3 December 2009
Fairy tale success for illustration students
Once upon a time there were three Illustration students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. They huffed and they puffed and they sketched and they drew. After encountering many magical beasts as they tip-toed their way through the dark forest of London, they found they had each won a trip to Germany, although hopefully they would not have to stay with their evil stepmother.
The three final-year students - Nick Cocozza, Kirsty Macfarlane and Heather Brennan - will take up placements with German companies after being chosen as among the 10 best entrants to a competition challenging them to create a modern fairy tale.
The challenge was set by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), a membership organisation of German institutions of higher education. DAAD provides and administers scholarship programmes for UK and Irish students amongst other activities.
Germany is famous for its tradition of fairy tales, and DAAD asked art students from across the UK to reimagine this tradition by creating their own, unique story in either a written, audio, or visual medium.
The students from the College, part of the University of Dundee, let their imaginations run wild and came up with some highly original creations according to BA (Hons) Illustration Course Director Dr Donna Leishman.
'This live competition was ideal for the Illustration department as all the lecturing staff drive an open, experimental and innovative studio ethos,' she said. 'The students really utilised their training for this competition and demonstrated some fantastic re-imagining.'
'They did exceptionally well and I’d like to congratulate the three of them.'
The competition, sponsored by the German Embassy London and German British Forum, was open to both undergraduate and postgraduate students currently studying at UK universities. The 10 winning students will each receive either a four to six week placement at an art and design institution or festival in Germany during 2010.
Nick (23) is originally from Kirkcaldy, while Kirsty (24) comes from Dundee and Heather (22) is from Paisley.
Nick’s pop-up nightmare revisits ‘Hansel and Gretel’, and sees two teenagers leave their council estate to go for a bike ride in the woods. There, they find a McDonald's restaurant which is owned by evil Ronald. After fattening the kids up with burgers and milkshakes, he captures them and takes them into the kitchen where they are minced down and made into hamburgers.
Loosely based on ‘Sleeping Beauty’, Kirsty’s red/white silhouette 'Tower Block Beauty' is set on the top floor of a multi-storey building, where a crazy party is taking place while the prince can be found outside riding around on a BMX bike.
Heather made a drawn, tableau style piece folded into a concertina based on 'The Fisherman and his Wife', but renamed 'The Phisherman and his Wife', referencing the credit crunch and internet phishing scams.
More information about DAAD is available by visiting http://london.daad.de/.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
