AIB ALUMNIMAGAZINE

Issue One December 2008the arts institute at bournemouth

Welcome to the first ever edition of the AIB Alumni Association magazine, launched to coincide with the start of the official AIB Alumni Association.

We’re so proud of all our graduates who leave us to succeed in exciting careers across the UK and the rest of the world and we’d love to keep in touch with all of you. The good news is that, as an AIB graduate, you’re already part of the Association. So, stay part of our creative

community and keep in touch with the Association and with each other.

In this edition we update you on what’s happening at the AIB, we hear about some of our award winners and take a look at some specific careers. Remember, if we don’t know about it, we can’t print it, so drop us an email and let us know what you’re up to. Email graduates@aib.ac.uk or call us on 01202 363720. Also check out the new Alumni Association website: www.aib.ac.uk/alumni

Season’s Greetings Rebecca Huseyin, Alumni Officer

WELCOME…

ALUMNI NEWS

AIB UPDATES

YOUR CREATIVE CAREERS

AWARD WINNERS

CLASS OF THE 90s

EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS

ALSO ON CAMPUS

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GOT THE T-SHIRT?

AIB Alumni T-shirts in various sizes (including skinny fit, pictured) are available to order for only £2.50 each. To order, please email graduates@aib.ac.uk

FEEL THE BENEFIT

Currently we offer the following list of benefits, discounts and services to our Alumni:

• Use of the AIB Library Facilities for our local Alumni

• 10% discount on the full range of AIB Short Courses

• Free careers advice for two years after Graduation

• Discounted membership of the Sports Hall and facilities at Bournemouth University

• Find-a-Friend facility, for graduates who have lost touch

• The opportunity to hear up-and-coming and well established artists, writers and curators talk about their work at the Gallery.

More to follow! For information on any of these benefits please email the Alumni Office: graduates@aib.ac.uk

PRIZE DRAW WINNERS

During Graduation in June, we asked graduating students to fill in contact sheets which were automatically entered in to a prize draw. We are pleased to announce that the first prize (£50 of Amazon vouchers) goes to Sian Jones, BA (Hons) Fine Art. Second prize (a horseriding lesson on the Isle of Purbeck) was won by Nicholas Ham, BA (Hons) Graphic Design. The third prize (dinner for two at Wagamama) goes to Beth Barham, BA (Hons) Fashion Studies.

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Originally established over a century ago, the AIB has flourished to become one of the most successful specialist HEIs in the UK, with an excellent national and international reputation. It currently offers over 20 degrees in arts, design and media and has 2500 undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Professor Stuart Bartholomew, Principal, commented: “This is a hugely important step in the development of the AIB and achieves one of our key strategic objectives. In an ever more competitive global market, it is crucial that we build

upon the recognition and reputation of the Institute’s offering and Taught Degree Awarding Powers and the designation of University College will offer a significant contribution to this. We remain resolutely committed to providing the highest quality education for our students, to supporting the creative industries and contributing to the country’s economic success. We look forward to building upon our success as an innovative, specialist, experienced and now independent HEI. This award is also significant for Bournemouth, Poole and the county of Dorset as they will now be home to two universities.”

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On 7th August, the AIB was officially granted Taught Degree Awarding Powers by the Privy Council. This award follows a thorough assessment by the Quality Assurance Agency’s Scrutiny Panel and will allow the AIB to apply for University College status.

AIB TO BECOME UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

ONLINE ART GALLERY

We are constructing an online Alumni Art Gallery which will provide a great opportunity to showcase your work. If you would like to submit images email them to graduates@aib.ac.uk or post a disc to Rebecca Huseyin, Alumni Officer, The Arts Institute at Bournemouth, Wallisdown, Poole BH12 5HH. You need to send jpegs (300dpi) and include your full name, contact details, course studied and year graduated, together with a very short description of each picture. We will then email you a simple form which you’ll need to complete to accompany the images. Short films may also be submitted in the following formats: .swf/.mov/.avi

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THE PERFECT PRIVATE VIEW

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This summer, 2004 Alumnus Simon Cunningham’s artwork was immortalised on a rather unusual medium.

Simon Cunningham, who studied BA (Hons) Photography at the AIB, was announced as one of four winners of the Beck’s Canvas Competition 2008. His winning design, ‘Duckrabbit’, was printed on to the bottles completing a unique set of limited edition labels. His label explores ideas of perception – do you see a duck or a rabbit? Here Simon tells us a little about his time at the AIB, his inspiration for creating the ‘Duckrabbit’ and how it felt to have his work mass produced on a beer bottle...

“The BA (Hons) Photography course at the AIB provided a solid foundation to my developing practice; introducing me to the necessary interplay between theory and practice; thinking photography and its role in contemporary practice. I graduated from the AIB in 2004, my undergraduate photographs were published in Source magazine and my moving image work shown at the Open Eye gallery in Liverpool. I also applied to the Royal College of Art and subsequently began my MA in 2005.

In the second year of the MA I was awarded a three-month studio residency at Cite des Arts in Paris

and this gave me the time and perspective to reflect on what I had learned and space to wrestle with concerns central to my practice in preparation for my final show. Since graduating from the RCA last year it’s been hectic; I’ve participated in 13 group shows in Europe and the US

leaving me a little exhausted but able to live off my work for the first time.

I only heard about the Beck’s canvas submission the night before the deadline, I liked the context so I put in the work. I knew plenty would apply in light of Beck’s history of working with artists such as Gilbert and George, Richard Long and Damien Hirst so I didn’t hold my breath, but I thought the work right for the bottle. I thought it would be interesting to ask a taxidermist to build the ‘Duckrabbit’ as they perceived it; hoping they would be caught in a perpetual state of building one, and in the process destroying the other, and that the end result would be a bit of a mess but might reveal something of the mental ‘activity’ between the duck and the rabbit that philosophers had talked about.

I decided to start by making my own version, a mock up of what I perceived when looking at the illustration and trying to see both animals simultaneously. I Googled a picture of a duck, and then a rabbit, stuck the ducks beak on the rabbits’ head and that’s the picture on the Beck’s label.

I hadn’t realised Beck’s intended to mass produce the labels at the factory so when I was told they wanted to use the work on 6.5million labels it took a while to sink in. Having any art on a beer bottle is the perfect private view; two birds with one stone.

It’s been a strange experience, the work going out to mass production and then filtering back in often unexpected places; magazines, TV adverts, internet blogs, supermarket shelves, bars etc. Stranger still is the experience of attending a private view – to encounter the beer bottles en masse is slightly surreal…”

Simon is currently working as an artist in residence in Vienna.

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RSAIB PLACED

JOINT THIRD IN UK FOR GRADUATE EMPLOYMENT

The AIB has been placed joint third against benchmark in a new league table of Higher Education Institutions with the best record of graduate employment a UK-wide report out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) reveals.

The report highlights the employment success rates for graduates from 2006/07 with an impressive 95.3% of graduates from the AIB progressing into work or further study within 6 months of graduation. This is above the national average of 91% of graduates from creative arts and design courses overall, and above the benchmark of 91.5% given to the AIB by HESA. The AIB achieved a 90% response rate and gained the tenth highest score against its benchmark. Benchmarks are set using performance indicators which provide comparative data from higher education institutions across the UK.

The AIB is rightly proud of these excellent employment statistics and it continues to follow the success of its graduates as they progress in the creative industries. John Last, Deputy Principal, commented: “Our approach to specialist teaching and learning, the collaborative way in which our courses work and our contacts with the creative industries are all factors in this proven employment success for our students”.

CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

The AIB Charitable Foundation exists to support the improvement of and enhancement of resources to benefit our students; the fund is used exclusively to support our student body and it is sourced through direct payments, gift aid, covenants and legacies. We are immensely grateful to the generous donations from benefactors to date: alumni, past tutors, honorary fellows, parents and other individuals who have given their support. The AIB and its students thank those who have contributed; your support is much valued.

To those who wish to contribute we welcome your support and ask that you please contact finance@aib.ac.uk or call us on 01202 363214 for further details.

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Berel-Anne Cohen graduated from BA (Hons) Costume for the Screen and Stage in 2007. Since then she has worked for Disney and on the set of the hit film ‘The Golden Compass’. Here she tells us how hard work and determination can pay off…

“Upon graduating, I really wanted to work on the film ‘Batman Begins’. I researched the key people in the industry and sent my CV to millions of places but rarely got any response. Eventually the team on ‘The Golden Compass’ gave me a go. I did a couple of unpaid days on set, sewing until my fingers bled! I then got a job in the Costume Craft department where we made armour, did costume breakdown and hand-painted designs onto the costumes.

I always took the AIB course seriously and worked hard so a ten hour day on a film wasn’t such a major adjustment. At the AIB you needed to be assertive and occasionally fight to create the thing that you wanted, which is a lesson for the real world. The course constantly encouraged me take on new challenges which helped to increase my confidence.

Next, I found work as a Costume Technician with Disney’s American cruise ships. I worked on ‘Toy Story The Musical’ and was trained in puppet mechanics, making and painting character heads and in wig maintenance.

I always have to be thinking ahead to the next job and be prepared to do unpaid work occasionally. It’s hard work but I don’t think there is much better way to make a living!”

Course Leader Nigel West commented “Like many students who graduate from this course, Berel has proved that it is possible to have a successful career in an area of the costume industry that traditionally can be difficult to break in to.”

BEREL BEGINS!

interested in going back and seeing if or how the band had changed.”

It’s obvious that Ben still has a great affinity for the Hebden Bridge junior band and how valuable it is being part of a musical collective. “Being in a band is so different from what people say about teenagers these days, hanging out and doing bad things. These are ordinary kids, not weird-instrument nerds.” The band’s repertoire includes more modern music now, with Hebden Bridge even having its own version of Ska for brass instruments. But what does the future hold for brass bands?

“I didn’t really expect anyone to take notice of some pictures I did on a hill back home. I still play the tuba and I’m sure there will always

be brass bands. They have been in decline for a long time but with junior bands like Hebden Bridge entering competitions…hopefully I will be there to photograph all of the players.”

Ben has since exhibited the Hebden Bridge junior band portraits in Yorkshire and has been asked to shoot twenty more portraits of the band for a second exhibition and a book.

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“I remember being very young and turning up at band rehearsals. They showed me a tuba and a cornet. I blew on them both and they decided I blew the tuba best. So at nine years old I was stuck with an instrument practically the same size as me!

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and be daft, but then it was time

to play.” This discipline and self-

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“It’s there in the pride these kids

are showing, standing there with their instruments. They know they can do something really well.”

Ben stayed in the band until he moved to Bournemouth to study at the AIB in 2004. “When I got here I immediately tried to join a band but there didn’t seem to be any purely brass bands around. When I was thinking about my final project, I looked back at where I came from and what happened there. The band was such a huge part of my life. I met my best friends there so I was

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Ben McMahon, 2007 BA (Hons) Commercial Photography graduate, couldn’t quite believe it when his final major project was featured in The Guardian. Once a tuba player in the Hebden Bridge junior band in West Yorkshire, Ben was inspired to return to his roots to photograph the band for his final major project. The resulting collection of unusual and unique images sparked major press interest with the BBC and various radio stations also running the story. Here, Ben tells us about his motivation for the project and how junior bands like Hebden Bridge are keeping the long-running brass band tradition alive…

Ben’s portraits of members of the Hebdon Bridge junior band

Berel with Little Bo Peep, from ‘Toy Story, The Musical’

One of the hand-painted costumes from ‘The Golden Compass’

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to cast Rebecca Pidgeon (actress and wife of playwright/director David Mamet) in the role of Art’s mother.

What was the response to the film at the Slamdance Film Festival?

Really positive. I was putting up ‘How To Be’ posters when a woman actually stopped me on the street to tell me how much she liked the film. Americans really seem to understand and identify with the story. I was really lucky; I had so many meetings lined up for me because of Slamdance. I visited New York and LA and met so many amazing people.

What experience did you take away with you from the AIB, and what advice would you have for others trying to break in to the industry?

When you’ve got a limited budget, everything takes longer, so spend time preparing all your projects thoroughly and use the time wisely.

I think a lot of people thought I was a nerd because I planned so much! Time is a luxury you don’t always have in the real world. Liam Scanlan (Director of the School of Media) gave me the best piece of advice I’ve ever had when it comes to making films: Those who get along get ahead. I just wish I was better at following it! To be a film maker, I think you either have to be incredibly talented or excessively, doggedly determined. I’m the latter!

What’s your next project?

I’m still promoting ‘How To Be’, there are more festivals to go to, it’s not the end of the road yet. I’m writing a new screenplay which I’d describe as contemporary science fiction. Because of ‘How to Be’, I feel like I’m really at the beginning of something now. I’ve made a film, it cuts together and it works. I can go to whoever and ask for funding

on my next project because I’ve showed I can finance and make my own film. I’m still going to need that dogged determination though!

‘How To Be’ received the Grand Jury’s Honourable mention at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival in Utah; the Audience Award at the New Orleans International Film Festival; was in the Marquee Section at the Austin International Film festival and was the Special Film at the Gotham Screen Festival in New York. Other AIB alumni in the crew included Paul Swann, Chris Williams, Gunner Heidar and Dave Capon. http://www.howtobemovie.com/news/

Robert Pattinson’s new film ‘Twilight’ opened in UK cinemas on 19th December 2008.

Oliver Irving (right) on the set of ‘How To Be’

Earlier in the year, I met with Oliver Irving, a 2003 graduate of BA (Hons) Film Production. Originally from Sheffield but now living in London, Oliver was promoting his first feature film ‘How To Be’, for which he is now about to sign a US distribution deal. I met with Oliver in the restaurant of the Soho Theatre, London. Over mint tea and the sound of loud drilling, he told me his story so far.

Tell me about the progression from student to writing, producing and directing your own feature film. What’s the journey been like?

When I was researching where to study, the AIB was the only undergraduate course where you could specialise from the outset. I knew I wanted to be a director so the course suited me perfectly. On leaving, the advice I was given was to make a few short films to show my distinctive style, but I had to have a go at making features. I didn’t give myself an option, it was a bit kamikaze. I wrote ‘How To Be’ and the producer and I had to raise the money to make it completely by private finance. This meant asking literally anyone, everyone we ever knew, even people on the train who might look as if they had some money!

You’ve got some famous names in your cast, how did that come about?

Well, I had seen Rob (Robert Pattinson, who plays main character Art) playing Cedric Diggory in ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’. He really seemed to get the idea behind the character. I’d always thought Jeremy Hardy (British stand up comedian and actor) was really funny so I gave him a copy of my graduation film and the script of ‘How To Be’. I offered him the straight role even though he usually does comedy and after months and months he finally agreed to do it. I was almost close to getting Alan Rickman to accept a role; when I first met him he liked the script so much he told me ‘It’s a beautiful piece of writing’. That just kept ringing in my ears like the voice of God! I asked him if I could quote him on that and he agreed – so there you go! I was incredibly pleased that we managed

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OLIVER IRVINGAn interview by Rebecca Huseyin

The actor Robert Pattinson (seated) and AIB alumnus Michael Pearce in a scene from ‘How To Be’

‘ROCK BOTTOM..’ IS TOP

2007 BA (Hons) Film Production Alumnus Sekani Doram won third prize at the Cine Gear Expo 2008 Short Film category in Los Angeles

in June for his film ‘Rock Bottom Risers’. Cine Gear Expo is the premiere Film, Video and Digital Media Expo for the entertainment production and post

production community in Hollywood. ‘Rock Bottom Risers’ tells the tale of a young man fascinated by suicide until he meets an intriguing young woman.

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Daniel Sorensen, a 2005 international graduate of BA (Hons) Fashion Studies, is the winner of Project Runway (Norway) 2007. Here he tells us a little about his time at the AIB, winning the award and starting his own brand.

On studying at the AIB

“For me it was important to look for a small institution where I could establish a relationship with my lecturers. The course gave us an introduction to many important aspects of the fashion industry e.g. marketing, business, research etc, which directly benefit me now I’m establishing my own brand. The best part was developing patterns with my design teacher at the time, Bashir Aswat. He was real mentor and I am deeply grateful for what he taught me over the years.”

On winning Project Runway

“It means everybody in the Norwegian fashion industry knows my name. It’s given me the unique

opportunity to focus on the design work, but I still have a long way to go! It’s hard to establish your own brand; the design part diminishes as you’ve got a thousand other things to focus on as well.”

On current projects

“I’m collaborating with Tina Haagensen, runner up on Project Runway, to establish our own individual brands and we will be starting production of the Spring/Summer 09 collection soon. We are also collaborating with Regnskogsfondet (The Rainforest Foundation) and the Norwegian equivalent of eBay, FINN, on a project focusing on the environment and reusing old clothes.”

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Right One of Daniel’s winning designs

Above Judging the finalists in Norway’s Project

Runway 2007

FDA TO MA

Congratulations to 2008 FdA Interior Architecture and Design alumnus Oliver Spratley who has been accepted on to the Masters programme in Urban Design at Oxford Brookes University.

The Master of Research degree links a research training programme with advanced studies in spatial planning. FdA Interior Architecture and Design Course Leader, Russell Gagg, commented “To progress from a two year Foundation Degree directly on to a Masters programme, with no previous Higher Education qualifications, is an unprecedented and exceptional achievement. We are all incredibly proud of Olly and will be following his future career with interest.”

INNOVATION UNLIMITED

Abigail Kegg, who graduated from BA (Hons) Arts and Events Management in 2007, has just been announced as the manager of the new Youth Innovation Challenge which is being run by UnLtd, the company set up to support social entrepreneurs who want to change the world for the better. The incentive, running in partnership with Changemakers, gives young people the power and the trust to find innovative solutions to the major challenges that society face today. It is a three year programme, part funded by Vodafone, with a different focus each year covering issues such as gang crime or climate change.

The young people who are chosen by the Youth Leadership Team to implement their ideas will receive intensive support and coaching from Abby, the Youth Challenge Manager, and the rest of the team. The project will also engage with potentially thousands more young people who will actively participate through online voting, downloading of project development tools for their own ideas, volunteering with campaigns and becoming inspired to do something within their own communities. www.unltd.org.uk

“Leaving the AIB, I felt confident in my knowledge of the design process and also in my own ability. In my final year, I really started to take constructive criticism on board and use it in a positive way, whereas I used to have a tendency to be over-critical of myself.

Originally, I was given a two week work placement with Marketing Matters which became a three month contract and then a permanent position. It all came as a bit of a shock to me, I graduated on Friday and then started my placement on Monday, and I’m still here! At first I found it quite daunting but I was given plenty of support and guidance by lots of people which made the transition much easier.

My job involves designing for print and web which is good as it provides plenty of diversity. At first I worked very closely with senior designers and was given parts of projects to work on, but now I am given the responsibility to take

projects from the initial brief to concepts, through to visualisation. I have also been lucky enough to learn all about artworking, which I think is a valuable skill to have. I think it’s good to have a rounded knowledge of what happens after an idea has been visualised because designing and artworking are two very different skills.

I enjoy turning up to work and not knowing what my next piece of work could be – it’s exciting. Also I love hearing positive feedback from clients. It makes all the hard work worthwhile. It’s also quite flattering when someone else feels strongly about one of my ideas. It is a definite confidence boost.

I feel that my work is getting stronger all the time and also it’s great to be able to work on your own and also as part of a team. Sometimes the best thing to do is to bounce ideas off other people; usually the end result is stronger because of it.”

SPOTLIGHT ON…

Last year, Laura Walker, a 2007 FdA Visual Communication graduate started a fortnight’s work placement with Marketing Matters, a Dorset-based advertising, online, PR and communications agency whose clients include Sunseeker, The RNLI and Proton. Fifteen months later, she’s still there. Here, she gives us an insight in to her transition from the AIB to the working world, and what her role involves…

Abigail Kegg

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GRADUATE HAS SPECIAL EFFECT

‘FAVELADOS’ IS FAVOURITE

BA (Hons) Photography graduate Matt used stop motion animation to film the twenty-nine second advert, ‘Tribe’, which shows a packet of Doritos dancing around worshipping a jar of Doritos salsa. The brief given to all the entrants was to create something ‘innovative and creative, with a certain something special’.

The adverts were all uploaded onto Doritos website, with twelve judges viewing all the adverts, including four judges in advertising and media positions, four people who commission adverts, three members of the public and one scientist. They whittled the adverts down to the final five, with the public making the final decision.

Congratulations to 2006 BA Photography alumnus Matt Bowron who won the first prize of £20,000 in the Doritos ‘You Make It, We Play It’ competition to make a television advert, costing no more than £10. The ad premiered on ITV1 in June and was even broadcast in space!

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A Still from ‘Tribe’

Matt’s winning advert, which will officially be entered into the Guinness Book of Records, aired on national television during Euro 2008. A potentially bigger audience were able to access the advert when it was broadcast across the universe with the message pulsed out over a six-hour period from high-powered radars at the EISCAT European space station in the Arctic Circle.

Peter Charles, head of the Doritos Broadcast Project, said: “We are constantly looking to push the boundaries of advertising and this will go further than any brand has gone before. By broadcasting the winning ad to the universe, Doritos is delivering a world first and Matt Bowron, the winner, will go down in advertising folklore.

Matt works as a freelance picture researcher and also directs music videos. Watch ‘Tribe’ on youtube.com.

Above left A still from ‘Fight for Life’

Above Matt accepting his award

Matt was Lead Artist on the project which also won the Royal Television Society Craft and Design Award in the ‘Visual Effects – Digital Effects’ category in November 2007, where it was described as “an impressive execution and seamless integration, the success of the programme relied on the believability of the digital effects. A truly intense visual experience.”

‘Fight for Life’ aired on the BBC during August 2007, documenting life through various stages with stunning visual effects of internal body parts for which Matt, as part of the Jellyfish Pictures team, was responsible.

In addition, Matt has just received one of the greatest accolades of his career – a BAFTA for ‘Fight for Life’, beating ‘Doctor Who’, ‘Rome’ and ‘Primeval’. Matt commented “Fight for Life” was a fantastic project to work and collaborate with all the other artists on. We are all delighted with the programme and how highly regarded it has become. Everyone at Jellyfish worked really hard, day and night seven days a week for almost a year to produce what we are now able to celebrate.”

2002 BA (Hons) Modelmaking graduate Matt Chandler has had an award winning year in his role as Technical Director, Visual Effects for Jellyfish Pictures.

In March Matt was flown to Hollywood to accept the award for ‘Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series’ for the series ‘Fight for Life’ from the Visual Effects Society, hosted at the legendary Kodak Theatre.

Tori Davies and Laurent Rossi’s graduate film ‘Favelados’ has recently won Best Animation at the Wood Green International Film Festival 2008 in London.

Tori and Laurent who graduated from BA (Hons) Animation Production in 2007, are enjoying enormous success since leaving the AIB.

‘Favelados’ was shortlisted for a Royal Television Society Award a few months ago and has been part of the official selection at nine other international Animation festivals.

After graduating, Tori worked as an Environmental Designer for 20th Century Fox in the Feature Animation Design department and has recently moved to join Laurent in Scotland where they are both working on ‘The Illusionist’, a feature hand-drawn animation by Sylvain Chomet, French animator of the Oscar-nominated ‘Belleville Rendezvous’, as Digital Artist and In-betweener/Clean Up artist respectively. In their spare time, they work as illustrators on children’s books and develop new pitches for future animation projects. To see the film visit the Favelados website www.favelados.com

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Stills from ‘Favelados’

TRIBE IN SPACE

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GRADUATE TO WORK FOR GEORGE LUCAS

Toby Tinsley, one of the very first graduates of the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course in 1997, is celebrating the news that his design, ‘Galactic Girl’, will adorn the nose cone of two of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic shuttles due to fly to the moon as early as next year.

Delighted by his recent success, Toby, currently working at Design Company Sky 26, said ‘Everything about Virgin Galactic is incredible… they have created a design icon that will go down in the history books.’ The face of ‘Galactic Girl’ was based on Sir Richard’s mother, Eve Branson, and so is an incredibly important and personal design for the Virgin boss.

This July, Toby was present at the launch of ‘White Knight Two’, the mothership that will carry ‘SpaceShip Two’ – the passenger vehicle for high-spending space tourists – into

orbit. Creating the winning logo also means that Toby will be going ‘galactic’. Sir Richard will be giving him an all-expenses paid return flight to the moon!

AIB GRADUATE GOES GALACTIC

Galactic Girl Jason Smith

In January the AIB was pleased to welcome back 1993 Animation graduate Jason Smith, on a flying visit before he moved to San Francisco to begin a new life stateside. Jason has secured a position as Digital Production Supervisor at LucasArts, a leading publisher and developer of interactive entertainment software for videogame consoles and PCs. LucasArts is a subsidiary company of the renowned LucasFilm, founded by George Lucas in 1982. Jason was looking forward to starting his new role; supervising the team developing the new game ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’.

Originally training in Graphic Design, Jason quickly decided that he wanted to be an Animator. He commented that, even in 1991, the solid reputation of the AIB (or Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design as we then were) was well known in the UK and abroad and he was thrilled to get a place, where he studied under Professor Peter Parr.

Jason has had a successful career so far and his personal highlights include working on ‘Burnout 5’, EA’s first PlayStation 3 game to be designed in Europe, and also developing the character and facial animation for the ‘Harry Potter’ games franchise. He loves the creative freedom of being an Animator in the videogame industry and, whilst he’d love to have his own studio one day, if it involved giving up being an Animator he wouldn’t do it. As he puts it ‘I’ve got many creative years left in me yet’.

When asked what the AIB experience left him with, he speaks of the confidence he gained, not only from Peter and a supportive course team, but also from studying in a small, specialised environment. He also met his wife here, so the AIB has definitely left its mark on him!

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2008 BA (Hons) Illustration Alumnus Jamie Littler was awarded ‘Highly Commended’ by the Pan Macmillan Children’s Book Prize for his illustrations for the book ‘Ghosts in the Snow’.

The competition was open to all students and asked for illustrations to be submitted for a range of books. The winners and highly commended were chosen by a panel of judges who included leading children’s book illustrators; Emma Hopkin, the Managing Director of Macmillan Children’s Books and Anne Glenn, the Art Director.

The noted entries were exhibited at La Viande Gallery in London during May 2008. In addition, another Illustration Alumnus, Elissa Elwick, has been asked to see the designers at Pan Macmillan about her book idea.

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Love, director of British successes such as The Football Factory, Outlaw and The Business took time out of his busy schedule to share his experiences with students from the AIB. His upcoming film ‘The Sweeney’, a remake of the iconic seventies cop show, is currently in production.

Love visited the set of a student graduation film, giving useful help and advice to the production team from his own experience as a filmmaker. Before delivering a masterclass in film production to a packed lecture theatre, he toured the campus, film studios and editing suites speaking to students along the way. “I’ve got a real emotional attachment to this place”, he commented.

In his opening address, he praised the AIB for giving a film obsessed student the ability to “soak up film in a place with like-minded people”. He went on to highlight the wealth of enthusiastic staff and excellent facilities at the AIB, setting it apart from other film schools.

He regaled the audience with fond memories of his time here and how the film course allowed him to express himself and to really

find his vocation: “It completely changed my life, I was like a kid in a sweetshop when I came here”. When asked about his choice of film schools, Love replied; “To me, this place was the be all and the end all of undergraduate film courses”.

Love’s visit was an inspirational one for current students at the AIB, who benefited from stories of Love’s early life and struggle to succeed in the film industry. His advice spanned his experiences in producing, writing and directing as well as the hardships and trials encountered on the way.

Professor Stuart Bartholomew, Principal, said: “It is always a pleasure to welcome back graduates to the AIB, for current students to learn from their experiences. We take great pride in the success of our students in the creative industries in the UK and Internationally and have been following Nick Love’s ascending filmmaking career closely.”

“It completely changed my life, I was like a

kid in a sweetshop when I came here”

“To me, this place was the be all and the end all of

undergraduate film courses”

Acclaimed British writer and director Nick Love came back

to his AIB roots earlier this year. Visiting for the first time

since graduating in 1994 from the Film course, Nick

leapt at the chance to return to the place that

represented a real turning point in

his life.

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ANIMATION ALUMNI SUCCESS

Alumni from over twenty years of the BA (Hons) Animation Production course attended an event held in June to catch up with old friends, meet the graduating year of 2008 and network with their fellow industry peers.

We would like to invite all International Alumni to a reunion event at the AIB on Saturday 27th June 2008.

See the 2009 Summer Shows

Catch up with your course leaders and lecturers

Meet current International students

Network with other International Alumni and make contacts for the future

The event will finish with a celebration dinner in our conference centre and the

opportunity to attend the Graduation Ball. We will give two free nights accommodation on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th June in our Halls of Residence for the first twenty-five International Alumni who wish to attend. For more details please email graduates@aib.ac.uk.

Over eighty graduates from the course attended this inaugural alumni event, which was arranged by Industry Liaison Group member Jamie Badminton and Technician Tutor Anne Terkelsen.

Over wine and canapés the graduates, who came from as far afield as Edinburgh, watched their old animated films while catching up with their friends. The majority of the alumni are now working in the animation/games industries and they provided invaluable information and contacts for the 2008 graduating year.

Animation alumni from 2007 continue to receive recognition for their films with screenings at

film festivals across the world. Most recently, the animation ‘Mikky & Me’ was selected for screening at the 15th KROK International Animated Film Festival in Russia. KROK is an international showcase for animated films of the highest quality and diversity, and is being organised as a river cruise in September, taking the participants from St Petersburg to Valaam, Kizhi, Yaroslavl and Moscow.

Director Chris Halls’ animation was chosen as one of the best in the Student Category. As a result of the screening, he was invited to Russia for the duration of the festival.

The British Council has been celebrating its 60th anniversary in Hong Kong this year. This concluded with a gala dinner at which institutions with a long relationship with this part of China and the former Crown Colony were invited alongside representatives of their Alumni. The AIB was amongst a small number of specialist institutions, which included the Royal College of Art and the Royal Academy of Music, who were invited to an event which otherwise comprised largely Russell group universities.

The Principal was host to a group of AIB Alumni from Hong Kong and now working in creative industries. They are strong ambassadors for the Institute and are growing in influence as the creative industries become more important to the region. The AIB has recruited students from Hong Kong for over 20 years and whilst the numbers in each of these years has not been large we do have a reputation for the high quality of our provision and the professional ability of our graduates. This year we have 171 students from outside the European Union – the largest number ever at AIB.

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Professor Peter Parr with Animation Alumni Professor Stuart Bartholomew with Hong Kong Alumni

Graduate Fashion Week provided an ideal opportunity for a BA (Hons) Fashion Studies Alumni event. Recent graduates from the course attended the event, which took place after the catwalk show on 8th June at the AIB exhibition stand.

The event provided current graduating students with the chance to make valuable contacts from their predecessors working in the industry. The range of careers represented at the event included designers, production assistants, buyers and development assistants. Last year’s River Island Gold Award nominee Gemma Leakey also attended and gave valuable advice for the graduating students.

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BA (Hons) Fashion Studies Course Leader John Hopkins, with students and Alumni, at London Graduate Fashion Week

Graduating students from the postgraduate course at the AIB celebrated after receiving their Master of Arts Award (MA) with their final creative pieces exhibited in the Gallery at the AIB in an innovative exhibition entitled ‘Edge’.

The MA show represents the culmination of an intensive period of study which has brought together individuals from across the globe to further their creative abilities. The work produced by the MA students includes an interpretation of maps as an artistic theme, with the artist using the semiotic power of maps to make ironic commentary on everyday life; an investigation into 4th dimensional mind time travel; an engagement

with psychoanalytic theory in a series of engaging photographs that reinterpret and question family; and an exploration of costume and the boundaries in which costume is contained.

The MA course at the AIB allows students to explore their creativity with the help and expertise of lecturers who are practitioners in their specialist fields. Each of the specialist pathways works

alongside each other with additional resources including the Gallery’s programme and the Museum of Design in Plastics.

The particular expertise and range of subject disciplines at the AIB encourages a high level of creative thinking and original output. For more details on the Postgraduate courses at the AIB please visit www.aib.ac.uk/courses/postgraduatestudy.aspx

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Melville Shields-Probett, AIB-BIA Derive, 2008

FASHION ALUMNI EVENT

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The Gallery is a major resource for contemporary visual art at the AIB. It has received regional and national recognition with regular exhibitions from some of today’s leading artists and critical writers including former Turner Prize winner Grenville Davey, painters Frank Bowling OBE RA and Ian McKeever, the poet David Miller and curators Rosemary Miles and Liz Wells.

The Gallery’s exhibition programme, ‘text+work’ provides a forum for critical dialogue and commentary around innovative art, design and media practice. This programme provides a platform for practitioners, writers and curators who wish to examine and extend the boundaries between contemporary practice and critical discourse.

Following its successful collaboration in 2007 and joint participation at the Venice Biennale, the AIB has strengthened its link with ArtSway, the leading venue for contemporary visual art in the New Forest and plans to attend the Biennale on a regular basis. The AIB supports the ArtSway Artist in Residence with staff and student involvement. In 2007 the artist was Nathaniel Mellors, subsequently exhibiting at the Biennale de Lyon, and the 2008 artist in residence, Dinu Li, will show as part of the text+work programme in 2009.

The exhibition ‘From Here to There’ curated by Phil Beards and Geoff Drury, will see the return of some of the AIB Photography alumni, bringing together 30 contemporary photographers now working in the industry.

Please come and visit one of our forthcoming exhibitions:

‘In No Particular Order’ Kathleen Abiker + Simón Granell 8 December 2008 – 23 January 2009

‘From Here to There’ A contemporary photography exhibition 2 February – 6 March 2009

You can join the Gallery’s database to receive free text+work publications and to receive invitations to our artist talks and Private Views. Further details can be found on the text+work website: www.textandwork.org.uk

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CONTINUING YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Following the success of being granted University College status, the AIB will now be able to expand its portfolio of accredited Continuing Professional Development courses. Recent projects have included a bespoke training programme in Photographic Imagery Production for the Dorset Police Air Operations Unit. The programme was extremely successful and may be extended to other police forces across the UK in the future. Stella Yates, the AIB’s Creative Industries Intermediary, would like to get your views on current trends and developments in the creative industries. For further details on CPD courses, or to send your comments please email: syates@aib.ac.uk

We hope you’ve enjoyed

reading our magazine. If you

wish to change your details

or would prefer not to receive

this publication, please

email graduates@aib.ac.uk

21

ENTERPRISE PAVILION

This unique facility within the AIB campus continues to go from strength to strength and has seen a number of its successful companies expanding their businesses and opening new offices. White Lantern Films has grown from a two-man company into a 12-man operation and the Managing Director, Adam Merrifield, has been shortlisted for the British Council’s Young Screen Entrepreneur of the Year. New creative ventures have also been starting up in the Pavilion, utilising its great accommodation and facilities, and participating in its ‘Entrepreneurs Club’ where businesses meet to share experiences and ideas. If you are interested in launching a new creative business in the area and would like to investigate opportunities the Enterprise Pavilion might be able to offer you, contact Matt Desmier mdesmier@aib.ac.uk / 01202 363602.

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CREATIVE SHORT COURSES

The AIB runs a wide variety of creative short courses. Don’t forget, Alumni get a 10% discount.

Fashion and Textiles Design Silversmithing Interior Design Drawing, Painting and Printing Film making Acting Photography Creative Writing Digital and Web Design

Courses run in the evenings and also at weekends. Our professional, supportive staff and friendly teaching environment give you the perfect opportunity to hone your own creativity and mingle with like-minded students. Evening courses are ideal for busy professionals, full time parents or anyone who is looking to discover their creative potential.

For more information on short courses, please email us at scourses@aib.ac.uk or take a look at our new brochure for 2009. To request a brochure please contact us on 01202 363222. You can download a PDF version at www.aib.ac.uk

MASTER OF ARTS (MA)

The Institute launched a Postgraduate programme in 2006, offering collaborative pathways in Photography, Costume, Fine Art and Animation. Two more pathways in Graphic Design and Interactive Media are planned next year. The course is proving popular with the Institute’s BA graduates as well as practicing artists from both the UK and abroad. The course aims to provide the opportunity for students to build on their achievements and to study at advanced level, deepening their knowledge and their ability to focus on their chosen field in relation to the key aspects to inform it.

Graduates have participated in the Venice Biennale, working with partners ArtSway at the New Forest Pavilion and also held two extremely successful exhibitions of their work each September. The AIB holds MA open days in June and September, providing an opportunity for prospective students to meet with course tutors and current students, offering the chance for discussion about the course, specific pathways, personal circumstances and interests.

For further information and to view students work visit www.aib.ac.uk and click on Postgraduate Study or call Astrid Mackellar on 01202 363384.

Did you know that as well as our undergraduate portfolio of twenty one courses, we also offer Master of Arts, PGCE, Creative Short Courses, CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and bespoke training programmes?

Married a fellow graduate?

Got a new job?

Won an award?

Started your own business?

Had your work published?

If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the above or if you’ve achieved anything else you’d like your fellow Alumni to hear about – please let me know (graduates@aib.ac.uk)

Some of our more famous Alumni include…

Edgar Wright: Writer/director of hit films ‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Hot Fuzz’ and the television series ‘Spaced’

Nick Knight: One of the world’s most influential and award-winning fashion photographers

Simon Beaufoy: Screenwriter, who wrote the scripts for ‘The Full Monty’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Wolfgang Tillmans: The first photographer to win the Turner Prize

Mel Giedroyc: Presenter, actor and writer; best known for her comedy collaborations with Sue Perkins

Sara Sugarman: Actor/director, directing credits include ‘Mad Cows’, ‘Very Annie Mary’ and ‘Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen’ with Lindsay Lohan

Suri Krishnamma: Three times BAFTA award nominee and director of ‘A Man of No Importance’, ‘New Year’s Day’, and ‘Wuthering Heights’. He has also directed several episodes of the television series ‘Waking the Dead’.

Hav

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The Arts Institute at Bournemouth Wallisdown, Poole, Dorset BH12 5HH

Telephone: 01202 533011 Website: www.aib.ac.uk