have a great vantage by having done the IB – you most likely have a more well-rounded knowledge base to inform your future projects and interests, can manage your work load and are used to working both in groups and independently – you will be amazed at the amount of visual people who have problems in communicating their opinions to an audience, in things as simple as class presentations. Being able to talk confidently will get you very far and your teachers will take an interest in you for starting a discussion in the classroom.

I strongly recommend you look at creative blogs, websites such as Creative Review, and see their blogs on degree shows around the country – you’ll get a better sense of the body of work of each place."

Thanks Margarida!

A sculpture that Margarida presented in her final show at St. Julians.

An image of her most recent work