draw inspiration from the mystical landscapes of William Blake and Samuel Palmer. ‘The staff at GSA were so instrumental in shaping my painting — really teaching me to strip away all the unnecessary elements in there. Without them. I wouldn‘t have got to the level I work at now for another ten years!‘
Edinburgh College of Art
DEGREE SHOW:
SAT 16 - TUE 26 JUN
ECA are very keen to draw attention to their latest hot property. 26-year—old Hayley Mardon. The Zimbabwean jewellery designer has already been snapped tip by fair trade accessories company Made. who have hired her as their in- house designer for a new Topshop range of ethical jewellery. Mardon. who creates huge. complicated. amorphous necklaces out of laminated wood and gold leaf. claims that her bold colours and forms are inspired by visual memories of her Zimbawean childhood. ‘I use repeated. simple forms. which come to life when they're wom on the body.‘ she says. ‘My interest in Fair Trade issues and link with Africa has been crucial to my development as a designer. Working for Made is an amazing opportunity. because it allows me to combine my design skills with something I‘m really passionate about.’
Graduating alongside Mardon. but in photography. is Chloe Philip. Her degree project. titled You're Asking For It. is a series of photographic portraits of well-known comedians like Phil Kay. Jo Brand and Russell Howard emerging from holes in the ground. and will be exhibited during the Fringe this year (the venue is to be continued). ‘There's this fine line between hilarity and sadness. I wanted to couple the bravado of the performer with the insecurities of the off-duty stand up.‘ says Philip.
Like lvor Williams at the GSA. 22-year-old l-imily Hogarth. who plans to work as a freelance fashion designer when she graduates. is fascinated by the art of words. Her beautiful textile designs. which start from paper cutouts of foliage. eagles and moths have something of the fragility of stained-glass windows about them. but her main source of inspiration is much more textual. ‘My work is inspired by the sort of romantic. sinister words you often find in poetry.‘ she says. ‘There are stylised florals in there. but often with this slightly dark imagery — I’ve made quite rich. dark. feminine fashion fabrics.‘
Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen
DEGREE SHOW:
SAT 16 - SAT 23 JUN
Mark Duguid. who already has an RSA award and a Peacock Visual
Kim Taylor
Arts Award under his vest. has been described as ‘the Mike Leigh of the sculpture world’ because of the way his work celebrates the ordinary ‘I just took that old theme “never work with animals and children" and said “why not'."" he says. ‘I work with children. Also rabbits. iguanas. pythons. horses and scorpions.’ As part of his degree show. Duguid spent time workshopping with a group of local school children. who created narratives that he captured in stop motion and fed back into his sculpture.
Stephanie Forrest's textile designs are the ultimate in recycled fabrics. She starts with cast-off. laddered tights. bonding them with fuseable fabrics to create contoured. ‘body— conscious' but comfortable-looking designs with something of the 1980s about them. claiming ‘I wanted to make structures that can express dynamic movement.‘
‘THE ART SCHOOL IS A PART OF A BIGGER GLASGOW, AN ART COMMUNITY. IT'S GREAT'
Product Design graduate Joe l-learty. who has spent his final year creating a range of public furniture that plays with dimension and perspective. has tracked the progress of his project on his blog at wwwjoehearty.com. Hearty‘s chairs and benches. to be placed in public spaces. appear either two or three dimensional depending on the angle you look at them from. While preparing the design process. Hearty set up light projections on disused factories in Stonewall. a village near Aberdeen. He is the recipient of a (‘ross Trust Award. with which he is moving on to an internship in New York after graduation.
The spectrum of work on display
at (iray's reflects the breadth of
disciplines the students are encouraged to try: not just painting. sculpture and textile design. but computer animation. geology. printmaking and product design. Other notable graduates this year include Kim Taylor. who has picked up on Scottish design
_.,.,._ '3' Hayley Margon" egg-ti .3: H.)
graduates' long history of computer work and collaborated with local schools. creating intriguineg Luddite digital animations which encourage school children to build their confidence. and Jessica Crisp. winner of the John Kinross Award. who has created a series of prints inspired by her travels. They also include Edinburgh-born product designer David Ross who has designed a new kind of paving stone. woven through with steel threads patterned to mimic the contour lines of local geography. which become visible after the paving has wom down.
Glasgow School of Art, Renfrew Street, Glasgow www. gsa.ac.uk. Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh www.eca.ac.uk. Gray’s School of Art, Garthdee Road, Aberdeen www.graysart school.co.uk
Mark-bug‘uid _
f-Ql Jun 9.007 THE LIST 97