Liverpool Art & Design Academy (ADA)

Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

Following last year’s successful artist residency as part of the John Moores Painting Prize China, four of the five finalists from this year’s competition have flown into Liverpool to exhibit their work and produce new works inspired by the city.

The painting prize is an extension of the long-running Liverpool-based competition which is due to open at the Walker Gallery as part of Liverpool Biennial 2012 on 15 September.

The artists have come over to Liverpool for a month and will be spending their time at Liverpool John Moores University’s Art and Design Academy, home to the Liverpool School of Art and Design and METAL at Edge Hill Station.

The finalists were whittled down from nearly 3,000 entrants by the panel of esteemed judges; Michael Craig-Martin, Tony Bevan, Yu Hong, Ding Yi and Liverpool Biennial’s former Chief Executive, Lewis Biggs.

The finalists are:

• Winner of the prize, Nie Zhengjie was selected for his oil on canvas work, ‘Being’, a study of migrant workers in China
• Hu Wenlong was shortlisted for his stunning oil on canvas, ‘Aphasia’ which took 18 months to paint using fine detail to create a photograph-like finish
• Zheng Jiang’s oil on canvas, ‘Waiting’, uses varnishing techniques to stunning effect
• Pu Yingwei’s oil on canvas, ‘Desire’ explores the different states of body in contemporary Chinese society
• Zhang Aicun’s piece, ‘Makeup NO.2′ is a bright acrylic on canvas, exploring through makeup packaging how women of different classes distinguish themselves depending on the makeup they buy and wear.

from left to right: Ling Min, Nie Zhengjie, Pu Yingwei, Zheng Jiang, Hu Wenlong and Juan Cruz

Ling Min, Head of International Development at the Fine Arts Academy of Shanghai University said:

“We are very pleased to be in Liverpool again with the finest talent from China’s fine arts community.

“This year’s John Moores Painting Prize China has been a phenomenal success and we received many more entries than the previous year, from all over China. We hope people from around Liverpool are able to come and see our exhibition, to meet the artists and see how exciting contemporary Chinese art can be.”

The collaboration extends further in September when, alongside the John Moores Painting Prize at the Walker Art Gallery, the first John Moores Critics Award is launched, inviting the public to submit critical writing around the exhibition.

Some of the artists’ work inspired by local surroundings while in Liverpool

The Critics Award will run in parallel to the painting prizes in Liverpool and Shanghai and will offer two winners, one from China and one from the UK, the opportunity to travel to the UK and China respectively for residencies hosted by Shanghai University and LJMU as part of the cultural exchange programme. There will also be cash prizes for runners-up.

Professor Juan Cruz, Director of the Liverpool School of Art and Design said:”This collaboration marks an exciting time for LJMU and the city of Liverpool. Our new artists in residence have an exceptional talent and have done very well to get here. We are pleased to welcome them and we hope that their stay in Liverpool is as culturally enriching as it is inspiring for their art.”

The John Moores Painting Prize China show is on in the public gallery on the ground floor of the Art and Design Academy, Duckinfield Street, L3 5RD (beside the Metropolitan Cathedral).The exhibition is open until 7 September from 12noon to 5pm.

This activity was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

We are really excited to launch our summer school for 11 years+ in the ADA, ‘Be a Designer’.  The workshops are a great way to it’s really like to make a living from doodling, making or designing professionally and have some fun in the process! We have some great designers delivering workshops such as accessory designers Nook & Willow, Illustration and Graphic Design collective, Mercy and celebrity hat designer Hayley Marsden. This is a great chance to really pick the brains of some of the most successful design businesses and get some top tips about the industry before choosing a career.

There are two week-long groups of workshops to choose from; ‘Be a Graphic Designer’ and ‘Be a Fashion Designer’.You can sign up for a week and experience a broad range of activities, or pick and choose from the daily sessions, from animation and photography to styling and accessory design. Each daily workshop is delivered by a different designer who will work with you on real projects, teaching you new skills and an awareness of what it is really like to work within their industry.

There will be a fantastic opportunity to showcase work in an exhibition, ‘Best of Be a Designer’, in September too!

For booking info click here, or for more information, check out our facebook group and web pages

Light Night
Friday 13 May 2011
5pm – Late
Venues across Liverpool city centre

Light Night is Liverpool’s one-night festival of arts and culture, when venues across the city throw open their doors and stage over 90 special events. From 5pm visitors of all ages can follow their own vibrant trail of exhibitions, performance, talks, walks, dance and much more. It’s the perfect chance to meet friends and family to enjoy the relaxed after-hours atmosphere and rediscover Liverpool city centre – it’s a Friday night out with a difference.

Visit www.lightnightliverpool.co.uk and request your free programme or download it here.

This year the ADA has a wealth of activities including…

Shangpool Blossom – Blossom Time is the latest event within the ongoing shang-pool project. www.shang-pool.com. Canoes meet on the lakes of our virtual Stanley Park paddled by friends in Shanghai and Liverpool. Blossom is dropped from bridges and the park becomes a sound-scape of poems, music and meeting celebrating spring in Shanghai and Liverpool.

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Draw the Line – Following the success of their Long Night evening, Draw the Line return to provide visitors with paper and pens allowing any inspriation to be sketched out across the tables, creating an open public live draw mural as the evening progresses. Drop in an leave your mark.

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Look11 Photography Exhibition – The ADA Gallery hosts a photography exhibition curated by Stephen Snoddy. Conflicting Accounts – Paul Seawright’s document of the ‘troubles’ of Northern Ireland and Inside Out – Jill Jennings documentation of the Maze prison.

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Sparkle VFX – Liverpool’s SparkleVFX are showcasing their software skills in 3D Sculpting (ZBrush) and post production techniques. Come along and learn tips and tricks or pick their brains on a particular issue.

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VJ & Poetry Event – New poetry performances, with sound and image, from students and staff at Liverpool Screen School

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Candle-Lit Labyrinth Walk – Take a walk under the stars on LJMU’s candle-lit spiral labyrinth path, supported by musicians. Installed by staff and students, this labyrinth; an ancient symbol of creativity, is testament to the creative nature of Liverpool and its community.

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Violet City – Liverpool Screen School invites all to find out more about ‘Violet City’ a twisted mash-up movie of Victorian, post-modern and comic book weird.

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Follow Light Night via these social media links:

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/LightNightLiverpool
Facebook Event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=196020347094934 (accessible if logged in)
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LightNightLpool

The Dartmoor Arts Project Summer School takes place in the village of Drewsteignton, outside of Exeter. For one week every July.  The courses embrace a range of disciplines taught by leading practitioners, presenting a rich and varied programme of talks, music, performance and screenings. During the week, artists come together to discuss ideas and share experiences. The majority of the courses are aimed at Fine Art students and young artists but they also run an innovative ‘Spatial Structures’ course with architect Piers Taylor for young architects as well as an in-depth Art & Philosophy course.

A number of bursaries of up to 40% of the course fees are available for 2011. Bursaries are open to emerging artists, photographers, printmakers, designers and architects.  The Bursary application deadline is the 18th April 2011. Places are limited so please apply early here and click on ‘bursaries’.

JISC (a body which inspires UK colleges and universities in the innovative use of digital technologies) and Bristol’s Institute for Learning And Research Technology have created a free online Virtual Training Suite to advise Art and Design Students on the best ways to improve their Internet Research Skills.

The Internet for Art and Design will help you…

Learn how to make discerning use of the Internet to help find information for your coursework and assignments.

In December, the Art and Design Pod collaborated with Open Labs to host preFAB; an informal evening of creative collaboration with a group of creative enthusiasts, designers, makers from the Merseyside area, who were interested in gaining exposure to the ADA fabrication equipment with potential opportunities arising throughout the evening to use laser cutters and 3D printers.

During the course of the evening, three teams had access to both the fabrication equipment at the ADA and assistance from the Design Pod staff to help them flesh out their ideas. The event was also a great opportunity for participants to meet, work and mingle with like-minded creative people.

The evening’s activity was centered around a brief provided by the Design Pod team to reinvent the Christmas Cracker for the 21st century.

A range of imaginative and insightful ideas were developed over the course of the evening, ranging from a gingerbread tree structure created from laser cut ginger snap biscuits to a Russian Roulette table centerpiece.

The winning project, Crack.r foresaw a virtual based cracker which allowed users to share personal information and items from smartphones with each other by slotting them into a cracker device

IIsa Parry of Rethinkthings commented,

“preFAB offered me the opportunity to meet new contacts, as well as participate in an unusual creative evening. It was also great to understand what ADA@LJMU offer in terms of facilities and services. I’m now really looking forward to FAB Camp in January.”

Jason Taylor (Operations Manager at Open Labs) said,

“preFAB is one of a series of activities focused on making local companies aware of emerging technology and market opportunities. Events such as this are an ideal platform to raise awareness and encourage collaborations between the University and the Creative Industries. A further more in depth event, FAB Camp Liverpool, is planned for January of next year.”

A weekend long Fab Camp Liverpool event is planned for the ADA on the 29th-30th January. Watch this space for more details!

LJMU’s recently launched Shang-Pool Arcadia, in collaboration with the University of Shanghai and involving academics, students and the public has been nominated for a Learning Without Frontiers Award for innovations in Further and Higher Education alongside Oxford University and Emantras, USA.
It is now up to the public to decide the overall award winner, leaving an opportunity to vote for this LJMU project.

The voting page here and the deadline is 4th January 2011.

Peter Appleton, LJMU Reader in Creative Technology Artist and Director of the project explained:

“As the impact of academic research on the public is high on the education agenda at present, this brings out an unexpected collaboration between arts and science academics, students and the public which is effectively using ‘Second Life’ live to share academic knowledge with the community and to impact on regeneration and rebuilding of destroyed cultures.”

Read More at LJMU

The ADA POD team are about to work with 16 Knowsley schools on ‘Telling Tales’ – a series of story telling and puppet workshops. As part of a project covering the whole borough they will work with primary pupils to create and perform a series of shadow puppet shows based on materials created in earlier sessions with storytellers and dramatists. This Tuesday saw the initial introduction of the project to over 25 teachers who collaborated on a mini version of the project their efforts are visible below…

The project will run between Jan and March 2011 and the results will be posted here on the blog!

Well done to everyone who took part in the “Design your Futures” Exhibition in Manchester this week, which showcased all the ADA courses to potential applicants from all over the country. Despite the snow and ice, we welcomed a large number of visitors to our recognisable stand over the two days of the show showcasing images and information from all of our courses running in 2011 and 2012. Course leaders from all the Art and Design courses were on hand to answer any questions from the budding art and design students of the future. Visitors to the ADA stand also had a chance to pick up the new look ‘Edge’ magazine in a newspaper style format which features a whole new ADA branding that will be launched in January.

Several members of Graphic Arts staff and students have work published in the latest edition of David Crow’s book Visible Signs. The book is an update to the popular first edition of the same name, in which David Crow introduces design students to the fundamentals of semiotics. The book explains semiotic terms and theories in relation to visual communication, with illustrative examples taken from contemporary art and design. Graphic Design and Illustration lecturer, Seel Garside acted as picture researcher for both editions of the publication with author, David, who was previously Head of Graphic Arts at LJMU. Many of visuals created to illustrate the ideas discussed within the book showcase the high standard of work from the Graphic Arts course and highlight the talent available within the ADA

Great series of Talks from RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) presented in an interestingly Animated way. Great subject matter too – especially the above example on education processes by Sir Ken Robinson – check out his TED talk on schools and creativity here.