Gwennan Thomas, Untitled 2012, 18,5 x 22 cm, oil on plyboard

Pioneered by Angela Flowers in 1983 Artist of the Day, now in its thirtieth year, is an annual event whereby ten selectors choose an artist to each hold a one day solo exhibition over the course of two weeks.

This year, Wimbledon College of Art Alumni, Gwennan Thomas has been selected as Artist of the Day by Anthony Daley and will hold a solo exhibition at the Flowers Gallery on June 24th.

Gwennan graduated from BA (Hons) Fine Art: Painting at Wimbledon in 2011 and has since been busy continuing her practice in the studio and exhibiting her work. Gwennan talks about Painting in this great interview with ‘Studio Critical’.

Artist of the Day: Gwennan Thomas

Selected by: Anthony Daley

June 24th 2013

Flowers Gallery: 21 Cork St, London, Greater London W1S 3LZ ‎ (Green Park  or Oxford Circus Tube)
Format: 10 selectors, 10 artists, an ambitious programme of one-day exhibitions

Concept: A group of established art world figures select an emerging or as yet under-valued talent to stage a solo show in two weeks of successive daily exhibitions

Objective: to provide a platform for exciting and diverse work to be seen by a new audience in a rapidly evolving gallery environment

History: Initiated in 1983, this gathering of different artists over 17 years of shows has achieved its aims time and again.

Riot Offspring, National Youth Dance Company, Photos: Bettina Strenske June 2013

Abby Hammond, Pathway Leader of BA (Hons) Theatre & Screen: Costume Design at Wimbledon College of Art designed the costumes for ‘Riot Offspring’ by the National Youth Dance Company at Sadler’s Well, as part of the centenary of ‘The Rites of Spring’ by Stravinsky. Working alongside Abby were 2 familiar faces who had graduated from the Costume Design pathway at Wimbledon as well as a current student undertaking work placement as part of the course.

Abby explains, “My costume supervisors were Joanna Beart Albrecht , who graduated from Costume Design at Wimbledon College of Art two years ago and Danute Daniene, who graduated 3yrs ago. I was also assisted by Jessie McKensie who is currently in 2nd year of Costume Design and undertook the work placement as part of the professional development module.”

Riot Offspring, National Youth Dance Company, Photos: Bettina Strenske June 2013

Abby was the resident costume designer for the original National Youth Dance Company for 13 years before it ceased to be Arts Council funded in 2002. The Artistic Director at that time was John Chesworth, previously a dancer and then director of Ballet Rambert.

“The current Artistic Director is Jasmin Vardimon, an associate choreographer at Sadler’s Wells and I have designed costumes for her last 2 large scale productions, Freedom and 7734.” says Abby of her return to designing for the Company.

Riot Offspring, National Youth Dance Company, Photos: Bettina Strenske June 2013

The performance came at an extremely busy time for Abby as it coincided with the Wimbledon College of Art Costume Parade, held in the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace as part of the In Fine style exhibition where the costumes from the paintings of the Queens Gallery were brought to life by the Costume Design and Costume Interpretation students.

Wimbledon College of Art Costume Parade ‘In Fine Style’ at the Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Photo: Belinda Lawley

For more fantastic photographs from the Costume Parade have a look at the Wimbledon College of Art flickr Page.

Featuring sculpture, painting, performance, photography and other new media. The work includes Japanese inspired kinetic creations and bronzes inspired by the landscape of Nikko. Faux golden shrines combined with large format photographs will be located next to wall drawings, books, textiles, installations and films.

Down the Dori is a group of artists currently at CCW from France, Spain, USA and the UK. All artists recently exhibited at Tokyo Wonder Site, and they are now exhibiting work inspired by that visit and their responses to their time in Japan.

Down The Dori is in The Cookhouse Gallery at Chelsea College of Art, London

July 2 – 5, 9 – 8pm

Private View: July 2 5pm – 8pm

http://downthedori.tumblr.com

http://tokyoalex.wordpress.com/

http://tokyocheryl.wordpress.com

Kinnetia Isidore, Costume Design

This article is taken from the Wimbledon Residents Journal www.rwmg.co.uk

The Graduates

Congratulations, class of 2013. Wimbledon College of Art waves goodbye to the latest graduates with its annual Undergraduate Show this June

Summer rolls around quickly at Merton Hall Road, home to the most western point of London’s University of the Arts. Today, undergraduate students of the college’s wide array of artistic courses are hurriedly preparing for the glare of public scrutiny as they steel themselves for the annual Undergraduate Show, which runs from Friday 14 to Saturday 22 June. For many, this will be their first opportunity to display their work in a public exhibition. Simon Betts, Dean of the Wimbledon College of Art, has watched over this coming of age procedure for years now, a tenure which is enthused year on year: ‘Our students are not afraid to create thought provoking work and that is what inspires me year on year. ‘There’s incredible energy in the final months of the year as students prepare for their degree shows,’ says Simon, as students of all disciplines, including painting, sculpture, costume, set and prop design, film and photography, get ready to showcase their work.

The graduate shows – the Masters students will follow suit in September – have always attracted large crowds. ‘I think it’s because they give the public the opportunity to see the work of artists and designers of the future and to see how they are challenging and making sense of the world around them,’ muses Simon. The youth and inexperience of the graduates affords their work a desirable element of freshness and lack of cynicism missing from the rest of the art world – Simon calls this rare attribute ‘sophistication with an edge’. The shows, Simon explains, provide spectators with a glimpse into the future of the visual arts, which can’t fail to be exciting.

That’s not to suggest that those qualities face a whitewashing once the students embark on their careers. Each of Wimbledon’s courses maintains strong links with their relative industries, which provides undergraduates with the opportunity to undertake work placements. As well as allowing a depth of experience of the industry they’re preparing Congratulations, class of 2013. Wimbledon College of Art waves goodbye to the latest graduates with its annual Undergraduate Show this June Graduates to surmount, these placements can provide valuable creative connections in the art world. Simon looks warmly upon the Wimbledon locale of the college, calling it a ‘fantastic location for reflection and development.’

China Jordan, Painting

Over its long history in the borough Wimbledon College of Art has formed a close relationship with Merton’s council, most recently culminating with students and staff winning the Lord Mayor’s New Year’s Day Parade twice in the last three years. The college already teaches a vast enough spectrum to satisfy the broadest possible definition of art, but Simon still has plans to expand upon its repertoire. ‘Our aim for the future is to continue to develop our provision of new technologies such as sound, film, digital and animation resources to complement our traditional facilities [Fine Art, Theatre & Screen design and Drawing are the key subject areas]’ he explains. By embedding new technologies into existing courses Simon hopes to offer new students an even greater scope in developing and executing their creative ideas.

What’s next for the undergrads? In the past, many students from the Theatre and Screen Design course have gone on to successful TV, film or theatre careers, while Fine Art students have become internationally exhibiting artists. But whatever they go on to, Simon is adamant that their time at the
College is a testament to their talents. ‘Some may become high profile artists or designers, some may not enter a career in the arts at all, but by graduating from Wimbledon College of Art they have all persevered, succeeded and contributed to the Visual Arts in one form or another.’ Congratulations, class of ’13.

Wimbledon College of Art’s Undergraduate Show is from 14-22 June (closed on Sunday 16 June)

Merton Hall Road, SW19 3QA 

Watch this 30 second trailer to give you just a small taste of what is to come at the Wimbledon College of Art Degree Show 2013

It’s going to be amazing…

Wimbledon College of Art – BA Show 2013

Dates: 14 – 22 June 2013 (closed Sunday 16 June)

Opening times: Monday – Friday: 10.00 – 20.00 / Saturday: 11.00 – 17.00

VIP Breakfast: Thursday 13 June, 8.00 – 11.00*

Private View: Thursday 13 June, 18.00 – 21.00

Friends and Family: Saturday 15 June, 11.00 – 17.00

*by invitation only

Fine Art – Painting, Print and Time-based Media, Sculpture.

Theatre – Costume Design, Costume Interpretaion, Set Design for Screen, Technical Arts and Special Effects, Theatre Design.

For more information contact – info@wimbledon.arts.ac.uk

Rebecca Turner, Dumbstruck, 2011
Paper pulp, mixed media

Paper, a new exhibition running from 18^th June – 29^th September at the Saatchi Gallery, explores our society’s changing relationship with this versatile material. In an increasingly ‘paperless’ era, 44 international artists take on the medium to challenge its throwaway status, its power for protest and its links to preconceptions of high and low culture.

Featured among the works at the exhibition is Rebecca Turner’s gravity-defying ball of pulp. Rebecca graduated from Wimbledon College of Art’s Fine Art: Sculpture pathway in 2011. Other featured artists include Congolese Kura Shomali’s troubling photo snippets and French Éric Manginaud’s life-size drawings of Holocaust victims. Traversing new artistic routes, Paper is a poignant and insightful reflection upon modern society and temporality whose relevance cannot be ignored.

www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk

An exhibition of new paintings by Wimbledon College of Art Alumni Bartholomew Beal & Eleanor Watson

Presented by Isis Phoenix Arts and Jason Colchin-Carter

Mall Galleries, The Mall, London, SW1


May 27 – June 1^st 10am-5pm

Private View 29th May, 6-9pm


7.30 Performance of an extract of Beckett’s Endgame by Theatre with Legs- Lucy Bairstow and Jessica Murrain

7:45 Performance by Diana Yukawa – Violin/Songwriter – from her new Album ‘Finding The Parallel’

www.bartholomewbeal.co.uk

www.eleanorwatson.org

twitter: @biscuithalved

blog- www.biscuitivekeptyouhalf.blogspot.co.uk

Keir Smith: From Wall to Floor focuses on the artist’s work made in the 1970s and early 80s, a time when he made the transition from figurative painting into sculpture, experimenting first with process-based art and performance before moving into a landscape setting. Smith’s oeuvre presents an ongoing conversation between sculpture and painting. He moved back and forth between the two, using two-dimensional media to develop and document his three-dimensional ideas, and to explore qualities of surface and narrative imagery, which remained key themes throughout his artistic practice.

As a student in Newcastle in the early 1970s, under the tutelage of Ian Stephenson, Smith started to investigate the material possibilities of paint, canvas and stretcher and to work these elements into three-dimensional compositions. Later, he developed wall-based installations that harnessed the physical properties of different materials, but were often realised only, or most completely, on paper in highly skilled, polychromatic technical drawings.  In the early 1980s, he turned process into performance, creating a series of sculptures and installations documenting his interaction with the landscape, often presented as compositions or images on the ground.

The exhibition celebrates the acquisition of Keir Smith’s archive, together with works on paper and sculptures to the Leeds collection in 2012.  It is one of a number of recent additions to the collection focusing on artists who emerged in the 1970s and 80s including Helen Chadwick, Phyllida Barlow, Darrell Viner and Shelagh Cluett.

Keir Smith (1950-2007) studied at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1969-73) and at Chelsea School of Art (1973-75). He exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions in the UK and completed many commissions for sculptures for public and landscape sites in the 1980s and 90s, including Grizedale Forest, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Henrietta House, London (Public Art Development Trust) and the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail. He lived and worked in London and Suffolk, teaching at Wimbledon School of Art.

The world’s best set, costume, props, sound and lighting designers will be in Cardiff this September for the first UK-hosted edition of a week long international festival showcasing and sharing what their creative skills add to the public’s enjoyment of the performing arts.

Peter Farley, Senior Lecturer in Theatre Design at WCA, Designer for Performance, Member of the Executive Committee of the Society of British Theatre Designers and UK National Curator, has been working as member of the International Selection and Curation Panel for this event which has received over 700 applications from 50 countries for the performance design exhibition, and over 100 competition applications from 26 countries to design the sustainable theatre.

World Stage Design (WSD) takes place every four years.  The first was held in Toronto in 2005 and the 2009 host city was Seoul. Cardiff won the right to be the event’s 2013 host against competition from several other cities, including Beijing. Its success makes it the first European/UK WSD host.

Alongside the programme of specialist and public events, WSD also makes bronze, silver and gold awards to the best entries to its design competitions.

For more information: www.wsd2013.com