ECA degree show

last night I visited the Edinburgh college of art degree show.  Was a great wee show.  I was particularly proud of my two students I taught a few years ago. 

Eva Fernandez Matos just graduated from her Masters of Arts course and previously studied at Clyde College glasgow.  I totally loved her work.  She made a very conceptual range of pieces displayed beautifully.  Some of her pieces were 3D printed.

   
    
 
I was also really proud of Esther Macintosh who previously studied at the City of Glasgow College.  The concept behind her work was about social media and the problems or anxieties it brings.  I particularly liked her steel choker she made using some CAD as well as the neck piece worn on the back representing stress and knots. 

   
 Another students work I really liked was Ruoyan Wang.  Although she didn’t use any CAD in her pieces, I loved the soft tactile feeling to her range.

   
 
It was a great show.  I didn’t get the chance to see any of the other departments.  The only down side was the heavy rain, but that did make for quite a moody view of the castle from the roof of ECA. 

 

The Craftsmen of St Andrews Past and Present

Today I went on a wee day trip to St Andrews to see an exhibition and event called ‘The Craftsmen of St Andrews Past and Present’.  The event consisted of talks, workshops and an exhibition.  The event was held by the university of St Andrews and was a cultural engagement project.  The exhibition exhibited original books and text written in the old Scott’s language dating from 1550-1800’s.  The transcripts document information on traditional trades of Baxters, Fleshers and Hammermen.  I met a Researcher from St Andrews University who has been working on digitising and translating the books and they are now available online.  What was great about the event was the juxtaposition of traditional crafts alongside the new.  There were photo’s of both contemporary and old trades.

The event was also running workshops for the public involving 3D printing and laser cutting.  They used laser cutting on foam and made printing stamps which they then used on fabrics.  I thought this was quite a clever and simple idea making tools and then getting the public involved.  The workshop area was very busy with both adults and children taking part.

Also, on other news………  Last night I tested my shot glasses with Lisa who I work with.  The shot glasses work very well as vessels and the experience was fun.  However I am thinking I need to design an actual whisky glass for my whisky as it doesn’t seem right drinking Abelour Abunadh from a shot glass.

DCA Exhibition- Grey Gardens

 

Yesterday I went to see the Architecture exhibition at Dundee Contemporary Arts.  There were a few things that really caught my eye in terms of ideas and shapes that would relate to the design of my container house.  This building really caught my eye.  It has the feel of Falling waters by Frank Lloyd Wright and the overhang I want to achieve by stacking my containers.  The concrete struts also look similar to the idea of using recycled pallet crates to clad the outside of my shipping container.

  

I quite liked this photo.  It has a very strange mixture of architecture almost being taken over by nature.
  

These images and models I thought looked similar to what could be achieved using shipping containers.
  

This spiral design really caught my eye.  A few weeks ago after making my Fibonacci crochet blanket I had the idea to play around with this form for the inside space of my workshop.

In the middle of the exhibition was a table of forms I liked which I thought led them selves very well to jewellery.
  
  

Architecture exhibition- Weather Forms

Last night I went to a great exhibition in The Lighthouse, Glasgow called Weather Forms. The exhibition was about architecture and weather.  I was impressed by a lot of the show and it was a big space to fill.

http://www.thelighthouse.co.uk/visit/exhibition/weather-forms

 I was particularly impressed and proud of Inness Yeoman’s input, he helped out with two big installations as well as hanging a huge wall of paintings.  I have known Inness for his whole life.  He has been working for architect Paul Stallan of Stallan-Brand helping to put the show together.

Inness hung this instillation as well as make some of the models to the left bottom of this photo.
Behind the hanging exhibition was a laser cut city map which I found quite interesting.

   Instillation which Inness Yeoman also helped with as well as a huge wall of paintings he hung.
 Had a great evening all in all, I also want to thank Angela Dickson for great shipping container chat and my essential PhD starter kit she gave me.

Heat Exchange II

Today I visited the heat exchange exhibition in St Andrews.  The exhibition is of jewellers and makers working in enamel.  I particularly liked the works of Beate Gegenwart who uses laser cut steel, enamel and felt.  These pieces were very large and there were six in total.

  
I was also impressed with Stephen Bottomley’s work which was well presented on etched wood.  What I particularly liked about his work was the cell like structure that he had created using enamel and metal.