Art and Design students’ success in national competitions

Part-time second year BA(Hons) Fine Art student, Rob Johnsey is one of ten finalists nominated to win the Broomhill Art and Sculpture Foundation's National Sculpture prize. This national sculpture competition has a prize fund of £15,000 and attracted entries from 50 budding artists.

Each finalist received £1,000 this spring to help them transform their proposed idea into an inspiring finished piece, which are now on show at an outdoor exhibition at Broomhill. The general public is encouraged to vote for their favourite sculpture online and two overall winners will be announced in September (one chosen by the public and the second by a panel of judges.) Vote for your favourite work at Broomhill online here

Rob's entry for this project expresses his fascination with natural forms - with exotic fruits, shells, fossils, the human form and the landscape appealing to his visual and tactile senses. "I think of sculpture as a way of experimenting with the three-dimensional world," Rob explains. "I like to find out what happens if...?  At the same time I think of it as a way to explore the human mind.  What is it capable of imagining?  What can it produce that has never been produced before?  My interest in pattern and geometry is always bubbling under the surface," he adds.

For further information and to vote, visit www.broomhillart.co.uk

Laura Carnell who graduated from BA(Hons) Contemporary Crafts in 2008, was awarded both first  prize and a commendation  for her pewter and hardwood Olympic gift designs at this year's prestigious Pewter Live competition. Olympic Vase was the star of the show, scooping first prize and a cheque for £1000, against stiff competition from the country's leading metal-ware designers.  Her Olympic Underground napkin ring set was also commended for its simplicity and ease of production. For more information, visit www.pewterers.org.uk and www.rara-design.co.uk

At the recent Bradford Textile Society student competitions, graduate, Zoe Howarth and second-year student, Amanda Quartly, both won second prizes. Zoe gained second place in the Clothworker's Foundation Award for a woven fabric for menswear or womenswear for which she won £250.  Her submission in the Clothworker's Foundation Award scheme for a woven or knitted fabric for interiors also received a commendation.

Amanda Quartly gained her second place for a Printed Interiors textile design for a domestic market and also won £250.  Amanda's collection of printed interiors fabrics, entitled A Home from Home, is inspired by the charismatic boats, quaint cottages and laid-back lifestyle of Cornwall.  She commented: "Using Cornwall's attributes, I build narrative scenes of picturesque landscapes, using perspective to involve the viewer, whether they have walked into a coffee shop, are swimming with a friend and sociable seals, or taking a holiday snap of Cornwall's  romantic  views."

The Bradford Textile Society offers the young designers and technicians of the future a glimpse of the richness and complexity of their profession and derives the greatest pleasure from the continuing success of its Prize Schemes, which have been the source of encouragement and inspiration to textile students and practising textile designers, and have helped to stimulate new developments in textile design and construction, and finishing and printing techniques.

The success of Falmouth's Textile Design students is further demonstrated by the news that 2009 graduate, Polly Bell, has been awarded a £2,400 Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Fund (QEST) Award. Polly's scholarship will enable her to attend the Sir John Cass Department of Art, Media & Design at London Metropolitan University to study Modern and Traditional Upholstery, and collaborate directly with furniture designers. Polly recently returned from a two-month placement with Anokhi in Jaipur, India, where she worked with traditional blocks to produce printed textiles. She is currently designing textiles for fashion and interiors using digital and manual printing processes.

University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the right to award degrees in its own name. UCF has two campuses - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns and jointly manages with the University of Exeter).

UCF's merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008 created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Dance, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Dartington-based courses are relocating to Cornwall this summer to a high-specification £15.4M Performance Centre at the Tremough Campus that will launch in September 2010, paving the way for the creation of a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2013/2014 that will be unique to the South West.

UCF is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One and Convergence), the South West Regional Development Agency and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.

Ends

For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby Dip CIPR MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792, or email:  jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk

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