All posts by mem

Exhibition by graduating BA Fine Art students in Studio 3 Gallery

June 19, 2017 mem

We are Human-ish is an exhibition by seven graduating BA Fine Art students from the School of Music and Fine Art at the Studio 3 Gallery, School of Arts, Jarman Building on the University of Kent Canterbury Campus, from 26th June (11am – 5pm) until 1st July (9am – 3pm).

The exhibiting artists – Charlene Barnachea, Nicola Baxter, Megan Boyle, Tayler Goatier, Luiza Jordan, Hannah Plant and Anum Saleem – have previously exhibited in their Fine Art Degree Show, Reverberate, at the Historic Dockyard Chatham at the end of May.

We are Human-ish will showcase a number of works that explore what it means to be human, questioning ideas associated with gender, culture, language, disability and technology. Through an investigation into communication methods adopted by human and machine, an examination of the nature of space, and how we find our place within it, and an organic exploration of bodily textures, fundamentally, these graduating students examine human nature and the assumptions, purpose and essence of humanity.

More on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @wearehumanish

fine art, news, research

Sticky Thick: Thinking through Practice on June 7th

June 5, 2017 mem

STICKY THICK, the annual practice as research forum hosted by the School of Music and Fine Art, University of Kent, and the Sound-Image-Space Research Centre (SISRC), takes place on Wednesday 7th June 2017, 11am-5pm, in the Galvanising Shop Performance Space, Historic Dockyard Chatham.

The event brings together artists, writers, filmmakers, philosophers, composers, performers and researchers across disciplines to investigate practice as research as a continuing process of invention, and explores its capacity to generate dynamic and challenging modes of enquiry. Now in its 3^rd year this annual event forms a key part of the research culture and programme at SMFA, providing a platform for academics and research students to present and discuss their research with colleagues across the University and CHASE consortium, and with invited speakers who include Jaime Del Val, transdisciplinary media artist, philosopher, activist, Director of the Metabody Institute: metabody.eu; artists and filmmakers Ruth MacLennan, Sarah Turner, Shona Illingworth, Tim Meacham and Luciano Zubillaga; electroacoustic composer Aki Pasoulas; environmental scientist Joseph Tzanopoulos and Yvonne Salmon, Chair of the Cambridge University Counterculture Research Group and writer on law, literature and visual culture, this one day event opens up a dynamic space for discussion, debate and exchange.

All welcome! Please RSVP: mfapgradmin@kent.ac.uk or turn up on the day.

To book go to: https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events.html?eid=25530&view_by=month&date=20170630&category=&tag=

fine art, music, news, research

Ontohacking Workshop conducted by Jaime del Val

June 5, 2017 mem

Metatopia: Metaformace by Jaime del Val, Chile 2016, Copyright: Gabriel Ducros. Parque Cultural de Valparaiso.

On Thursday 8th June, 11am-5pm in the Galvanising Shop Performance Space at Historic Dockyard Chatham, Jaime del Val, one of the most significant artists/ philosophers in Europe working at the transdisciplinary frontiers of body, subjectivity and the algorecene will present METABODY 2017 Kent – Ontohacking Workshop: Ontopolitics of perception in the Algoricene: Ecologies of indeterminacy in the Big Data Era.

Hosted by the School of Music and Fine Art, this workshop offers participants a unique opportunity to explore some of the key questions driving current trans-disciplinary and practice based research through active participation with a leader in the field. This would enable artists and researchers alike to develop and test their research methods, and gain valuable insight into trans-disciplinary and practice based research processes and collaborative practice based investigation, thus opening up the potential of futurity, navigation and speculation within practice as research.

Jaime is the founder of http://metabody.eu/ – a major European research project that questions the homogenisation of expressions induced by current information and control technologies.

For more info on the event programme go to: https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events.html?eid=25526&view_by=month&date=20170630&category=&tag=

music, news, research

Calliope album from Sara Dacey on Radio 3

May 18, 2017 mem

Further to Calliope, the debut solo album from Sarah Dacey (soprano) and Belinda Jones (piano), featuring new works by British composers, being released on the 26^th March by the School of Music and Fine Art’s Foundry Studios, two tracks were subsequently broadcast on Radio 3 on prime time Saturday morning. You can listen to what they say here, at about 2 hours 20mins in: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes.

The album is available on Spotify and Amazon.

About Sarah Dacey:
Singer, arranger and composer Sarah Dacey, is best known for being a member of one of the UK’s most groundbreaking groups, Juice Vocal Ensemble. She is a freelance classical singer and an Assistant Lecturer in Music Performance at School of Music and Fine Art, University of Kent.

More info about Sarah here: https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/staff.

For more information and contact details, please visit: www.sarahdacey.com.

music, news

Dat Brass debut album released on SMFA’s Foundry Studios label on May 5th

April 27, 2017 mem

Dat Brass – Lewis Withey, Stefan Siwiak-Jaszek, Jake Heath, Dan Mannion, Ben Smith, Michael Ruddlesden, Josiah Lee and Jack Tann.

Dat Brass, a high energy eight piece brass band whose distinctive sound fuses the funky melodies of hard-hitting brass with the hip-hop beats of live drums and rap, have just recorded their debut full length album at the School of Music and Fine Art’s Foundry Studios.

They perform floor filling covers of old school classics as well as lip-spitting originals, and over the last two years have performed gigs at The Garage, Brixton Jamm & 229 The Venue, Alexandra Palace Summer Festival, Roundhouse, London Remixed Festival and Big Feastival. Their latest release, a live covers mixtape of red hot verse and fat horn lines, went live in February 2017. Their next live gig is at the Soundcrash Funk and Soul Weekender at Camber from 12-14 May, and The Great Escape, Brighton on 18 May.

More info at: www.datbrass.com

fine art, music, news, research

The Sound of Memory: Unique SMFA Collaboration

April 3, 2017 mem

On Sunday 23 April 11.30am-6pm, The Sound of Memory, in the Zilka Auditorium, Whitechapel Gallery, has been organised by The Sound-Image-Space Research Centre, School of Music and Fine Art, University of Kent and the Unit for Sound Practice Research (SPR; Goldsmiths, University of London).

This major symposium is a unique collaboration between music and fine art and brings together filmmakers, artists and composers to explore the broad domain of acoustic ecologies and soundscape’s engagement in place and the aesthetic, philosophical and political approaches of composers working in acoustic ecologies and artists working within social ecologies where the primary engagement is a form of sonic ethnography. Participants include SMFA’s Tim Meacham , Sarah Turner and Aki Pasoulas, as well as John Drever, Hildegard Westerkamp, Matt Parker, Jessie Brennan, William Locryn Finch, Ester Johnson, Gareth Evans and Francesco Bergamo. More info here: http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/the-sound-of-memory/

This event is part of the: https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events/schoolo%20of%20sound.html THE SCHOOL OF SOUND INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM, a partnership with The Sound and Image Research Centre. This unique event exploring the creative use of sound in media and the arts from 19-22 April 2017, Regent’s University, Regent’s Park, London NW1. More info here: https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/research/index.html

fine art, news, research

Sarah Turner’s Public House to be screened at Gulbenkian as part of national tour

April 3, 2017 mem

Directed by award-winning artist Sarah Turner, SMFA’s Reader in Fine Art and Director of Research, the Grierson Award nominated film Public House (96 mins, 2016) which premiered in October 2015 at the BFI London Film Festival, and has also been screened at Tate Britain and the ICA, is being toured nationally through Picture House and other cinemas, including the Gulbenkian Cinema on 21 June at 6.45pm. Organized and sponsored by Kent’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Spatial Studies (UKC) and the Gulbenkian Cinema, the film screening will be followed by a Q&A with Sarah Turner, chaired by Thanos Zartaloudis (Kent Law School; AA School of Architecture and Co-director of KISS).

The film also tours to many venues that include Liverpool, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Brighton, Southampton, Norwich, and London. A gallery tour is planned for late summer/autumn. More info here: http://www.thepublichousefilm.co.uk/screenings.html
Website: http://www.thepublichousefilm.co.uk/index.html

fine art, news

SMFA Fine Art student wins Medway Watersports Trust Mural Design Competition

April 3, 2017 mem

Sharmaine Kwan (left) with Sport and Cultural Minister Tracey Crouch MP.

After submitting two entries to the Mural Design Competition organised by the Medway Watersports Trust (The Strand) 3^rd year Fine Art student Sharmaine Kwan was delighted that both of her designs were selected to be painted on the car park wall. To see the two time-lapse videos of the work, go to: http://sharmainekwan.wixsite.com/kwan/design

Geoff Waters, Trustee Operations, Medway Watersports Trust commented: “Sharmaine Kwan has designed and painted two high quality murals for the development of Medway Watersports Centre at the Strand Leisure Park in Gillingham, establishing from the outset a high standard for future artists to aspire. It is with much pride that I write to emphasize the impact Sharmaine’s contribution has had on the improved environment for the centre and its adjacent carpark, which will be officially celebrated and formally ‘opened’ by the Sport and Cultural Minister Tracey Crouch MP on Saturday 1 April.”

The unveiling event, to which the press and VIPs were invited, took place at Medway Cruising Club, Approach Road, The Strand, Gillingham, Kent ME7 1ET and will also include watersports, climbing, orienteering, archery, and a family BBQ.

For more info: www.medwaywatersports.co.uk

creative events, news

SMFA lecturers Peter Hatton and Paul Gambrill receive ‘Above and Beyond Awards’!

March 29, 2017 mem

Congratulations to SMFA lecturers Peter Hatton and Paul Gambrill Peter Hatton for receiving their Above and Beyond Awards! The Kent Union Awards recognise any member of staff throughout the academic year who has gone above and beyond what is expected of them. The nominations are from students, offering the chance to show staff how much they are appreciated and to celebrate their achievements. As soon as a member of staff is nominated, they will be surprised while they’re working (whether that be teaching, in their office etc.) so that everyone around them can see how amazing they are.

For the awards to School of Music and Fine Art staff, Paul Gambrill, Associate Lecturer in Event and Experience Design, was described by nominators as “inspiring”, “motivating” and always willing to put in extra time to ensure students achieve their full potential. “He has been such an asset to the school for over eight years and we all feel he deserves recognition and something back.”

Peter Hatton, Programmes Director, Event and Experience Design, Event and Experience Management, Fine Art and Deputy Head of School was praised for being “a very kind & understanding teacher,” “enthusiastic” and offering continued assistance to ensure student progress and helping with career opportunities. “He has found us so many experiences, paid employment or volunteering work, and is never hesitant with referencing. His guidance has helped me develop my creativity, my knowledge and my practical skills to a great extent throughout my years in Kent, which I am forever grateful for.”

If you want to nominate a member of staff for going above and beyond, go to: https://unionkent.wufoo.eu/forms/above-and-beyond-awards/

fine art, news, research

SMFA PhD student Moyra Derby has article published in the Journal of Contemporary Painting

March 24, 2017 mem

Table Painting, 2017. Image by Moyra Derby

An article by School of Music and Fine Art Graduate Teaching Assistant and PhD student, Moyra Derby, has been published in the Journal of Contemporary Painting. ‘Constraints between picture and painting: Some considerations at a distance’ appears in Volume 2, Issue 2: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=22696/

A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Founding Trustee of Crate Studio & Project Space in Margate, Moyra studied at University of Ulster at Belfast, Cheltenham School of Art and the Royal College of Art. Currently undertaking a practice based PhD in Fine Art with the support of a Vice Chancellors Scholarship, her research focuses on processes of attention as a productive context for contemporary painting.

Moyra also has work included in upcoming show Fully Awake from 6th – 21st April at blip blip blip, East Street Arts Patrick Studios, St. Mary’s Lane Leeds LS9 7EH. The Private View is 5th April 6-8pm, and the show is curated by Ian Hartshorne & Sean Kaye for Teaching Painting.

More info: http://www.blipblipblip.co.uk
http://www.art.mmu.ac.uk/profile/ihartshorne/projectdetails/884