DJCAD alumni shine

Six alumni from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design are among 36 specially selected artists currently showing their work at the prestigious Tate Triennial in London until 14th May.

Every three years Tate Britain holds a Triennial exhibition showcasing new developments in recent art. This third Tate Triennial 2006 is curated by Beatrix Ruf, Director of the Kunsthalle in Zurich, who offers an international perspective on the present British art scene.

She has brought together thirty-six artists who all explore a significant strand in contemporary art: the reuse and recasting of cultural material.

The six Duncan of Jordanstone alumni are Luke Fowler, Lucy McKenzie, Alan Michael, Scott Myles, Christopher Orr and Richard Couzins.

In addition, Ian Hamilton Finlay, currently a Visiting Professor at DJCAD, and Marc Chaimowicz, who used to teach at DJCAD, are also exhibiting.

The Dundee alumni form one-sixth of the number of artists involved in the exhibition, a proportion which has been hailed as evidence of the extremely high quality on offer at Duncan of Jordanstone over a number of years.

"Given that there are about 60 art schools in the UK it is extraordinary that we have six graduates in this show," said Professor Alan Robb, who teaches at DJCAD.

"This is a diverse group of alumni represented in the Triennial, but in a sense it mirrors the route that we have taken over the last 10 to 15 years, which is to mix up the whole business of fine art with a lot of cross-boundary work, working between painting and sculpture and so on," he said.

"We have been punching above our weight for quite a long time, but it is interesting to suddenly see a curation like this where there is a real core group of our graduates."

"More recently the College of Art has been a leader in the application of new technologies across all disciplines. This is clearly evident in each year's degree exhibition where current trends contest with traditional Fine Art and Design values. This years Degree Show opens on the 19th May."

Georgina Follett, Dean of DJCAD, said, "The inclusion of so many graduates from Duncan of Jordanstone is a real triumphant for Fine Art, we take enormous pride in the achievement of our graduates and look at their continued development as a testimony to the quality of learning gained whilst studying with us, the commitment to their discipline and their continued development post study."

"It is rare that a single college can have so many graduates accepted for a single show, and we are delighted in the reflected success of both the college and our graduates."

Scott Myles, who graduated from the College says, "It is nice to have your work acknowledged at quite a prestigious museum, but at the same time my process is ongoing," he said.

"It is not an end point but a nice punctuation in my career." He has a sculpture and two-part silk screen on display.

The Tate Triennial runs until 14th May at the Tate Britain, Millbank London. Entry is free.