An Edinburgh College Photography graduate is showcasing her award-winning historically themed portrait work in a new exhibition. Remains of the Past, an exhibition by Leesa Tulloch, features contemporary portraits shot in the style of historical paintings. The free exhibition opened at the Creative Exchange in Edinburgh last night and runs until Thursday 8 February. Continue reading Edinburgh College photography graduate explores Remains of the Past in new exhibition
Photo exhibition explores our relationship with treasured childhood items
An Edinburgh College photographer has been asking people to take a trip down memory lane and rummage in their old toy boxes to share their most treasured childhood items for a new exhibition.
Simon Moorhouse’s Nostalgia exhibition features photos of adults with their favourite childhood toys and memorabilia, exploring their attachment and the stories behind the strong bond they feel with these items.
Nostalgia is on at the Creative Exchange in Leith until 5 June.
Simon graduated with distinction from an HND Professional Photography course at Edinburgh College, and now works as a learning assistant in the college’s photography department.
He stumbled across the inspiration for the exhibition when he was looking through old belongings and found the first cuddly toy that his mum had knitted for him, Charlie the monkey.
Simon (above) said: “I thought to myself, I’ve gone through so many moves over the past few years, from Sheffield to Edinburgh, and it has always moved with me for some reason. I never really knew why.
“That intrigued me a little bit, because we live in this sort of throwaway society where we’re quite happy to buy new TVs, new printers and everything like that. Back when I was younger we used to send our TV to the repair man, or have one come round to the house to fix it. Now it is so easy to throw them away and get a brand new one, but we always seem to keep these little trinkets. I wanted to find out why.”
Simon says the most interesting item he has photographed so far was an old chemistry set from the 1960s (above). He said: “Some of the stuff you would get in a chemistry set then would be illegal in a chemistry set today. The owner, Stewart, has stuff missing from the set. But some of the stuff, like the chemical powders, were just very peculiar. Stewart went on to work in science, he had the kit from being about four years old, he loved science and went on to become a science technician and work with children at a science centre. Now he’s an actor, but he still holds on to the chemistry set!”
Now that the exhibition has taken shape, Simon wants to expand the project outside of Scotland. First, he wants to go back to Sheffield, his home town, then carry on further down the country to photograph his connections in London and Cambridgeshire.
Simon is also keen for anyone with a nostalgic childhood item to come forward and share their stories through the Edinburgh College Facebook page and Twitter, and is offering a free professional photo shoot at the college for one lucky winner. Post a photo of your own item and tell us in one sentence why it is important to you. Simon will choose his favourite entry.
Nostalgia will be on show at Creative Exchange, 29 Constitution Street, Leith, until 5 June. Creative Exchange is open Monday -Thursday 9am-5.30pm and Friday 9am-4.30pm. Admission is free.
Ana’s composition is a real draw!
An Edinburgh College illustration student has won the people’s choice award in a competition to design a children’s book cover for city publisher Floris Books.
The Kelpies Design & Illustration Prize 2015 challenged entrants to design a new book cover for Allan Campbell McLean’s classic cold war spy adventure The Hill of the Red Fox.
Edinburgh College HND Visual Communication: Illustration student Ana Elez Rodrigo (above) won the People’s Choice award, receiving more than 1,200 votes in an online poll, and received a £75 cash prize. Fellow illustration student David Lymburn was also shortlisted in the competition.
Lewis Copland, a communication design student at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen took the top prize, with professional designer Brad Newsman taking the highly commended prize.
The winners were announced at a ceremony at Leith’s creative business hub Creative Exchange, run by Edinburgh College and the City of Edinburgh Council.
Anna’s design was praised by the judges for her use of a strong colour palette and textured background to depict a red fox against a rugged highland landscape. David was commended for his bold use of composition, colour and typography.
Anna said: “For my design I got inspired by the landscape in Skye and the north of the Highlands. I played with the title of the book to make this kind-of mysterious and intriguing fox.”
As the novel is set in the fifties, Anna used stylish colours of the time along with wrinkled paper to add texture. She said she was “excited and really happy” to have done so well in the competition.
Leah McDowell, design and production manager at Floris Books, said: “The shortlisted designs of Anna Elez Rodrigo and David Lymburn display great talent for two people in such early stages of their careers. Their interpretations of the competition brief show a good understanding of what was asked of them as part of this pressured live project.
“Floris Books felt that the Creative Exchange was the perfect place to host the shortlist exhibition, not only because of the qualities it encourages and represents – creativity, innovation and collaboration – but also because the ground floor space acted as the perfect environment to show off our contemporary children’s book cover designs.”
Image Caption: Overall winner Lewis Copland (front left); Anna Elez Rodrigo (front right); Edinburgh College entrant David Lymburn (second from right, white shirt)
The 12 shortlisted designs will remain on display at Creative Exchange, 29 Constitution Street, Leith until 30 April (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm).
Edinburgh College offers a wide range of design and illustration courses from introductory to HND level. Students work on exciting and challenging briefs to equip them with the technical and creative skills associated with their chosen professionalism, and are encouraged to enter competitions to hone their talents and expose their work to a wider audience. Applications are currently invited for these courses and more than 900 other courses across the curriculum offered by the college and starting in August on its four campuses.
See www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk for more info on how to apply.
‘I don’t know if you can prepare yourself for what you see and hear’ – photographer Monica Holkova
An Edinburgh College photography student is staging an exhibition of images she shot of Ukrainian rebel fighters and refugees while covering the conflict as part of her course.
Monika Holkova’s exhibition is a documentary of time spent in and around Donetsk last year to record the effects of the conflict on the people of Ukraine. During her spell with rebel fighters in the war-ravaged area, Monica herself came under fire from government troops.
The exhibition – Pochemu? – Russian for ‘why’ – launches this Friday at the Creative Exchange in Leith. It features 36 black-and-white images of Ukrainian refugees and rebels, showing how they are living through a period of turmoil.
Monika, originally from Slovakia, wanted to cover the events in Ukraine for her BA Professional Photography course project, so arranged to visit Russia and Ukraine over two trips in October and November. She visited a refugee camp in Russia where Ukrainian people were living after fleeing the conflict. She spent time with refugee families, hearing their stories and taking their photos.
She also spent a week in Donetsk with a group of humanitarian workers as part of an aid effort for residents. Monika travelled with the group as it went round the city to deliver food and supplies, capturing images as she went.
The noise of bombs falling outside the city formed the soundtrack to Monica’s time in Donetsk, a city in which some areas were decimated.
Monika said: “I don’t know if you can prepare yourself for what you see and hear. All the time we were in Ukraine you could hear the sound of bombing outside the city. Most of the time it was far away but one day we were in the supermarket and the bombs sounded much closer. Everyone stopped what they were doing to listen but then started shopping again right after. For the people that was normal. They just had to live with it as part of their daily lives.”
Monika also spent time with rebel fighters, and was with a group in a small village a couple of hours from Donetsk when they came under fire from army forces. Army snipers pinned them down for almost three hours, and the group was unable to move from a safe position behind a house. The village and the surrounding area were also being bombed throughout this time.
She said: “Ten minutes after arriving in the village the fighting started and we came under fire from snipers. The rebels and the army were shooting at each other and the group I was with couldn’t move. We were safe hiding behind a house but we couldn’t even move a few metres to get into the house. We could see tracer bullets flying past. It wasn’t scary as you just have to make yourself think logically, and we knew they couldn’t reach us.”
The trip had a profound effect on Monika, who says she was treated with immense kindness by refugees and rebels.
Monika said: “It was hard to listen to some of the stories. People had lost everything, including friends and family. Their homes were destroyed and they didn’t know when the fighting would end. The people didn’t understand why there needed to be a war and they just wanted it to end. One older woman I spoke to remembered the Second World War and thought she’d never have to live through something like that again. Sometimes hearing their stories was too much to bear so I just had to switch off and concentrate on the photos.”
Monika is keen to go back to Ukraine to continue her work and may head out over the next couple of months. And when she graduates she intends to become a war photographer.
“I’m really proud of the photos I took and I’m pleased to tell the stories of these people. When you hear about the people affected by war on the news you don’t always remember that for every statistic there are stories behind every single person, and it’s important to try and show this.”
Pochemu? is on at the Creative Exchange from Friday until March 27 at Creative Exchange, 29 Constitution Street, Leith. Admission is free.
Edinburgh College photographers throw spotlight on students’ winter showbiz special
A student photography exhibition celebrating Edinburgh College performing arts students’ winter showbiz spectacular is now on display at Leith’s Creative Exchange.
The exhibition showcases the college’s recent show We Are Made of Stardust, developed and performed by Edinburgh College students. Two HND Photography students – Tracey Largue and Sara Thomson – took the photos of the show that feature in the exhibition, showing off the vibrancy, energy and emotion of the performance.
We Are Made of Stardust, which featured HND Year 2 Acting and Performance students, was devised by lecturer Scott Johnston and formed using the cast’s own ideas and stories. The 30 young actors in training shared their personal tales of love, loss and life with the audience in performances at the college’s Perfoming Arts Studio Scotland (PASS).
Marjory Crooks, curriculum manager for broadcast media, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to see examples of the highly professional work produced by two of our photography students. The students on our various creative industries courses are encouraged to collaborate on projects to develop their practical skills and share their learning experiences.”
Scott Johnston said: “This was an incredibly successful show in terms of audience feedback which was universally extraordinarily positive. The cast all learned from each other by sharing ideas and experiences. This helped build the actors as a team, an essential part of working in any field but especially in theatre.”
The We Are Made of Stardust exhibition at Creative Exchange on Constitution Street runs until Friday 30 January, 9am – 5pm each day.
Edinburgh College is currently recruiting for a range of courses in the Creative Industries starting this month including evening classes in Digital Photography: Studio Image Manipulation and Photography: Introduction to Portraiture. For more details on these and other courses, visit www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk.
New workspaces for creative businesses opens formally in Leith tonight
Creative Exchange Leith provides 80 workspaces for individuals, groups or businesses, and aims to create a new hub for creative talent in the city.
Based in the former Corn Exchange building, a local landmark located close to some of Edinburgh’s leading creative agencies, the hub has been renovated to Grade A standard with an award-winning design.
All members can access a wide range of facilities and support including super-fast broadband, space for meetings, networking and exhibitions. Plus there are business support services ranging from start-up advice through to mentoring and help securing investment.
Councillor Frank Ross, Economy Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “What Creative Exchange offers is flexible and affordable workspace combined with the support that both new starts and existing businesses need. This is another major milestone in our strategy for jobs and I’m delighted that the Council has been able to work with others to make this happen – not just those who have funded it directly but many other private and public organisations that have given their very welcome backing.”
Iain Munro, Director of Creative Development at Creative Scotland, said: “Edinburgh needs affordable flexible creative spaces, with super-fast broadband, to support emerging and established creative entrepreneurs. This development is a welcome new opportunity to create a vibrant hub for networking, collaboration and showcasing of the Creative Industries in the capital city.”
Mandy Exley, Principal of Edinburgh College, said: “Edinburgh College is committed to excellence and innovation and the Creative Exchange provides an exciting opportunity for new and emerging talent to develop their businesses in a supported environment. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with the City of Edinburgh and partners to support new business start-ups which contribute to the economic development of the region.”
Francois Roshdy, user experience Director, Border Crossing Media, said: “Facilities like this are absolutely vital to start ups and small businesses, allowing us to concentrate on developing new services and products without the worry or hassle of trying to find somewhere affordable to work. It’s also an ideal set-up for collaboration, and that’s so important to what we do.”
Costs range from just £80 a month for a weekend member, through to £320 a month for a ‘super member’ with full access. Users can also opt for a day rate. Rent, rates, heating and lighting are all included.
Funding for the project has come from the City of Edinburgh Council, Creative Scotland and Edinburgh College.
Edinburgh College has also agreed to fund around six students every year to take entrepreneurial residency at Creative Exchange Leith, receiving guidance and mentoring to start a new business.
The Creative Exchange’s first tenants moved in on 10 June 2013 and five businesses are now operating from there including Iglu Studio, Border Crossing Media, Voluntary Arts Scotland, SME Professional and Designers on the Run.
Potential tenants and others interested in Creative Exchange Leith can get more information and follow its progress via:
· Website http://www.creativeexchangeleith.com/
· Twitter @CExchange
· Facebook Creative Exchange Leith
· Google+
· Linked In
