Mayor of Merton, Gilli Lewis-Lavender with Technical Arts and Special Effects students outside the Civic Centre preparing for the walk

Walking through the streets of Merton

The horse on display in the College's foyer area

In January this year we excitedly blogged that Merton Council were announced the dual winners of the 2012 London New’s Day Parade, for its ‘Horsepower’ float.

The mechancial horse, which paid homage to the Merton borough for having the first licensed public railway in the world, the horse-drawn Surrey Iron Railway, was designed, constructed and operated by five of our talented 2nd year Technical Arts and Special Effects (TASE) students; Eleanor Brereton, Ethan Burthenshaw, Adam Edwards, Melanie Rhodes and Karl Ventura. The horse pulled a locomotive tender behind it during the parade, an inventive idea based on early steam travel and horsepower. The horse also steamed from the nostrils as it pulled the tender long.

Last Saturday on the 21st April, the magnificant horse, which has been on display in the Merton Council’s Civic Centre, was walked from the Civic Centre by the TASE students, with the Mayor of Merton, Councillor Gilli Lewis-Lavender and members of the community to Wimbledon College of Art. The horse is now on display in the main foyer of the College.

The London New Year’s Day Parade has once again ended in success for Merton Council after its float, ‘Horsepower’, finished joint first place with Westminister Council in ‘The Let’s Help London Challenge’.

This year’s competition which included nineteen London boroughs was themed ‘ The London Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II’.

After collecting the top prize in 2009 and second prize in 2010, Merton Council was again victorious in Sunday’s New Year parade with its float ‘Horsepower’, which paid homage to the Merton borough for having the first licensed public railway in the world, the horse-drawn Surrey Iron Railway.

Mayor of Merton, Councillor Gilli Lewis-Lavender, gave a special thanks to Peter Wallder of Colour House Theatre and students of Wimbledon College of Art for their hard work in building the horse.

Merton was also awarded £7,000 for first place which will be donated to the mayor’s chosen charities: Parkinson’s UK, Merton Music Foundation, Merton Concert Band, Merton and Modern Guild, Merton Vision, Merton Priory Trust, Crossroads, Age UK Merton and Deen City Farm.

Congratulations to our students Adam, Ethan, Eleanor, Mel and Karl for their construction of the magnificent mechanical horse.

Wimbledon College of Art BA Technical Arts and Special Effects students have created puppets for a performance of Noye’s Fludde, which is part of the the Wimbledon Music Festival.

Noye’s Fludde is the story of Noah and the Ark. Shows take place on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 of November.

Book tickets – www.wimbledonmusicfestival.co.uk

See more photos – www.wimbledonmusicfestival.co.uk/noyes_fludde

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

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!

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

Michael Please, a former Technical Arts & Special Effects student at Wimbledon College of Art, has given an interview to the Univeristy of Arts about his recent success, naming some Wimbledon tutors as the influence behind a majority of his success. Valerie Charlton, Allan Sly, Chris Dyer and David Gale are some of the names that Michael paid particular reference too, thanking them for their continuous encouragment and motivation. He said that the invaluable help from these tutors and the space for personal development andcontinued support provided by the Technical Arts & Special Effects course, all contributed in the success he is experiencing today.

Michale also names Wimbledon graduates Amer Chadha Patel, Dan Ojari (2008 Set Design for Stage & Screen) and Sean Hogan (2007 Set Design for Stage & Screen) as some of the modelmakers who helped on his BAFTA winning short film, The Eagleman Stag.

We hope that this rather profound introduction into the industry of big lights and fame continues for this talented young man!

To read the full interview with Michael, click here.

Michael Please, a Technical Arts & Special Effects 2007 graduate from Wimbledon College of Art, scooped a BAFTA last night for Best Short Animated Film! The Eagleman Stag a 9 minute representation of a man’s struggle and obsession with the quickening perception of time and the lengths in which he will go to prevent it. This dark comedy is set in monochrome stopmotion and with a voiceover provided by British Actor David Cann, this surreal exploration definately questions a universal subconscious anxiety.

Michael who works as a freelance filmaker and animator has worked on a variety of shorts films and music videos, specialising is visual effects. His unique adaptations certainly make him a worthy candidate to recieve one of films best known awards and we hope that his growing success continues in the future!

Click here to have a look at Michael speaking about his short film and BAFTA behind the stage at the Royal Opera House.

2 Wimbledon Students have been selected and are now participating artists for this years Future Map 10!, Eun Jung Ha from Technical Arts and Special Effects and Youn Joo (Dari) Bae from MA Fine Art, are 2 of 28 graduating artists chosen to contribute to the show.

Future Map is an annual survey show exhibiting the best cutting edge talent from the graduating year at Universtiy of Arts London. The work exhibited from contributing artists are portrayed as an array of creative talent, representing the next generation of creativity. The expert panel displays a variety of disciplines from Fine Art to Fashion.

A full events programme for Future Map 10 will be announced later in the year.