Difference: Contrasts, Distinction, Variances, Variations, Divegence, Deviation,

A collection of work produced by the designers, artists and practitioners who deliver the Theatre and Screen programmes at Wimbledon College of Art.

Critical reflection on practice is an essential part of the process of creative work in the Theatre and Screen Industries.

This exhibition of over thirty professional practitioners , full time and part time tutors together with technical staff, shows the broad range of practices and the richness of experience that underpins the teaching in Theatre and Screen at Wimbledon College of Art.

Opening Event: Thursday 29 September 2011, 5-8pm

Exhibition Dates: Friday 30 September – Friday 21 October 2011

Imagine landing your dream job. Now imagine winning an Emmy Award for it. This fantasy came true for former Wimbledon BA Costume Interpretation alumna Caroline McCall.

Caroline started off her career at art college in Belfast before moving to Wimbledon College of Art. She then went on to train with the BBC and is now responsible for some of the eye-catching costumes worn by the Downton Abbey cast on the ITV show. Caroline McCall has been working as assistant costume designer alongside Susannah Buxton the costume designer. On Saturday the pair picked up an Emmy for their work.

Congratulations to Caroline McCall.

Congratulations to two former Wimbledon design students, Hyemi Shin and Ellan Parry. Who have been chosen as finalists in this year’s Linbury Prize for Stage Design, which gives recent design graduates the chance to showcase their work in an exhibition at the National Theatre and compete to design a forthcoming production for a professional theatre company.

On the judging panel this year are renowned designers Jon Bausor, Miriam Buether and Ian MacNeil, while the production companies the finalists will be designing for are the Lyric Hammersmith and Filter; Watermill Theatre, Newbury; The Opera Group; and ROH2 at The Royal Opera House.

Each of the four commissioning companies has chosen three finalists to work with on designing a forthcoming production. One from each group will then win a commission to realise their designs on stage, with one of the top four competitors awarded the overall winner’s title. The exhibition, featuring work by all 12 finalists, runs from 31 October to 27 November at the National Theatre, with the winners announced at a ceremony on 10 November.

Best of luck to Hyemi and Ellan!

Louise Taylor a recent graduate from Costume Interpretation has just won the Costume Society’s Patterns of Fashion Award judged by Jenny Tiramani. Louise Taylor has also just been offered a full time job at Past Pleasures. Congratulations Louise!

Theatre industry night has become a regular fixture in the Wimbledon College of Art Summer Show calendar. The night is an opportunity for students, staff and theatre industry practitioners to come together and celebrate the achievements of Wimbledon students.  A series of prizes are given out on the night.

Special guest at this year’s event was Mickey Please. Mikey studied BA Theatre: Technical Arts and Special Effects and graduated from Wimbledon College of Art  in 2007. He won a Bafta for the animation ‘The Eagleman Stag’ in  2010.

This year’s prize winners:

Madame Tussauds Award (for figurative sculpture sponsored by Merlin Entertainments group)

• Michelle Lewry – BA: Theatre Technical Arts and Special Effects

Past Pleasures 2011 Award

• 1st prize: Lubica Halmova – BA Theatre: Costume Interpretation
• 2nd prize: Alice Woodhall – BA Theatre: Costume Interpretation
• Joint 3rd prize: Auburn Claire Lucas and Louise Taylor – BA Theatre: Costume Interpretation

Nottcutts Award

• Katie Boyce – BA Theatre: Technical Arts and Special Effects

Find out more about Wimbledon’s BA Theatre courses.

Photos top to bottom: Characters by Katie Boyce, Mickey Please, Costume by Lubica Halmova, Michelle Lewry receiving the Madame Tussauds Award.

The London Contemporary Dance School has played host to the Collaborations Project, which runs jointly with Wimbledon College of Art students and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, to produce six exciting new works of dance and design! The final year BA students have choreographed and designed the performance at The Place Theatre - the home of contemporary dance in London. The programme invited third year choreographers to collaborate with third year designers whilst in a simultaneous project, third year choreographers are paired with postgraduate composers for an intensive week of workshops of sharing ideas to form collaborative partnerships. The design work ranges from large scale constructions to transformative uses of the theatre, while live music ranges from traditional scoring to innovative electronics.

These new works are being performed as a single theatre programme on Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th March at 8pm at The Place Theatre, 17 Dukes Road, London WC1H 9PY (Near Euston Station). Tickets are free to all WCA staff and students so you wouldn’t want to miss out on this fantastic display of ingenious inspiration!

To book your place, contact the Box Office on 020 7121 1100

Friday afternoon played host to a number of fabulous costumes that Wimbledon College of Art 2nd and 3rd year students had created as part of the Costume Parade 2011. With a beautiful array of stunning costumes ranging from intelligent reinventions of classic Edwardian dress, to threatening contemporary beast like masks, the Costume Parade displayed its best yet!

Performance and dance were integrated into the catwalk show which cleverly provided context and characterisation for the costumes exhibited. With contributions from 2nd & 3rd year Costume Design and Costume Interpretation, parents, guests and fellow students looked on in awe at the fabulous designs and vast creativity behind such incredible imagination. I’m sure we can expect many more successful accomplishments from the students behind this fantastic display of unique dress in the future.

Image: (above left to right): James Dickey, Nell Robinson & Maddy Jenkins

4 Wimbledon College of Art costume students recently participated in the UUK Creative Industires Launch event, which took place at High Holborn on Wednesday 1st December 2010. Lubica Halmova, Nell Robinson, Maddy Jenkins and James Dickey all contributed to the event, either designing or wearing costumes that had been made in Wimbledon studios.

The event, which starred guest appearences from James Caan, entreprenour and Dragons Den panellist and John Bird, founder of the Big Issue and who also attended Chelsea, highlighted the crucial role higher education plays in boosting the UK creative economy. Other speakers included Nicola Dandrigde (Chief Executive of the UUK), Geoff Crossick (Vice-Chancellor of the University of London and Nigel Carrington (Rector of the University of Arts London). 

The creative industry that is worth almost £60bn to the economy, demonstrates why sustaining that contribution with continued investment will become increasingly important to economic recovery.

Nigel Carrington said: “The contribution of creative graduates to an innovative knowledge economy must be recognised and celebrated if the UK is to maintain and enhance its standing on the world stage.

Image: (above) James Caan, entrepeneur and Dragon’s Den panellist

Within their courses, universities are increasingly creating opportunities for hands-on experience in industry as a way of enhancing the employability of their graduates and creating a valuable resource for participating organisations.

John Bird stated, “That experience [studying at Chelsea] totally and utterly changed my life. I stayed in love with art and when I started The Big Issue I looked upon it as a creative, artistic enterprise. The long and the short of it is that my whole life has been formed by the only little piece of education I ever got, which was at art school.”

Image: (below left to right) James Dickey, Maddy Jenkins, Nigel Carrington, Geoff Crossick, James Caan, Aisha Caan, John Bird & Nell Robinson

Wimbledon College of Art in partnership with the V & A, and as part of London Design Week are involved in the Edward Gordon Craig: His Legacy Exhibition (open 11th September 2010 until March 2011) at the V & A Museum  Jane Collins, Reader in Theatre and currently acting Course Director Theatre at the College has worked  on the exhibition and will take part in the Day of Lectures taking place on Saturday 25th September  in the Hachhauser Auditorium, Sackler Centre V&A.  Tickets £12 (£5 concessions) – to book visit www.vam.ac.uk/tickets

Wimbledon BA Theatre have launched their 2010 Summer Show website. We selected a few images that caught our eye!

From top to bottom:

Genevieve Cox – BA Costume Interpretation
Eun Jung Ha – BA Technical Arts and Special Effects
Elizabeth Richards – BA Costume Design

See more work – www.wcatheatre10.co.uk

Find out more about the 2010 Summer Shows -

www.wimbledon.arts.ac.uk/summershows2010