Vision 22 Students Awards & Accolade
Three students from UHI Shetland are celebrating success this week after winning awards and being chosen to feature at a prestigious exhibition by the Royal Scottish Academy. The Creative Industries’ end of year show ‘Vision 22’, which included the work of students studying on the Fine Art Degree, Contemporary Textiles Degree, National Certificate portfolio, and Core + Life Skills courses concludes on the 24th of June 2022.
BA (Hons) Fine Art student Shannon Leslie has been chosen by the Royal Scottish Academy to feature in the New Contemporaries Exhibition in 2024. Shannon Leslie explores her island identity by delving into the world of dream, symbol and unconscious by inviting the viewer through the portal of a trapdoor into an imagined sculptural archipelago where through the lens of dreaming reality has been transformed into a waking nightmare where light and dark converge in a family of powerful and memorable forms inspired by lambs that have become deformed by undefined forces. RSA New Contemporaries, supported by Walter Scott & Partners Ltd, represents the Royal Scottish Academy's commitment to supporting and promoting contemporary art and architecture in Scotland. In 2022, the exhibition is in its twelfth year and offers a unique opportunity to see some of the best emerging talent in Scotland under one roof. Graduates are carefully selected from universities across Scotland featuring a wonderful array of painting, sculpture, filmmaking, photography, printmaking, installation, performance, and architecture.
Shannon commented ‘I am thrilled to have been given this rare opportunity. I am honoured to represent UHI Shetland at the RSA’s New Contemporaries Exhibition in 2024’
BA (Hons) Fine Art student Elouise Spooner won a workshop bursary from local arts organisation Gaada for the outstanding effort displayed in her Degree Show Work. Elouise created a whole room walk in installation full of youthful rebellion and unbounded self-expression. Her work is irreverent, joyous, fun, and multi-layered, taking inspiration from popular media such as poetry, songs, tattoos and graphic novels, and utilising found object trash to reject any form of preciousness. Her show is an out of the box celebration of the freedom that coming of age brings and the work explores a diverse range of pathways and threads that will leave the viewer needing to come back for more. Elouise will be welcomed to Gaada to use their visual art workshop facilities and staff support to explore new ways of working and realise a short visual art project.
Finally, Emma Eunson a year 2 BA (Hons) Contemporary Textiles student has won an award from local wool broker Jamieson and Smith. The Jamieson and Smith award is awarded to the student who has produced work that best represents the history and ethos of the business.
The competition/mini residency is part of the students’ Professional Practice module. On the first visit to the Jamieson and Smith, Oliver Henry does a presentation to introduce the students to all things Jamieson and Smith and the history of Shetland wool. The students then spend time researching and developing three initial ideas in respond to any aspect of the business, shop and history of the site. Emma’s entry was picked out of the students showcase as the overall winner.