I visited my old art college at the weekend to look at the Degree Shows.
When I attended it was called Portsmouth College of Art, Design and Further Education and I studied BTEC Technical Illustration (TI) at OND and HND levels. It is now part of the University of Portsmouth and known as the Eldon Building and runs degree courses (dropping the BTEC courses). When I was considering whether to go on to do a degree in Illustration or do an HND, I looked at the stats. Back then, we were told you had a much higher chance of employment with an HND than with a degree. My experience since then suggests that this may have been true (most people I know in this profession went to Art College and came away with HNDs not degrees).
UPDATE: Find your local (UK) show here...
It also happens to be the 100th annniversary of an art and design school in Portsmouth. There was an interesting exhibition in the foyer including a display case with some "artifacts" from my course! Rotring pens, airbrush, etc.
The Illustration show always used to be the best show at the College, and I'm pleased to say that the course that now runs (although bearing no resemblance to its ancestor) carries on this fine tradition. You could see that a lot of research and hard work had gone into these projects. And a lot of originality.
One of the other displays I thought had some good work in was on the floors below. These included product design and digital design.
I noticed they had replaced the lift as it looked very new. Hopefully for the second time in 20 years as it seemed knackered back then! The Refectory is now called the Art Cafe and has nice wooden chairs instead of the stacking plastic ones we had. Many a College party had been held in this place, usually with the Three Little Piggies as guest band. I remember one halloween party when everybody was flour-bombed by the guys on the TI course a year above me. Elmo the caretaker wasn't happy!
New buildings now occupy the area that were known as the huts. The name is self-explanatory. The new buildings (Eldon South) house the Communication Design (aka Graphics) course. There were some good bits in here, but nothing that I would say was really original apart from a couple of bits of work.
I wasn't impressed by the photographic exhibition. Same old images of the same old subjects (more or less) displayed in the same old way. As a person who commissions and buys photography I was left cold. I was rather disturbed to see a series of pics about British people and their guns. One image was of a young woman holding a pistol. I hope it was replica or decommissioned.
I only meant to pop in for half-an-hour or so and left two-and-a-half hours later!
If you you can't get to see this one (it runs until 13 June), go to your local college show. It's worth seeing what'll be on the market soon.
UPDATE: Find your local (UK) show here...
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