Introducing the new Ralph Steadman Art and Design Scholarship.

Artists from ages 8 to 80 are invited to enter a new art competition launched by the partnership of WOW Magazine (What’s On Where), Rochester Independent College and the University of Kent School of Music and Fine Art.

The competition theme is NOW, which is open to interpretation in any medium. The best entries will be exhibited in a public touring exhibition and in addition to the category prizes, one lucky winner will be the recipient of the first ever Ralph Steadman Scholarship to assist their ambition to become a professional artist as well as receive a day’s use of the cutting edge facilities of the University of Kent’s School of Music and Fine Art at ‘The Boiler House’.

World-renowned artist, illustrator and cartoonist Ralph Steadman is The Best Of… Art Competition’s head judge who will be joined by two professional artists of differing disciplines to assist with the final shortlist.

There are four categories for entry, based on age group and prizes will vary for each category.  The adult category winner (age 20+) will receive an original framed Ralph Steadman ‘Thought Sheet’. There will be further adult prizes of art materials vouchers.

Depending on the age group of the winner, the Scholarship will be comprised of either: A 2 year full Scholarship for A levels at the new art and design building at Rochester Independent College.
Or,
A bursary from Rochester Independent College of £2,000 per year for three years as financial support for the winning student to help fund their visual arts degree.

Closing date for the competition is 4pm on November 1^st, 2013. Successful shortlisted entries will be advised November 25^th and the winner and runners up will be advised during the week commencing November 25^th.

For more information and competition rules and application form, please visit the Rochester Independent College The Best Of… Art Competition website.

A sensational new collaborative project called Hack the Barbican will be taking place at The Barbican Centre, London which includes a project run by Music Lecturers Kate and Duncan.

School of Music and Fine Art Lecturers Kate Halsall and Duncan MacLeod are running a project alongside some of the School’s students called Galvanize, as part of the Hack the Barbican Festival, held at the Barbican Centre, London between August 19 -23.

This exciting opportunity is London’s biggest ever experiment in cross-disciplinary collaboration and will take part over 4 weeks at the world-renowned Barbican Centre in London during August.  Set to explore new boundaries where nothing is off-limits bringing together around 200 artists, technologies and entrepreneurs in around 100 different projects. School of Music and Fine Arts project will take place for one week during August.

“For our contribution during Hack the Barbican, we are creating a series of small performances, installations and showcases for our project, incorporating lots of existing School of Music and Fine Art student work, reflecting the Historic Dockyard and we will be transporting these sounds and images to the centre of the City” says Kate Halsall, Music lecturer at the School. “We have student participants from the School of Music and Fine Art who are contributing to the collaboration into a thrilling showcase as a ‘performance’ of sounds and objects”

 Students are encouraged to flex their collaborative creativity where there are no boundaries and all mediums, including a cross-disciplinary projects are considered, including painting, sculpture, film, video, photography, installation or music and sound and this may involve running projections, recitals, short films or audio or even involve spontaneous developing hacks with other Hackers over the week.

There is still chance for students to take part and get involved, so please contact Kate Halsall by Friday 5^th August on k.v.halsall@kent.ac.uk

Further information on the festival can be found online at – http://hackthebarbican.org

‘Best newcomer’ nomination for School of Music and Fine Art student Milli Midwood in The Medwire for her fashion blogging.

Amelia Midwood has recently been nominated ‘best newcomer’ for her fashion blog and writing in a publication dedicated for students living and studying in Medway, Kent.

Milli Midwood, student of Fine Art at the School of Music and Fine Art is head of fashion for the publication, has writing over 11 fashion posts and blogs in the past 5 months and has a comprehensive double-page spread in the June-August free issue.

The Medwire launched in 2010, provides online news and entertainment for students at universities with Medway campuses, so students of the University of Kent, University of Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church. Aimed at providing students with quality local and campus news, politics, sports, entertainment, nightlife, as well as a 24-hour update on events and activities on and around campus.  Additionally, the Medwire magazine is printed twice a term to supplement the online site which offers more light-hearted articles and focus on fashion, gossip, and student antics.

Read about Mili’s blogs >

The Medwire Magazine >

Music student Philippa Hardimann features as ‘Music Matters’ Scholarship Spotlight.

Continuing a series profiling some of this year’s Music Scholars, the Music Matters website features soprano Philippa Hardimann, 2nd year music student at The School of Music and Fine Art shares her childhood musical journey and how her passion for music lead her to study here at the University of Kent.

“From a young age it was apparent that I had a particular flare for music, to which my parents invested much time helping me explore various creative avenues. Commencing my musical journey, at Brentwood Pre-Preparatory School I was encouraged to take up piano classes. With a growing interest in musicianship I then went on to play the ‘cello, which opened the door to a spectrum of new and challenging possibilities.”

Read more about Phillippa on Music Matters >

‘Jack revolutionised the musical life of the Medway Campus’ by raising the profile of music at Medway.

At this time of the year as the academic year draws to a close, the University takes the opportunity to recognise the contributions to its musical life from a few outstanding students. At a ceremony on Friday 5^th July, Music student Jack McDonnell was among the five students were awarded prizes in honour of their efforts.

The University Music Awards Committee Prize was given to a student who has made a special contribution to music at Kent, was awarded to the indefatiguable Jack McDonnell. In his final year studying Music Technology, it’s no exaggeration to say that Jack has revolutionised the musical life of the Medway campus, in his role as this year’s President of the Medway Music Society and Secretary last year, including setting up regular performing nights at Coopers (the campus bar), organising events, arranging deals for music students with shops in the town, and generally raising the profile of music at Medway.

The Music Awards Committee has a difficult decision to make each year, a task made almost impossible in the face of the large numbers of students who participate regularly, and with such vibrant enthusiasm, in all the music-making that goes on at the University.  The Music Awards Committee is a chance to pay especial tribute to a few who have made a significant impact through their involvement in the musical life of the University, and our thanks and congratulations to them.

Read the full article >>

Jack Mcdonnell, Steph Richardson, Kathryn Redgers and Aisha Bové with Professor Keith Mander, the Hon Jonathan Monckton and Kerry Barber of Canterbury Festival.

MA Fine Art student gets awarded the University’s highly reputable ‘Vice Chancellor Prize’ for her performance-meets-fine art working practice.

The Vice Chancellor 2013 Prize for Fine Art has been awarded to The School of Music and Fine Art’s postgraduate student Natasha Pocock who successfully completed her MA in Fine Art for her collaborative performance and Fine Art based degree show work, showcased at the School’s Degree Show held at the Historic Dockyard Chatham in May.

Pocock’s piece was a working practice that explored issues of identity and passage of time through textiles, sculpture and performance with a focus on Dockyard-specific history. Her work was articulated through the process of garment construction, where the manipulation of materials and non-material realities were forged together to form a sense of place and presence. Through conducting a force of energy through integral threading, interweaving and vocal dialogue, thinking in an established rhythm to problem solving and problem-finding, Pocock  literally ‘took matters into her own hands’, with the fusion of materials, process and techniques.

The site-specific industrial and historical male dominance of naval presence brought a nostalgic reference to notions of resilience, determination, devotion, loss and separation as Pocock utilised the illusion of performances in life and highlighted the fragility of memory. The work also reflected the imprisonment to duty and working with closed fixed systems of craft production. The Craftsperson battling from being ‘swallowed’ by the  machine, through continuous strokes by attaching the power of manipulation to established systems, thus  showing the Master Craftsperson is instinctively a crafter in all that can be manipulated and working with resistance being the key to survival.

As part of the Vice Chancellor Prize, Natasha Pocock will be asked to replicate the ethos behind the works in a new piece for display, based on her degree show work at the University of Kent, we look forward to seeing her new piece.