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Last week we celebrated the end of our Oban project with an exhibition of students’ work in the art college’s Andrew Grant Gallery.
Each student had been given a board to pin up their work after resolving and ordering what they had taken away from the trip to Oban. They did so rather excellently, using a wide range of approaches including drawing, painting, writing, photography and installation to suit each student’s field of study and working methods.
Here are some impressions from the exhibition opening:
The annual Illustration trip to Oban is quickly becoming a beloved tradition, and this year our illustrators were joined by a number of Graphic Design and Animation students on their quest to draw, explore and develop their work while breaking out of their daily routines.
Setting off from Waverley Station on a Thursday morning, we arrived in Oban just in time to see the sun dip into the sea (rather spectacularly so) and got a first taste of the short northern Winter days. The good weather was to last, and even though temperatures remained around freezing point, our time in the Highlands was marked by bright weather and, unusual for Scotland, very little wind. We stayed in Oban’s Youth Hostel, which is right by the sea and made a great base camp for the following days.
On Friday Astrid began our stay handing out maps and sketchbooks, and sent each student off to draw and document a different location in and around Oban. Each of them returned with cold fingers, a diverse range of drawings and evidence of where they had been, and a starting point for further exploration of the area.
Saturday students were free to take their drawing further in a location of their own choice, with the majority catching the ferry to Mull and set off for Tobermory, Salen or Duart Castle and making the most of the stunning weather outdoors. The conditions for drawing were great, with warming sunshine and lack of wind, and nobody lost any fingers in the cold.
Sunday, our last day in the area, saw most students explore the the town and its immediate surroundings further, with some walking to the hills and forests and others heading for the local cafes to shelter from the cold. By 6pm everyone had made it onto the southbound train, which took 21 weary but happy students back home to Edinburgh.
An exhibition showcasing drawings from our Oban trip will be coming to the Andrew Grant Gallery soon, drop by to see some great work!
First and Second Year students have been teaming up over the last week to produce small editions of books about Edinburgh’s famous Grassmarket as part of a collaborative book project between the Illustration Students at Edinburgh College of Art and Analogue Books to celebrate Book week Scotland.
Julie from Analogue Books did a splendid job of starting off our students last Wednesday and Thursday by showing them around her shop, and it has been very exciting to see their projects develop from early sketches and location drawings into fully fledged books and zines.
Come along at 2.30pm tomorrow, Friday 29th November for the book launch and students’ presentations in room 2.13 of Evolution House – samples of the books will be on display at Analogue Books from Saturday 30th November until Saturday 7th December. Come and have a look!
Former student and part-time tutor with us and the Office of Lifelong Learning speaks about some of her recent work on Edinburgh’s Rose Street in this clip by Summerhall TV.
Visiting lecturer Nick Sharrat will be talking about his work on friday the 1st of November 2013. Nick is a celebrated writer and illustrator of childrens’ books who has worked on The Story of Tracy Beaker, Eat Your Peas, Pants and many many more.
The Third Year students recently tried their hands at animating with the help of Michael Kirkham. Each of them created work in response to 20 seconds of Chopin’s Polonaise in F Sharp Minor, which was then put together to form ten minutes’ worth of eclectic moving images. Impressive work from our first-time animators!
Ali and Amy of Glasgow’s Recoat Gallery will be talking about their work on October 25th 2013 as part of our Professional Practice lecture series. Over the past few years Recoat have made their name as a place for both emerging and established illustrators, graffiti and street artists, as well as photographers from Scotland and the rest of the world. More recently they have been working on various projects across Europe.
Congratulations to our former student Cat O’Neil for winning the prestigious Emerging Talent Award at the 2013 Cheltenham Illustration Awards for her mini-comic “The Way We Move”. Well done Cat!
Make sure you check out the rest of her work as well, it’s stunningly good stuff.
Our Second Year students finished their PRINT project last week, with great results! The task was to produce a set of four original A6 prints on the theme of “pairs”, two in full colour and two in monotone. Here are some close-ups:
The start of the academic year saw the ten new First Year students take a drawing trip to the Water of Leith. It was a chilly day, so drawing eventually turned to collecting of objects to save students’ fingers from turning an unhealthy shade of blue.
Over the following three weeks, the students combined those objects as well as experiences and impressions from the drawing trip into hand-drawn designs in the studio, and then went on to learn how to turn these into repeating patterns by cutting and moving parts around.
The finished patterns can now be admired at the Water of Leith Visitor Centre (open daily between 10am and 4pm). Go and have a look, it’s well worth a visit!