OPEN STUDIOS  is happening on Wed 13 Dec 

3:00- 5:30 pm 14-16 Windsor Terrace – Studio Tour with MFA & PhD’s 

4.00 – 5.30pm KEVII Fine Art Studios – BA 1-3 Year 

Followed by ….5.30 – 8.00pm  Interim PV/ FESTIVE PARTY for ALL Fine Art students in KEVII Café 

If you have not been involved in OPEN STUDIOS before this is when we tidy up ALL of the studios and you present work in progress in your studio space.  We then have a fun afternoon where everyone gets involved with looking around the different studios in Windsor terrace and then KEVII – seeing everyone else’s work , chatting and having  conversations with each other in the studio.  .

Open studios is a social event – not an assessment event – it is entirely up to you what you present in your space. This might include sketchbooks, documentation, work in progress or completed pieces .  For BA students it will also mean we have lovely tidy spaces ready for the Jan asessment!

This year will be a bit different. We will be kicking things Off at  3pm with studio tour/refreshments at Windsor Terrace, followed by a staggered 4pm start in KEVII to give all the BA’s a chance to get to immersed in the MFA and PhD studios . 

Open studios is an opportunity to come together socially  and see what is going on is all the Fine Art Studios & locations (King Edward &  Windsor terrace) Its also a chance to get to know each others practice, share expertise, create opportunities and make connections. New this year – We will give out post-it notes at Open Studios and encourage all student and staff to use them at the event to make introductions, give feedback about work, share an encouraging opinion or helpful suggestion. Post- Its available from Nigel! 

OS is taking place in the regular teaching day so it will be a “dry” event and there won’t be a bar.  But… Final Year Interim Preview and the FINE ART FESTIVE PARTY for all students kicks off directly after Open Studios 5.30 -8.00pm. All WELCOME !

Health & Safety and Security: You must have your space ready by 12am on Wed 13^th Dec for a Health and Safety walk around by Joe – so think carefully about any equipment you may need and any health & safety checks and risk assessments you may need to organise. If you are not sure then speak to your tutor or module leader.  Be especially careful of running electric cables across walkways and blocking fire corridors and exits. 

You are responsible individually for your own work, so you need to consider ethics, & check any electrical equipment you are using and – very importantly – turn it off at the end of the event. You may want to discuss Open Studios (health & safety, signage, security etc) with other members of your studio and work collaboratively. 

 STUDIOS HAVE TO BE VACATED AND EVERYTHING SWITCHED OFF BY 5.30 PM!

If you have any questions, please contact: nick.fox@ncl.ac.uk

Thanks to Adam Castle for inspiring the poster design, Please share !

Nick

Hi Everyone, 

I am the Sustainability Representative for the Art Department. Since the last SSC Meeting, I have met up with the Head of the Department Christian Mieves to discuss the creation of a swap space for materials, and he is currently looking for a suitable place for this within the department building. 

Please message send an email to me if you have any other sustainability issues you would like me to raise.  

Many thanks,

Beth Willoughby 

b.willoughby1@newcastle.ac.uk

 Every Tuesday 9.30 -10.00 am 

Fine Art Café

Free coffee & biscuits 

BA, MFA, PHD Students & staff all welcome – We hope to see you there

What is Breakfast Club? 

Hosted by the Head of Fine and Deputy Head (Christian & Nick), Breakfast Club is an informal space for conversation, and community. You can pop in for a coffee and chat about anything that comes to mind.  We can listen, answer questions you might have and resolve concerns or just chat about whatever is the hot topic that week. Let us know your ideas ! Breakfast Club continues every teaching week on Tuesdays 9.30-10.00 am in the FA Café 

Everyone welcome. 🙂 

Best wishes,

Fine Art  

Hello All – The GFF is Back!

Have you always wanted to learn how to grow your own food? Know how but have nowhere to garden? Are you 

interested in organic gardening, green issues or working with natural materials in your practice? Are you interested in alternative approaches to creating opportunities for discussion and collaboration ? – Then come and work with the Green Finger Forum at 14-15 Windsor Terrace!

The GFF is a student run forum based on creating opportunities for creative social events through gardening, cooking, eating, foraging and making. We will hold approximately 2-3 events per semester. This often takes the form of a little light gardening (depending on the season) and making and eat a vegan/vegetarian lunch together. This year we are also intending to run workshops in other plant related subjects such as pickling and preserving , natural dyes and using natural materials in making artworks .

This year we are trying out an international recipe theme – so if you have a dish that you would like to take the lead in showing others how to prepare and cook then please get in touch by responding to the emails we will send out. We are also looking for ideas from you for other workshops and projects we can run or help facilitate.

In 2022 the GGF cleared the overgrown gardens at the back of 14-15 Windsor Terrace near the Robinson Library. We also built compost bins, raised beds, and a small greenhouse, and planted a herb bed and a vegetable garden. Everything has bloomed over the last two years and we have been eating salads, micro-greens, courgettes, potatoes and beans for sunny lunchtime snacks over the summer. There are still lots of lovely veggies left to harvest and eat or to pickle, preserve or perhaps use for dying or making inks etc.

We would love to have you come join us .  You do not need to have any experience in gardening or to have been involved last year – just bring an open mind and generous approach to working with others. If you are intending to help in the garden please wear clothes and footwear that you do not mind getting a bit dirty. If we have bad weather we will have indoor activities.

Our first meeting of the new academic year 23-24 on Monday 13th November (see poster attached)and will be a whole day event with pierogi making, talks and workshops. You can pop in when you feel like but it would be great to have some collaboration in making the food in the morning for lunch around 1pm. The food w e prepare is vegan and we also try to have gluten free alternatives when possible. Contributions welcome.

Any questions please contact Irene – irene.brown@ncl.ac.

It is that time of year once more when students and recent graduates can apply for the North East Emerging Artists Award at Seaton Delaval Hall.   There is background and application info here: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/north-east/seaton-delaval-hall/north-east-emerging-artist-award  

Deadline for applications is Weds 8th Dec   

More info: Link

Chilean artist Constanza Mendoza will be visiting the department from Berlin.
Constanza’s work studies games and play as critical tools to examine power structures, ethic-politics and new strategies for collaboration. 
She will be giving a talk as part of the visiting speakers programme, but we will also be running a session to play Game of Kin, a collaborative card game designed by Constanza’s collective, Laboratorio de Pensamiento Lúdico. The game works from a scenario in which the climate crisis has caused the collapse of life on Earth. The objective is to generate relationships between non-human species in order to survive in their habitats. 

This will take place on Thursday 5 October between 14:00 and 17:00 in 14 Windsor Terrace.

We have ten spaces for students to join and play the game. If games are important for you, you would like to explore how they might become part of your practice or you’re interested in creative responses to the climate crisis, I encourage you to sign up here. 

More details about the game are included below.
Also if you would like to meet and speak with Constanza about your work, tutorial slots are available on Friday 6 October. Please add your name and info here to book one.
All the best,
Giles.

GAME OF KIN
Can you imagine what life on Earth will be like in four hundred years when the Anthropocene is over? Game of Kin is a speculative game about the species that survived the global collapse to fabulate a new era of cooperation and relationality. Game of Kin changes the perspectives on what is happening, because by modifying the questions we will be able to propose new answers. As long as we imagine it, we will have already started a new era.
Game of Kin is designed for up to 24 people to participate. It does not require any specific skill or knowledge. Game of Kin consists of a deck of cards with which groups are formed that are defined as ecological niches. That is, each group is determined by a territory with differentiated climatic conditions and inhabited by interdependent organisms adapted to those conditions and territory. The possibilities of each game are infinite and never repeated, but always imply responsibilities.

Game of Kin is a game designed by Laboratorio de Pensamiento Lúdico (LPL) and it will be facilitated by Constanza Mendoza.

LONGING DISCO, a participatory project by Nick Fox is staged as part of Modern Love Festival , EMST Athens 29 Sept – 1 Oct ! The Festival offers a rich programme of talks, panels, screenings, music and performances that look into the relationship between humans and technology, focusing especially love and close human relationships in the age of late capitalism, globalisation, digital connectivity and social media. Check out the entire festival programme at https://www.emst.gr/en/events-en/events-upcoming-en/modern-love-festival#press

Longing Disco at the MODERN LOVE BAR   

@ EMST, Τhe National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens 

Friday 29 Sept 2023, 22:30-1:30 (GR time) 

Free:  Join in person or insta via the festival website. 

Have you ever been left heartbroken, not knowing what to do next, and played a track over and over again? Share your story and dance the pain away!  

As part of IMODERN LOVE  festival 2023, you are invited to participate in LONGING DISCO staged by artist Nick Fox at The Modern Love Bar (EMST Athens) ,  Friday 29th  September 

Longing Disco invites you to come along to share your stories of Modern Love & unspoken personal desires inspired by your favourite ‘lovestruck’ track in an evening of music and dance. Participants request songs beforehand and also anonymously share their personal stories of longing behind song choices that chronicle blissful courtships, tragic romances, displacement, betrayal, unrequited loves, loss hopes and dreams.  By connecting through personal stories of love and loss, Longing Disco creates a counterpoint to the digital disconnect and reminds us that longing and loss can also be a powerful driving force to create fulfilment and joy in our own lives.  

You can request songs and share your story even if you can’t attend the event . 

More info or to Book your place & submit a song here:  https://www.emst.gr/en/articles/longing-disco-nick-fox

Uta Kögelsberger

Uncertain Subjects the body of works by Uta Kögelsberger developed in response to Brexit between 2017 and 202o, included in: 

Leave to Remain: A snapshot of Brexit, by Noni Stacey, Published by Lund Humphries
… a very timely investigation of the role art and photography played in capturing and reflecting on the conditions for the Brexit referendum. Illustrated by a range of work by artists including Cornelia Parker, Wolfgang Tillmans, David Shrigley, Uta Kögelsberger, Tacita Dean and Jeremy Deller as well as the satirists Cold War Steve and Led By Donkeys, who offer fascinating insights into their work

The book is available here:https://www.lundhumphries.com/products/leave-to-remain

The first major retrospective of the work of the British abstract artist and teacher Matt Rugg (1935-2020).

Until 13 January 2024, Hatton Gallery

Congratulations to Guest curated by Dr Harriet Sutcliffe.

More info see here