Maud Craigie is in her final year of BA Photography. She talks to us about her final project, preparing for her end of year exhibition and her hopes for the future.

Hi Maud, can you tell us about your final project?
My project is an exploration of emotional and physical connections in an increasingly digital age. It’s a three-channel video installation, which records my interactions with people I have met online and the different types of exchanges that occurred. These include meeting with a ‘professional conversationist’ (sic), who charges £15 per hour to talk to you, hiring mourners, who are paid £45 to cry at funerals and having a free foot massage from a man off Craigslist. I have also been working with amateur actors, who have responded to adverts I’ve placed on Gumtree.

What was your inspiration?
My work is research based, so ideas for my final piece have come from a mixture of trawling the internet, reading newspapers or just overhearing conversations on the tube. Anything really.

What do you have left to do between now and the end of year exhibition?
I’ve got all my video footage, so now it’s just a matter of editing it together. I’m trying to do a number of edits, so I have multiple options to choose from.

Have you had much experience of preparing for an exhibition before? What kind of things do you need think about?
I’ve only done a couple of shows before and each time I’ve learnt loads through the process of doing them. Firstly, you have to visualise the ideal circumstances for your work and then it’s all about deciding how to compromise to the practicalities, without losing the overall vision. I’m showing my video on old TV monitors, so I’m having to concentrate on having an electricity supply for all the different monitors and making sure all the footage stays in sync between the different screens.

What are you hoping to do once you graduate?
I’m going to have a year out before applying to do a masters, also in Photography.

Why Camberwell?
Camberwell is great because you’re really treated like an individual, rather than a number. The amount of 1-to-1 tutor time is amazing, as are the tutors themselves.

What advice would you pass on to a student about to start at Camberwell?
Make the most of the facilities, sign up to every possible tutorial and get as much feedback about what you’re doing while you still can.

What will you miss about Camberwell once you’ve left?
The tutors, my classmates and the facilities!

What are you looking to do once you graduate?
Carry on making stuff.

In the run up to our Undergraduate Show in June, we have been interviewing final year students preparing for their exhibition. Today, we speak to Ritchie Xavier, BA Graphic Design.

Hi Ritchie. Can you tell us about your final project?

My final project is about developing a visual language to motivate people with respect to health, fitness and sport.

What was your inspiration?
My inspiration was standing on my scales one day and realising I was technically obese for my age. It spurned me on.

What do you have left to do between now and the final exhibition?
I have to make a development file, a book of visuals, some sculpture, and find some exhibition sponsors.

Have you had much experience of preparing for an exhibition before? What kind of things do you need to think about?
I helped organise my foundation exhibition at Camberwell a few years back, we had to consider our audience as being the entire public, spacial awareness, sensitivity, making sure work was clearly labelled, and that it’s safe!

What are you hoping to do once you graduate?
I hope to go into an advertising agency or any creative agency and create great fun interactive and engaging works.

Why Camberwell?
Camberwell is like the nice intimate organic shop for groceries amongst all the hustle and bustle of London. It has so many resources with the best technicians who are so friendly and the courses and course-mates are second to none

What pearls of wisdom from tutors or other students will you take with you?
Never rush things, dig deeper & explore further, take advantage of resources and opportunities, and have fun!

What advice would you pass on to a student about to start at Camberwell?
Don’t build a cocoon around yourself to make work you think people will like. Get out there and do the things you love, explore and research, embrace failure as a part of developing

What will you miss about Camberwell once you’ve left?
The building, the people, the great workshops and resources, the ever-happy vibe.

In the run up to our Undergraduate Show in June, we have been interviewing final year students preparing for their exhibition. Today, Sarah Froelich, BA Painting, talks to us about her final project and her experience at Camberwell.

Can you tell us about your final project?
I am currently working on a series of paintings which I have tentatively been calling ‘Synthesizer Frustration Portraits.’ They are depictions of synthesizers and other electronic musical equipment as animate characters to be negotiated with rather than empty objects to be used. It’s a very interesting project for me, because it manages to deal with my personal experience playing live experimental music to large (and often largely confused) audiences as well as engaging with my feelings about painting as a whole, which I view as a slightly more private -yet no less harrowing- preformative action.

What was your inspiration?
I take a great deal of inspiration from the excitement and terror of live performance. Because direct experience in the moment is by its very nature transitory, I had to find some way of working around those feelings: I began looking at the proxy which allows access to the aforementioned emotions, and in the case of a musician these gatekeepers would be one’s instruments. A reviewing of David Cronenberg’s 1991 adaptation of Naked Lunch really cinched the deal for me. In the film the typewriters which William S. Burroughs must use in order to write become monstrous animate agents with very distinct agendas of their own. This obviously cause a bit of friction, and ends up producing some very creative work-arounds.

What do you have left to do between now and the end of year exhibition?
Because of the way I work, I’m never really not working on something, but right now the main focus for the rest of the year is preparing the space and making the best curatorial decisions. Sometimes the most difficult choice is what not to show, but fortunately we have a bit of time to figure out the proper combinations and omissions.

What kind of things do you need to think about in preparing for an exhibition?
At this stage, the work is done (or at least halted for a moment) and the most important thing is presenting that work in the best possible way, so that you do the greatest justice to the work itself while at the same time not overtasking or insulting the viewer. Confidence and understatement are sometimes the most challenging things for me, but in exhibition they are the most important.

What are you hoping to do once you graduate?
I’ve accepted a place at Chelsea on their MA Fine Art program, so I know where I’ll be spending most of my time for the next 12 months. I’m also playing at the Wroclaw Industrial Festival in Poland this November, but other than that, it’s all up in the air at the moment.

Why Camberwell and what will you miss about it once you’ve left?
I chose Camberwell for so many reasons, but the main two have got to be the strength of its painting department as a whole, and the college’s over-all Punk Rock confidence. It has been a great three years, and I am going to miss absolutely everything, right down to forgetting my ID card and having to run back home really quickly so that I don’t miss anything. (Fortunately, I live across the street, so the whole running thing was never really that much of a problem.)

What advice would you pass on to a student about to start at Camberwell?
Make the most of it. The school provides a wealthy of talks, workshops, and events which strengthen the entire experience. You aren’t going to experience any of them if you don’t check your calender and get to the sign up sheet on time.

What pearls of wisdom from tutors or other students that you’ll take with you?
An overarching theme which keeps re-emerging in my tutorials is that it is alright if something you make in no way fufils your original intentions. If you were able to paint a picture which fully satisfied all of your desires and expectations then you wouldn’t have to paint again, you would just want to go home and take a nap, maybe watch The Voice. It is the mistakes you are fortunate enough to make on the way there which really enrich your practice.

I’ll leave you with Beckett: “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Susie Calvert is in her final year of BA Illustration. She talks to us about her final project, preparing for her end of year exhibition and her hopes for the future.

Hi Susie, can you tell us about your final project?
My final year project has been an investigation of space and environment, I will be exhibiting a book inspired by “The Poetics of Space” ; a psychoanalytical look at the human relationship to the home. Whilst on Erasmus I began drawing the foreign surroundings in a descriptive way, which has now progressed to a more abstract understanding with a focus on colour compatibility and composition.

What is your inspiration?
Natural and Industrial Landscapes

What do you still have left to do between now and the exhibition?
Build the exhibition installation plinth, layout of book in InDesign and print and bind, varnish wooden paintings, quite a lot really.

Have you been involved in an exhibition before? What kind of things do you need to think about?
Yes, the curation is  a long process especially considering so many individual pieces to be composed together. Lighting is also huge consideration also.

What are you hoping to do once you graduate?
Live in Camberwell and get involved with set design in theatres around London.

Why Camberwell?
Camberwell is small enough to feel intimate but with great facilities and supportive technicians it also creates a  positive space for student collaboration. I chose Camberwell for its ethos on craft-making and creativity.

 What pearls of wisdom will you take with you either from your tutors or class mates?
I think studying Illustration you discover how you don’t work first and foremost, before actually resolving how you do. You need to be playful, make mistakes and not be afraid of failed experiments. I also got some good advice at Saint-Lukas, Ghent where I spent a year studying; a tutor said ‘if you talk about style you don’t have style’ since then I’m not fixed on what is expected. I now try to be unaffected by trend and the superficial assumptions of Illustration through self-reflective practise and exercises.

What advice would you give to a new student?
Get involved with absolutely every workshop that you can, even if you think that its not very ‘you’ or you’ve never done it before. Experiment constantly and discover through making.

What will you miss about Camberwell?
The community and workspace that I won’t have.

Can you tell us about what you were doing before you started on the MA Book Arts course?

I was doing BA Illustration at Camberwell.

 Why did you choose this particular Masters course?

During my study of illustration, I gradually explored my interest in book form, book structure, the texture of paper, and how to handle books. The uniqueness of hand-made books is really attractive to me, so I wanted my research into artists’ books and experimental practice to go further.

How did you find the course structure and the way you were taught?

I found the course well structured with an easy-to- adapt rhythm. The most important and interesting part of the course was being given the opportunity to play roles in book fairs and exhibitions. It gives me a deeper understanding of the fact that art is about communication and making people understand things better.

Can you give us an example or two of the particular projects that you undertook on the course?

All the projects I did during the course were about books and food.

Mille Feuille: A Recipe for Sharing is perhaps my favorite project. It’s a book work that explores the collective experiences that surround food through the shared experiences of reading. It demands not just one, but two readers who have to work together to navigate the text through the pages of the book.

I had a solo show with this book in an antique bookshop. Visitors were invited to recreate recipes based on the content of the book during the opening event, and then those recreated recipes turned into another piece of book work.

What have you been doing since you graduated from the course? 

I went back to China in the end of October and spent lots of time working on my portfolio and resume. For graduates like me who never had any proper working experience, a well-designed portfolio is the only way to catch employers’ attention.  

Congratulations on your new job at Penguin China. Can you tell us a bit about your role there?

I have been hired as Penguin China’s first in-house designer. Basically, the purpose of the role is to coordinate and execute design work on behalf of departments across Penguin Books for commercial and publishing needs, it includes book design, merchandise design, branding and some special projects.

Has the MA helped at all with this and if so, in what way?

I think the projects I did during the MA has made my portfolio strong enough to catch their attention.

What did you enjoy about studying at Camberwell?

I enjoyed assessments and symposiums as I found myself being easily inspired by other people’s conversation. Outside college, the most fun part were the dinner parties I would have with a small group of friends. It was actually a perfect response to my food-related projects.

What tips would you give to a student starting out on this course at Camberwell?

Do make sure that what you are going to do is something you really want to do. This will make the process much more enjoyable.

Hi Ashley, What were you doing before the MA Illustration course at Camberwell?

Before the MA, I studied for a BA degree in Graphic Design at Northumbria – it wasn’t until my third year that I specialised in Illustration. I knew I wanted to learn and develop my illustration skills further so I took a couple of years out to work and travel before applying for my MA as I wanted to be 100% sure that is what I wanted to do! I continued to draw and enter competitions in the meantime.

Why did you choose this particular Masters course?

I chose the MA course at Camberwell because the other courses I looked at were either too specialised or just didn’t feel right to me. As soon as I came to the Camberwell Open Day, wandered around, saw the studios, witnessed the ace printmaking facilities and chatted to the tutors – I knew I would feel right at home here.

How was your experience of the MA Illustration course?

I loved it, my main issue with my work when I started the year was lack of confidence in it! The tutors picked up on this and told me not to – ha! The course got me experimenting with my style, taking risks and thinking about my work and approach to my work differently.

Can you give us an example of a specific project that you undertook on the course?

For my final project I decided to create a narrative around the Inuit folk tale ‘Blubber Boy’. I wanted to push myself into creating a story that read well, flowed and captured the viewers interest. I wanted to use a limited colour palette and experiment with the use of white space. I had attended the colour workshop with Anna Bhushan throughout the year and started to realise how important it was to think about colour before beginning the illustrations.

What have you been doing since graduating from the course?

Since I graduated I have been working part-time whilst pushing myself to become a fully fledged freelance illustrator. I have been commissioned by a few ace clients on my own and with my illustration collective ‘Three Piece Suite’. I have had the opportunity to paint festive window displays, illustrate cafes, create illustrations for editorials, blogs and websites.

What did you enjoy most about studying at Camberwell?

The thing I enjoyed most about studying at Camberwell was the freedom the course allows, which is strange because the idea of that much freedom and designing your own projects scared me before starting the course. It allowed me to prepare for when the course was over and I was thrown out into the big wide world to fend for myself! Of course the best thing about the course was meeting so many ace people!

What tips would you give to a student starting out on this course at Camberwell?

Tips…I would say to come prepared to work hard, especially if you are a natural procrastinator! You will get as much out of the course as you put in, so if you have an idea of what you would like to achieve in the time you can start out running. Also, do your research essay as soon as it has been set…

Can you tell us more about your artistic practice?

I enjoy all aspects of illustration but in particular – editorial illustration and narrative. I enjoy the challenge of reading and understanding an article/story in order to produce the best illustration to add an extra dimension and enjoyment to the piece. I love limited colour palettes, patterns and experimenting with different materials.

You established an illustration collective with some other students, can you tell us more about that?

During my year on the MA course I made some pretty ace friends and we discovered how well we worked and collaborated together. I think having a group of friends to push you to try new things and experiment is a fantastic resource to have! We decided that since we worked so well together, instead of meeting and eating, we would meet, eat and illustrate – and it progressed from there! We have just completed the re-brand of the Love Walk Cafe in Camberwell and we are working on our first publication.

To see more of Ashley’s work please check out her links below:

Ashley Fauguel website

Ashley Fauguel Illustration blog

Twitter – @ashleyfauguel

Ashley Fauguel LinkedIn

Collective Investigations

Egidija Čiricaitė, Chris Gibson and George Cullen all studied MA Book Arts at Camberwell. After graduating they set up ‘Collective Investigations’ and have recently been awarded an Arts Council Grant for their project codex: between this and that.  Here they tell us about their experience at Camberwell and their new project.

Can you tell us about what you were doing before you started on MA Book Arts?

Egidija: I came to MA Book Arts from the Foundation course at Chelsea College of Art and Design. However, I have been working on various graphic design projects since my first round of higher education in late nineties, when I was studying for the MA in English Linguistics in Lithuania.

Chris: Originally I did a Fine Art BA at Sheffield-Hallam in Time-based Art and after that I spent several years doing a nine-to-five job and making art on the side.

George: Before the MA I studied Graphic Design and Fine Art. I also took part in various small publishers fairs in London and Cardiff producing zines and exploring bookbinding and book structure.

Why did you choose this particular Masters course?

Egidija: As I was graduating from the Foundation course at Chelsea, I realised I wanted to continue with my arts education, but I felt that yet another BA was not an option. I was looking for an MA course that would allow me to combine my nerdy self with my creative self: I have a background in linguistics and a history of making. In addition, the course had to be either at Chelsea or Camberwell – I could only proceed with a course which was near home because of the family commitments.

Chris: My work has always featured books, either as a source material or as part of the content. I didn’t know why books were so central to my practice, so I wanted to spend some time exploring that in a rigorous and more focused way, with the hope it would invigorate my work.

George: I was exploring books from a design angle for a while before the course but wanted to focus my practice. I chose the course as a way of exploring my thoughts in the book. My practice was becoming more fine art based and it provided me with a group to explore this.

How did you find the course structure and the way you were taught?

Egidija: I chose the part-time option of the course (now Extended Full Time). As a student with a non-arts background I had a lot of catching up to do. I have got a family too, which means, I need extra time to allow for the parents’ evenings and swimming lessons.

The course gave me a lot of freedom to explore my potential. I spent much of my time at the ceramics workshops where I experimented with porcelain and fired papers. I spent time in the library and casting too. There were no theory lectures, but there was a variety of speakers from a range of disciplines on Wednesdays to support professional development.

Chris: The course structure wasn’t too much of a culture shock due to my fine art background, but getting my head around the established and sometimes conflicting idea of what Book Art can be, took some time.

George: The nature of the course group was that we were all from different backgrounds not necessarily from a book arts but all with an interest in the book. This was really stimulating in terms of the group crits and learning from your peers. We had various self directed and structured crit sessions in which you could talk about your work with input from other people. This was really useful for testing ideas and learning through others experiences.

Can you give us an example or two of the particular projects that you undertook on the course?

Egidija:  Over the course of my MA I completed an investigation into memory/forgetting and the book in that context. In the summer before the course started I came across a wheelbarrow full of books in my parent’s barn. The books were on the way to be burnt. They were old Soviet propaganda books that nobody needed or wanted anymore. I brought the books (minus the wheelbarrow) to London and I used them as a starting point to explore durability of historical truth and fetish of the book. I have worked with ceramics before, so it was only natural to take my books there first. After a few months of experimentation I started producing very delicate sculptures of fired books. As a result of this project I have also produced a set of artist’s books and live cast bronze sculptures.

Chris: The course was very open-ended so by the second semester I was developing projects outside the institution, either finding a local gallery to exhibit in with friends or creating work in response to specific places. By working outside the college it eased the transition when creating work post-Camberwell.

George: I think the final project for the graduate show was the most interesting for me. It gave me a chance to look over my past two years and pull out the links between the work I was making. I used it to present a body of work that became the culmination of my thinking at the time. I was able to pinpoint my interests in the book and realise what brought me to book arts in the first place.

What have you been doing since you graduated from the course?

Egidija: At the graduation show, my books were bought by Tate Library’s Special Collection – this gave me an important boost of confidence. I have since exhibited and curated in book art and fine art contexts in the UK and abroad. I have run creative bookmaking workshops in in schools, galleries and museums, including the British Museum.

I have also received a Bookartbookshop award, which led to me to co-establish ‘Collective Investigations’ with codex: between this and that project which is running at the moment

Chris: Since graduating I have still been doing a day job, but my focus has been much more on making my own work and getting involved with opportunities and projects.

George: Since graduating I have been developing my work through exhibitions and book fairs. I’ve taken part in a group show with a group of artists from the course and also artists from different backgrounds. I’ve shown at book fairs inside and outside of London which has been a useful way for the public to engage in my work and a different set up to an exhibition. My work has also been included in the Tate Library, London.

Congratulations on receiving an Arts Council grant! Could you tell us a bit about the project, Codex: Between This and That?

The project was born on our kitchen table as part of a larger collaborative project between the three of us called ‘Collective Investigations’. We were looking at the ways to widen discourse on the idea of the book and so codex: between this and that was born.

We submitted the application for an Arts Council arts grant in January and six weeks later we had a thick envelope through the doors with the positive reply. The project as it is would have not been possible without Arts Council’s support.

The project consists of three parts:

A publication - It is an artist’s book that explores thoughts, opinions and ideas that book as a codex represents through the many contexts of its existence.  The publication contains contributions from Mark Cockram, Les Bicknell, Riccardo Boglione, Michelle Brown, Paul Coldwell, Ali van Dam, Janine Harrington, Susan Johanknecht, Sharon Kivland, Pauline Lamont-Fisher, Richard Price, Stevie Ronnie, Erin K. Schmidt, Abi Thomas. It will be launched on 26 April, 2013 at Bookartbookshop, London.

An exhibition - at Bookartbookshop (April 19 – May 03 2013) in which we have created work responding to the shop and its collection.

Workshops - They are creative bookmaking workshops at Shoreditch and Clapham libraries aimed at introducing the general public to the possibilities of the book. The workshops are free.

When codex: between this and that is finished we expect to continue with other types of investigation in response to other venues. Each will involve exhibitions, workshops and publications.

http://collectiveinvestigations.tumblr.com/

How has your MA helped you?

Egidija: The MA has allowed me to grow as a professional artist, first of all. It gave me the confidence and it has introduced me to the networks and the skills that allowed me develop after graduation.

Chris: The MA has proved incredibly useful. It allowed for a period of intensive reflection and experimentation. It introduced me to a lot of artists (both students and established artists) whose work addresses very similar ideas to my own. The location of the college can’t be overstated, as there is so much happening in London.

George: The MA has helped me by focusing my practice and allowing me to explore my work within a group. It has given me a great base of artistic knowledge in London.

What’s the best advice you were given while at Camberwell?

Egidija: Be proactive.

Chris: A visiting lecturer gave us some excellent advice and that was to develop a minimum standard of working that you can achieve every day, rain or shine so that you are always in the habit of making or reflecting. I worked part-time to fund myself, so this was useful advice as it pushed me to find time each day to keeping working or thinking about my art.

George:  Document your progress. This becomes a crucial tool for development. Reflecting on what I had done always led to something else.

What tips would you give to a student starting out on this course at Camberwell?

Chris: There are so many opportunities (from exhibitions to see, talks to attend, facilities to use) that I would recommend only focusing on the things that will help the development of your work. Find a structure for recording things that works for you (like a sketchbook, a notebook or blog etc.) and keep it well, as it’s surprising what things you might want to revisit or refer to as the course progresses.

George: Use the group while it is there. You will learn the most from your peers so make sure you are an active part of it.

www.egidija.com

www.christophergibson.co.uk

http://georgecullen.tumblr.com/

http://collectiveinvestigations.tumblr.com/

Egidija Ciricaite

Chris Gibson

George Cullen

Why did you apply to the AA2A scheme at Camberwell?

I work with language and wanted to explore the possibilities of letterpress in the development of new text-based works.

How are you finding the AA2A scheme so far?

I’m both enjoying it and finding it difficult. Learning to work in a new environment and media has thrown up lots of challenges. But equally, it has forced me to do and think differently which has enabled new ideas to emerge. So, I’m currently enjoying thinking through the process – one letter at a time.

What facilities have you been working in since you started on the scheme?

Letterpress, mainly, and a few visits to the black and white darkroom and the 3D resource. I would love to visit the last two more, but the residency’s time is limited so I’m trying to concentrate on letterpress. I have also used the library, attended talks and life-drawing sessions.  I would never class Technicians as facilities, but their insights are beyond par to what I have encountered anywhere else and working alongside them is a real treat.

Do you think that using the college’s facilities has impacted on your practice?

It is too early to say exactly how, but I am sure it will.

How would you define yourself as an Artist?

I wouldn’t. Besides ‘I’m an artist’ I don’t really define myself or my practice. I like to be surprised, to be challenged and to encounter new ways of doing and thinking, so I try to remain open to all possibilities. I am aware that definitions can be useful and I am aware that others sometimes feel the need to define me for specific projects or commissions. However, as my practice is often site-specific and process-based, as I work across media and extensively collaborate with others, it would make little sense for me to try to lock my practice into a fixed or pre-determined definition.

What themes do you pursue with your practice?

My work considers how representation – including the languages, behaviours, media, methodologies and systems that underpin representation – inform our understandings of specific sites or situations. I am interested in how we come to experience things as we do and how an awareness of this can open up the potential for us to experience things differently – for new experiences to form.

What jobs have you done other than being an artist?

Photographers assistant, artists assistant, editorial photographer, media tutor, graphic designer, photography lecturer, artist educator, fine art lecturer, tutor. I missed out quite a few. All of them have informed my practice, the last three I consider to be part of my practice.

Professionally, what are your goals?

To continually make better work.

What’s the best piece of advice you have been given?

‘If you want to break the rules, you need to know what the rules are’ (in combination with, ‘just because someone tells you that “this is just how it is” doesn’t mean that this is the only way it can be’).

To see more of Marianne’s work see her website at: http://www.criticalm.org/

Photo courtesy of Marianne Holm Hansen

Hi Darren!

Can you tell us about what you were doing before you started on MA Digital Arts (now MA Fine Art Digital)?

I finished a BA in Music with Digital Arts at Dartington College of Arts 2 years before starting at Camberwell. In that time I taught on the Digital Arts pathway at Dartington, started work as a software developer for interactive installations and I worked on my AHRC funding application which I was granted the second time I applied.

Why did you choose this particular Masters course?

I chose this course because it was the only course I could find in London that was called ‘Digital Arts’, the name of my minor pathway at BA level. The naming of the BA course was always contentious and was born from the same place as the Camberwell course name. Although I acknowledge that I might not have entered the course had it not been called Digital Arts when I applied, I believe I am in an extreme minority. The new course name is very well suited.

How did you find the course structure and the way you were taught?

I think ‘the way you were taught’ is a difficult phrasing as I saw this course as a self directed research in practice course. I don’t feel I was taught so much as stimulated, critiqued and guided. The structure of the course allows free flowing discussions about people’s work and theories of Digital and Fine Art, New Media and technology. It allows students space and freedom to explore their creative potential and artistic thinking to very high standards in a constructive and positive environment.

How did you find studying the course online? Did you still feel part of a community?

I felt there was a much stronger community online than in face to face. Studying online and the format of the online group chats enables a very high level of discourse amongst people from extremely varying backgrounds. It was a chance to learn about different artistic approaches and different cultures. It enabled people from all over the world who spoke varying levels of English to communicate their ideas in written form, which helped reduce language barriers substantially.

Can you give us an example or two of the particular projects that you undertook on the course?

The course is based on one project, from proposal through to realisation. My project was about data visualisation in various technological mediums and explored areas of Determinism and free will.

What have you been doing since you graduated from the course?

I am now one of two directors in our media company The Media Workshop Ltd. We create video content for various clients including the BBC, O2 and Network Rail and I lead our software development side, creating websites, mobile apps and interactive installations.

Has the MA helped at all with this and if so, in what way?

The MA helped me develop and realise my creative potential and has given me a huge confidence boost in visual creativity. Although I feel I would struggle to make a living as an artist, I continue to make art when I can and the project that I completed as part of the MA is a great portfolio piece for our company.

What’s the best advice you were given while at Camberwell?

That I should push myself to be more visually creative and not concentrate on programming and code too much.

What tips would you give to a student starting out on this course at Camberwell?

Use the discussions with the group as positively as possible. Contribute as much as possible and take note of and address any comments about your work. Use all the facilities in the college and communicate with your lecturers. Blog regularly about every aspect of your creative life.

darrenperry.com

themediaworkshop.co.uk

Why did you choose to study BA Drawing at Camberwell and what were you studying before?

My foundation year was at Hereford College of Arts. After researching various courses, BA Drawing seemed the most appropriate for me.

Can you tell us about your experience of the course so far?

It’s been excellent. The three years have made me experiment with what I do in an environment in which I’m surrounded by others who are exploring their own ideas. The course allows you to freely push what you are interested in, so although many students stay rooted in drawing as their preferred medium, many develop into other areas such as sculpture, performance, painting etc.

What kind of person do you think this course would appeal to?

Someone who is self-driven and opened minded with what they do. The course encourages you to engage with your own work in ways that you might not have done instinctively.

How is living and studying in Camberwell?

Camberwell has a lot of things going for it, if not only for its location within London. Being situated next door to the South London Gallery is brilliant for students studying at the college, and this is just one of the many galleries in the area.

What has been the highlight of your course so far?

Taking part in an ‘Anatomy for Artists’ course that took place at UCL. This involved working alongside Slade students and UCL medics in one of their laboratories to witness, draw and learn from specimens that have been donated to the College.

What interaction with industry have you had during the course?

We will often have visiting artists in Camberwell, many of whom are organised specifically by BA Drawing, and so we are often signing up to tutorials with these professionals. This has been excellent, and especially so in the third year when your really pushing what you do and preparing for leaving education. As well as this, all of the tutors are either practicing artists themselves or engaged with the field in someway.

What are your career aspirations/plans for the future?

I intend to keep making my work and stay in the area, hopefully attaining a studio with other graduates. As well as this I am looking into residencies so that I can travel either within the UK or further afield whilst engaging with what I do.

What tips/advice would you give to students hoping to come to study at Camberwell?

To make the most of your time here. Use it as a period that you can really experiment and test ideas. Everyone says it, but the three years do go extremely quickly!

Finally, what do you think is the best thing about Camberwell?

The college has excellent facilities and is an exciting part of London. I think it’s a brilliant place to study a BA.

You can view some of my work at:  www.michaelditchburn.co.uk