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Art & Design
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Welcome
If you’re reading this, you must be thinking about taking a degree in art or design. That’s a good decision, and you won’t regret it. But which course? You need to research the options – go to tees.ac.uk/ug/art&design for detailed information, and come to one of our open days – you’ll find the next one at tees.ac.uk/opendays. And while you’re waiting, check out our facilities at tees. ac.uk/campustour. So you’ll know more about the course and the career it leads to – but can you imagine what it will be like? You don’t have to wonder – in the following pages you can read how people just like you chose their course, enjoyed their studies, and went on to a satisfying and successful career. Read on … make your mind up … apply … and you’ll never look back. See you soon Professor Gerda Roper Dean School of Arts & Media
Find out more
T: 01642 384019 E:
[email protected] tees.ac.uk/ug/art&design Twitter: twitter.com/TeessideUniSAM
Work on live projects with external clients to experience real business situations and make a significant addition to your portfolio.
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SEE OUR SCHOOL FACILITIES
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Jason Ingram
BA (Hons) Product Design
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Natalie Simmons BA (Hons) Interior Architecture
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Julie Macbean Artist
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Melissa Pink
BA (Hons) Fine Art
10 Michael Hall
Senior lecturer – Graphic Design
FOCUS ON art & design >W e are the UK’s top new university for student experience (Times Higher Education survey 2011)
> We have an excellent record in prestigious national and international competitions and assessment schemes
>W e are in the UK’s top five universities for Students’ Union satisfaction (National Student Survey 2012)
> 86% of our degree students are happy with their course (National Student Survey 2012)
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A student
SAYS Jason Ingram
BA (Hons) Product Design
Jason’s degree helped him to land his dream job. In the sixth form I decided I wanted to study product design, and I visited Teesside and another university. What clinched it for Teesside was the welcoming feel of the design studio. Students from all three years work in the Cook building – it’s like a home from home. The course has been a series of projects, each challenging in a different way. Over the three years I have learned all the skills I need, including teamwork. In Year 1 our team project was ergonomic – to build a recumbent trike. In Year 2 we had a joint project with the famous Bauhaus in Germany, to design a bus shelter. We focused on cost-effective solutions, and I refined my skills in using other people’s drawings to make models. My Year 3 major project was to design a new product for Willerby Holiday Homes – their marketing manager, a Teesside graduate, approached the University for ideas. I designed a garden office made of modular units so the buyer can design their own building. I lived with my parents in Hartlepool and had a part-time job, so I didn’t get very involved in student social life. I gave up the job in my third year because it’s a pretty intensive course – the studio is open all day, every day and there’s always more to do. But the effort has been worthwhile.
In the summer before Year 3 I had an internship at Vixen Surface Treatments, industrial cleaning machine manufacturers. I created 3D animations for the American market to show how the machines work. On the strength of that experience, I got my existing job before I even graduated. I work for Kobusch Packaging as a technical tool designer. I will be based in Stanley, County Durham but it’s an international firm with operations in Germany and Egypt – I hope to travel with work. It’s my dream job, and I’m delighted to get it.
It’s a pretty intensive course – the studio is open all day, every day and there’s always more to do.
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A student
SAYS Natalie Simmons BA (Hons) Interior Architecture I think I can trace my interest in interior design back to working on the set design for a school play. I chose appropriate A levels to study architecture, but then I came across Teesside’s interior architecture course at a UCAS fair. I came to Teesside for an interview and the staff were so friendly and gave me a tour of the studios – and that made my mind up. I’d never been this far north – I’m from a village near Cambridge – but I have taken to the area. We have a series of projects through all three years, sometimes working in groups as we will in practice. At first we work to a brief given by the tutors, but now in Year 3 we set our own briefs. We learn to present individual ideas to the group, and to take a part in critiques. In year 1 we had a fiveday trip to London for a design exhibition and to see buildings featured in the architectural history module. In Year 2 we had an amazing trip to Paris, and in Year 3 we will go to Amsterdam. I’ll also complete a 5,000 word dissertation, for which I have
Natalie has added work experience and competition wins to her CV to add to her employability. chosen to write about sustainability issues in a planned new town near Cambridge. I shared a house with other students in my first year, and we are still together now. And I get on really well with all the other students on my course – the three years mix. I was the year representative for my course in Year 2, which involved some training from the Students’ Union, and meeting with the staff to discuss any issues about the course that students bring up.I have become more confident about speaking to larger groups – presenting your ideas is a key part of the job. The staff encourage us to enter external design competitions, and I have had three successes. In 2011 I won £50 in a competition run by Magnet Kitchens, and in 2012 I won £300 in a competition to create a mood board using new software on the House to Home website. More recently I was part of a team which won the Multi-Disciplinary Team Award in a
competition called Build Qatar Live. The team was fronted by Niven Architects along with other design professionals, myself and three other Teesside University students and one of our tutors. These wins are excellent additions to my CV. I have also got work experience during the vacations to add to my academic qualification. I worked at a department store in Cambridge, offering interior design advice to customers. With these additions to my CV I’m confident about getting a job when I graduate – I’ll probably move back to Cambridge where there is a lot of development going on.
We have a series of projects through all three years, working in groups.
See more students’ work tees.ac.uk/ug/art&design
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A graduate
SAYS
Julie was a mature student and enjoyed the experience so much she stayed on for a master’s. Julie MacBean Artist BA (Hons) Fine Art and MA Fine Art, class of 2012 I joined the army when I was 18 and met my husband in the army, and after being stationed all over the place we settled in Darlington when our 22 years were up. I had a job, but after three years I was restless and I started a foundation degree in fine art at Cleveland College of Art and Design – drawing and painting for the first time since I left school. That got me hooked, so I moved on to complete a degree at Teesside. I just loved being a student, and grabbed everything I could, and was proud to win the Fiona Mellis award for professional practice and exhibition curation. I enjoyed the degree so much that I stayed on for an MA. In Year 1 we were encouraged to try our hands at as many artistic media as
possible. The tutors are there as guides – it’s up to you whether you take their advice or not – and they always try to push you to go a step further. In Year 2 and Year 3 I mainly concentrated on painting, and did well. I had a solo show at the Constantine Gallery in the University, and at Darlington Arts Centre, and sold nearly all the paintings I exhibited. But I’m proudest of all of having one of my paintings in a show at the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art – mima. When I started my MA, I continued painting, thinking why change what was successful. But the tutors pointed out that they weren’t seeing anything different from me, and we should be moving on to a different level. So I tried printmaking, and the tutor, Janice Downs, was an inspiration. She kept saying ‘try this technique, try this approach’. She gave me the confidence to enter national competitions, and I was accepted to
exhibit in the RE Open, the annual exhibition of the Royal Society of PainterPrintmakers, at the Bankside Gallery in London. Clive Jennings, the Director of the National Print Gallery, selected my print as one of his favourites which he discussed in an article in the magazine Printmaking Today. Now that I have completed the MA, I’ll be making my living from my art – selling through local exhibitions, and perhaps doing some teaching. The important things for me are to keep learning, keep experimenting, and keep expressing myself.
I just loved being a student, and grabbed everything I could.
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A student
SAYS Melissa Pink
BA (Hons) Fine Art
Melissa is making the most of her time at Teesside, including an exchange to a German university. I studied at Cleveland College of Art and Design and went on to study fashion marketing at another university. When I realised the course wasn’t for me I left after a year and came to Teesside to study fine art. It felt right immediately as there was a lot of creative freedom – in Year 1 we were taught about and could experiment with painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography and digital media as well as learning about art history. The university has many facilities including printmaking and sculpture studios, dark rooms, macs, photography and filmmaking equipment as well as roomy studios. At the beginning of the course I heard of two extra possibilities, and I took advantage of both. One was to spend one day a week on a paid teaching placement in my first year. I had often thought about going into teaching and I did this at Caedmon Secondary School in Whitby; I found it very helpful and insightful. This opportunity gave me the experience that is vital before making any career decisions about teaching. I came to the conclusion that I would like to go into teaching later in life. The second option was to spend some time at another university in Europe or America as an exchange student. I opted for the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany. In preparation, I learned German from scratch in one of the free courses run by Teesside University. I had to submit a portfolio to the Bauhaus and they offered me a place between March and August, at the end of Year 2. The Bauhaus is an internationally famous school of art and design and I met people from all over the world and of course
many German students. As well as the unique experience of studying there, I took the opportunity to travel to Paris, Kassel, Leipzig, Dresden and especially Berlin, to see exhibitions and study German art and culture. I’m now in my final year, in which we have to produce a reflective case study. This includes a piece of artwork that I will make and write about using research acquired whilst traveling and living in Germany. From this I will bind a book, as I took a bookbinding course at the Bauhaus. I also want to make a short film.
When I graduate I plan to return to Germany with my fiancé who is a photographer and live in Berlin, which is the place to be for art at the moment.
It felt right immediately as there was a lot of creative freedom.
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Staff
PROFILE
If you have the talent and aptitude it’s a privilege to be able to do what you’re good at and what you enjoy. Even better, you can make a living at it and meet some amazing people. Michael Hall Senior lecturer in Graphic Design
Michael brings decades of experience, terrific enthusiasm – and a second identity – to his teaching. After I graduated from Leeds Polytechnic in the 1980s I spent 20 years in London, working freelance on graphic design and graphic arts projects. Sometimes I was working for design and advertising agencies and sometimes directly with my own clients, including Waterstone’s, The Arts Council and the Tate. I also wrote, illustrated, and self-published my own books, and that led to work in the publishing industry as an illustrator and author. My ability to write enabled me to also work as a copywriter alongside some fantastic art directors. I wrote words that were used by Glenmorangie, Woolworths and the Body Shop. Alongside this commercial arts practice I set up the AgB graphic arts collective with Pete Nevin in London in 1994, staging a number of high profile group exhibitions. We have continued working together and in 2010 we held two shows and released three publications at Design Event North East, in Newcastle and Middlesbrough. Earlier this year we presented a paper together at the Design Principles & Practices conference in Los Angeles.
My teaching career started by delivering talks about my work for a number of graphic design and fine art courses around the country. I was later invited to teach part-time at various institutions in London, Canterbury and Portsmouth. This was all great experience and for a while it complemented my freelance work really well. Eventually though, having so many employers became quite complicated, so I decided to simplify my life by getting a full time teaching job. I was attracted to Teesside because I knew the area well, and because the course, although relatively new, was already gaining a good reputation. I got a sense of something growing and I wanted to be part of it.
Our other big strength is the teaching staff. They are superbly qualified and have a wide range of industrial and commercial experience. The team reflects the kinds of work that graduates in this broad subject area can expect to get. That breadth and depth of experience means that we can make students aware of what others may be doing – or have done – not just in the University but more widely.
Since I came to Teesside in 2001 there has been a huge investment in buildings and facilities. I’m based in the Cook building, and I work in Phoenix and Athena. The work spaces simulate the working experience students can expect when they graduate, and they always make a big impression on people who come to an open day. As an external examiner, I visit other universities, and our facilities are the best I have seen.
When I’m not teaching I channel my creative output through www.gnuagb. com, under my creative identity, Mikel Horl. I’m excited by the possibilities of creative and collaborative publishing through the internet and social media, continuing a tradition of democratic publishing that goes back to Hogarth in the eighteenth century – reaching thousands of ordinary people, not just one rich patron. As I tell my students, we’re all publishers now.
These are just some of the good reasons to study design at Teesside – and as for a reason to study design, well, most designers agree that it’s a privilege to be able to do what you’re good at and what you enjoy. Even better, you can make a living at it and meet some amazing people.
www.gnuagb.com
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