jenna lee alldread: FAD '17

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It’s all been a bit quiet on the blogging front. Mainly because I have been doing a lot of teaching. In November I was asked to come in and help out on the MAGPi pathway of the Foundation at Leeds College of Art. (MAGPi stands for Moving Image, Advertising, Graphic Design, Photography and Illustration. It’s the ‘communication’ pathway, but also as you can gather from those titles a broad mix of mediums). In 2013, when I was doing my PGDipE, I worked two days a week at LCA and absolutely loved teaching on an Art Foundation course. I was asked to come back this academic year. Foundations are a real gem in the UK educational system – sitting in between level 3 and level 4, they offer a year of unique diagnostic education, a year to be yourself, or to discover what that even is, a year to explore art and design education, which can be restricted at school. Leeds College of Art is one of the best places to undertake a Foundation in the country – and I don’t say that lightly. Not only is Leeds a hub of inspirational activity – from music to art, academic thought to sport, independent spaces and businesses – but the foundation is seeped in history and is different to many other foundation courses around. The students don’t do ‘tasters’ of each subject, but go through a thorough exploration of solving an array of problems – how they solve it, and how they document how they solve it, determines what kind of artist, designer, thinker and problem solver they are – and what medias they chose to work with. It’s truly exciting, transformative experience – one that I would recommend to anyone, everyone to do – even those that don’t necessarily feel that they will have a career in the arts. The ability to solve problems creatively and to adapt and responded to the world around us is surely needed for every individual, in a technological advancing future, which is hard to foresee. I could harp on about this type of education all day long. It’s important, it’s needed, it’s transformative, it’s intense (teaching it and learning) but so rewarding (yes, teaching it and being on it) you just can’t do it half-arsed. It’s all or nothing – such is the vocational world of design. I wanted to share with you some of the lovely work the Class of ’17 have produced at their end of year exhibition, which was a few weeks’ ago. If you follow this blog, you’ll know that I also teach at Nottingham Trent University, so I have been catapulted into the assessment and end of year show there too, and I will be sharing snippets of that too and other degree shows I hope to attend–including New Designers and New Blood in July.

Photographs show our lovely space at LCA with the eclectic mix of work - MAGPi & Textiles. Directly above are lovely papier mache masks by Annie Hall.