Our brand-new Art and Design college course that launched this month has got off to a flying start, with students already experimenting with drawing, collage, illustration and even stop motion animation in their first few weeks.
Led by course leader Nicky Ackland-Snow, the course is encouraging students to explore different ways of working, find their own creative interests and try things that take them outside their comfort zones.
Nicky said the course began by asking each student to choose three artists whose work connected with them.
“I asked all of them to choose three artists that really resonated with them, just to get an idea of where their passions are,” she said.
From there, the students moved into a series of analogue drawing experiments, including creating work in response to sound.
Using Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London as their starting point, the group listened closely to the music and translated its sounds and rhythms into marks and patterns on paper.
“The task was to make marks, shut their eyes almost, and make marks to the sounds and the rhythms,” Nicky explained.
Those experiments became the starting point for a project exploring wolves and werewolves through different materials and techniques.
Students worked with ink before developing their ideas through research and collage, building their own interpretations of what a werewolf character could look like.
Nicky said the work involved “layers and layers of development from the sound experiments”, with each stage feeding into the next.
“They created their own collages of what the werewolf might look like and then traced them to make up their characters, which turned out really well,” she said.
The students then took those characters into animation. Their paper creations were photographed frame by frame to create stop-motion pieces, bringing the characters they had developed to life.
“We articulated them, took photos of them and made these stop animations,” Nicky said.
For students Eli and Niamh, those opening weeks have already offered the chance to experiment with very different ways of making art.
Eli described the course as “very different” and picked out working with charcoal as one a favourite experience so far, while Niamh said: “I enjoyed the collage stuff.”
The variety is deliberate. Nicky is pushing the students beyond the techniques and materials they might automatically choose, giving them opportunities to discover new strengths and ways of expressing their ideas.
And there is plenty more experimentation to come.
After half term, the group will move on to a new brief exploring album cover design – something the students are already looking forward to.
“I’m excited to get stuck into the album covers,” Eli said.
Interested in studying Art and Design at boomsatsuma? Find out more, meet the team and see what college life is like at one of our upcoming Open Days. You’ll be able to explore our courses, meet tutors and students, see the spaces where you’ll be learning and discover where a creative course at Boomsatsuma can take you.
