Author Archives: Claire Ridall

Where are they now – graduate journeys

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This is the second of our “Where are they now” features, catching up with students who have exhibited their work in the learning centres in previous years.

Library visitors viewing Yanli’s display at the Art in Adsetts launch

Following her final year project from the BA (Hons) Interior Design course at Sheffield Hallam University, course lecturers and module leaders nominated Yanli’s piece on a garden restaurant for Park Hill, for display in the Art in Adsetts 2012 exhibition.

Yanli Shen was a model student in this regard, as she submitted a carefully written artist’s statement to be displayed alongside her work to allow audiences to read an interpretation of the piece.  The framed piece was highlighted as part of a tour at the launch exhibition and has received positive feedback from visitors, staff and students alike.  We asked Yanli’s permission to extend the duration of the display of the garden restaurant beyond the academic year, so that we can keep it for a few more years.

We were interested to know what direction Yanli chose after she completed her degree:

 “Since graduating with a first class honours degree from the University,  at Hallam, I secured a place on the MA Landscape architecture at Sheffield university. I chose this course to compliment the Parkhill project. I am currently in Edinburgh studying a MFA in Art Space and Nature. This will round off my education perfectly. Each course on completion has offered up the opportunity to further develop my knowledge in a supportive and encouraging environment. In the future, I plan to utilise my skills professionally in the spheres of Interior Design, Landscape, Space and Environmental Art.”

Yanli, and exhibitors like her, are a source of inspiration to staff, students and visitors who use our learning spaces.  By displaying their creativity, we hope to inspire many more as they continue their journey to graduation and beyond.

Thanks and best wishes go to Yanli in her future.

Where are they now – previous exhibitors

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This is the first in a series of “Where are they now” features, catching up with students who have exhibited their work in the learning centres in previous years.

Claire Lount was one of the first students to show her work in Adsetts, back in 2010.  Her sculptures went on display after being shown in the Creative Spark student exhibition.  Claire had recently completed the MA Fine Art degree course, and we were delighted when she brought her work in for us to curate.  Her sculptures quickly became part of the surroundings and have become a favourite with staff and students alike.  We asked Claire how her journey has continued since graduation.

‘Endgame’ – Sculpture by Claire Lount, MA Fine Art

 “Since I have left I have continued exhibiting and producing work when I can fit it round my other commitments! I have mainly been doing art work shops for children and art displays in schools.

This year I have started a PGCE at Sheffield Hallam to work with children with special needs as my passions do lie with teaching and using my creative skills in a classroom environment. I think studying at Hallam develops not only your artistic skills but also your ability to question, reflect and think philosophically about any job, career you may embark upon.”

“Endgame” was inspired by buildings that once stood along the East Coast of England.  As a result of coastal erosion the land beneath the buildings had been sucked away undermining their structure and leading to their demise.   Claire’s work focused on making something new by replicating something that was lost, neglected, abandoned and decayed. 

Endgame used formal qualities as an important element in the piece; craftsmanship, variations in scale and materials all being used to create an uncanny presence of the original in the replicated building.  

The sculptures reflected upon how an individual might ordinarily react to miniature buildings; how they are often perceived as beautiful and ornamental acting as a souvenir for a forgotten time and how as a viewer our reaction may be to romanticise, fetishise and long for that which no longer exists.   Contradictory elements come together in the piece; past and present, the homely and the uncanny, the fashionable and unfashionable.  These polarities play themselves out within the sculptures, presenting an image of the past in its uneasy place within the present.

Claire’s work is on display in the key text area of level 4, Adsetts.  Don’t forget, you can see some of the new pieces on display at Collegiate at our launch event on 27th November from 5.00pm. 

 

Your invitation is here!

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We’d be delighted if you’d attend a joint celebration – the new Art in the Library exhibition and a showcase of the newly refurbished spaces at Collegiate Learning Centre will be held on Wednesday 27th November from 5.00pm.  Take a tour of the new spaces, meet members of staff and some of our exhibitors, or just come and have a look over a glass of wine and a canape or two…

 Details of how to book, location and timing are available on the eventbrite site here:  https://artinlibrary.eventbrite.co.uk/ 

 The event is open to staff, students, visitors – come and join us! 

 

Perfect balance of mind, body and soul

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The next featured exhibitor for display at Collegiate learning centre fits right in with the theme of health and wellbeing – physical, mental and emotional.  Ambika Nagpal has an MA in Design, specialising in Metalwork and Jewellery – her concept of ‘Balance’ was inspired by the drive to bring together health and peace in an urban lifestyle setting.   Her collection brings together three objects, Fragile, Fragile Tranquillity and Tranquil, designed to be used for Aroma Therapy.

Ambika’s beautiful designs “address the collaboration between man and machine, and portray their constant effort to balance within the surroundings, which initially is complex as they continue to procreate and build a chaotic atmosphere.  Ultimately they start to feel the need for balance.”

Images of the collection can be seen below, and will be on display in the exhibition shortly.

Visual Storytelling – Libraries in animation

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Video wall on level 5, Adsetts

 Today was almost like a scene from The Apprentice or Dragons Den.  Second year students on the university’s Visual Storytelling theory module took it in turns to pitch their ideas on screen about their perspectives of induction to us – here’s the back story…

The Context

Oksana Fedotova leads the Visual Storytelling module, and invited the learning centres to be a part of the project which we were delighted to accept. 

The Client

Learning Centres

The brief

Design an animation or webcomic that presents a student perspective of induction

What will the client do? 

The learning centres will publicise the selected student work, document the experience, and use it in the building.

The presentations

14 students pitched their ideas to a panel of three: Oksana Fedotova, Liam Bullingham, and myself. Given that the brief was deliberately broad, we weren’t sure what ideas the students might present – but they seized the challenge with both hands.   Ideas ranged from 2D games concepts, visualising the student journey and featuring learning centre services, characters, cartoons, from the zany to the fantastical and all sorts in between.  Our presenters gave two-minute overviews of their ideas, some played music, others made us laugh – but all gave us food for thought. 

Whats next? 

The students have three weeks to finish their storyboards and agree the visual concepts, when we’ll return to answer questions and give some more feedback.  That’s all for now, folks! (But we’ll be back with the follow up stories to let you know how everyone is progressing…)

Zhen, by Barry Lowndes, BA (Hons) Games Design

Memories immortalised in jewellery

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Memory encompasses everything from thoughts of childhood friends to a mental list of what we need to pick up at the shop. It is essential for our sense of self, and allows us to learn from our previous experiences. In general, a memory is a piece of information stored in your brain, but the quality of this information and the length of storage time vary greatly. How memories are formed, and what causes us to forget, have long been topics of great interest in the field of neuroscience.

Gilding band neck piece, by Kitty Griffiths
BA (Hons) Metalwork and Jewellery

Memories can be triggered by an image, a fragrance, music – or in Kitty Griffiths’ case – jewellery!   Kitty has just completed the BA (Hons) in Metalwork and Jewellery.  Her project ‘Mapping a memory‘ is inspired by the way individuals have unique memories and connections to different places.

 Kitty told us: “This collection is based on my own sense of where I belong. It encapsulates the places I feel that are home through the visualization of maps of Sheffield’s ring road and segments of the M25.  This collection can be adapted to fit the wearer through creating a bespoke piece of jewellery that incorporates the road maps of important locations as part of the jewellery.   Whether it is of a childhood home, the location of a marriage proposal, or just a favourite place…   This collection can be a physical way in which to keep and hold a memory.”

Images of Kitty’s beautiful designs will be on display at Collegiate learning centre.  Next week, we’ll be sharing more details of our exhibitors and the forthcoming launch event.  In the meantime, don’t
forget you can subscribe to the blog, and follow us on facebook and twitter.

Every picture tells a story

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Rachael Spall is an illustrator specialising in character design, and has just completed the BA (Hons) Graphic Design degree course.  As one of the new exhibitors that will feature at Collegiate learning centre later this semester, we asked her to tell us a little about her work.

“These illustrations are from a children’s picture book entitled ‘Lack of a Hat’ that I produced during my final year at university.

I often start out with a narrative and use illustration to tell these stories through character development. 

These characters are essentially puppets and I make them in 3d using various materials. I then photograph the puppets and add more detail digitally, often going on to bring them to life through simple stop motion animations.”

If you didn’t already have a reason to love our student artwork, just look at some of Rachael’s images below.  Who wouldn’t appreciate a giraffe to look at while studying in the learning centre?

Bright and shiny spaces…

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So yesterday we went to Collegiate learning centre to have a look at the refurbishment work – and it looks brilliant!  Over the next few weeks, there’s lots of printing, framing to be done for the exhibition – as well as choosing where the artwork will go.  There’s lots of fresh new spaces for display areas, and we can’t wait to fill them.

New to SHU? Settle into the learning centres!

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Confused? We’ll help!
‘Lack of a hat’ by Rachael Spall
BA Graphic Design – Illustration

 

It’s Freshers week at Sheffield Hallam University and there are events, helpful staff, and pointers everywhere to help our new students settle in.  Freebies, coffee mornings, advice drop in centres – you name it, we have it on campus and in the student union.

If you are new to the learning centres, our members of staff are always happy to help so don’t be afraid to ask.  If you’re already familiar with the library surroundings, treat yourself to a coffee and browse the artwork on display.

 

Birth of a cell or death of a star?

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What does this remind you of?  

That is part of the beauty of Alicia Gledhill’s ‘Trilogy’ collection.

Alicia has recently completed her  MArt in Creative Art Practice, and we’re pleased to say that her work will be in the new exhibition at Collegiate.

Alicia has given us some insights into her work, and more details will be on display alongside the collection – we loved this paragraph in particular:

“I explore how everyday media can be worked into textile imagery, such as Blu Tac. While not a textile, the ways it falls when manipulated has a fabric nature. When size, scale and colour are withdrawn from Blu Tac it becomes a completely different material. There are similarities between the very small on earth and the very large of the universe:  the birth of a cell looks very similar to the death of a star. When these are made into an image the perception of size is lost. This effects how the viewer sees things: when the size of the image is lost then the mind becomes open to different options. But the mind will always try to find something in the work that it recognises. People often say ‘you know what this reminds me of’ in relation to my work…”