Visual Studies graduate 2008
now support worker for
The Benjamin Foundation.
Hello,
my name is Jodie Sibley and i graduated from Visual Studies in 2008. My friends who i went to school with and i, are always talking about university and are forever exchanging stories about out time spent there.
When i graduated from the Visual Studies course, i decided i wanted to stay in Norwich and not move back home with my parents. I have friends who also went to the Norwich School Of Art and Design (now known as NUCA) who graduated also in Visual Studies. When we meet up, we always end up talking about NUCA but we don't have the same conversations as i do with my home friends. When i talk to other graduates of the Visual Studies course, we talk about the projects we were involved in, exhibitions that we put on, tutors and their support.
We talk about how creative and fun Visual Studies was and how we had the freedom but support to create. (I befriended old people in homes for one of my projects, but the next i designed and made corsets!)
I now work for The Benjamin Foundation in a homeless hostel for young people. I have worked for the organization for nearly two years and everything i remember from Visual Studies, i try to link and incorporate into my job role as a support worker.I truly believe if i had not enrolled onto the visual studies course at the end of my foundation year i would not be the person i am today. When i went for my interview as a support worker they told me that i got the job as i was different. They told me I was interesting, i was good at communicating, i was colourful. This is how i would explain Visual Studies and more, its not fine art so don't put it in the same category. Its in a league of its own and should stay there.
Visual Studies is so much more than a course, its a way of communicating which is the most important skill i think everyone should have. I would be deeply saddened if Visual studies were lost and others never got a chance to experience it and gain from it like i have.
Jodie Sibley
Heather Elizabeth Gibb
Visual Studies Graduate 2009
now freelance photographer and illustrator ,performance art tutor.
Visual Studies is an important course to Norwich, to students and to the UK and around the world. It is as far as i know the only course of it's sort. Unlike any other course the art school runs, it gives a platform into a wider range of career opportunities. In Visual Studies, you can have much more freedom than in any other course. You are initially inducted into all of the different workshops that the school provide. This allows you to develop and hone a wider range of skills rather than one specific area of study. Personally it has enabled me to do everything from forwarding my career in retail, to becoming a performance art tutor, along side a freelance photographer and illustrator. It has also taught me the strength of character i needed to be able to work at a very young age in a high school as a cover supervisor. Without Visual Studies i would not know how to think outside the box. As an Art school, i implore you not to cut off the one course that completely embraces all forms of creativity. It is diverse and i feel that if lost that some of the creative identity of the school of art in Norwich will be lost also. Visual Studies enabled me to know that i am ready for whatever life throws at me however crazy, it also allows me to keep an open mind into my future. Think to your potential students future. Visual Studies is the modern day answer to true art. If we lose it i fear we may be turning back to our traditional routes, pigeon holing art into sculpture, painting and printing. If we keep it, the question "What is Art?" may start to challenge the minds of our fellow human beings for a long time yet to come, as Visual Studies students continue to challenge the boundaries and diversify.
I hope my argument has been well heard and well received,
Kind Regards,
Heather Elizabeth Gibb
Abbie Raynsford
Visual Studies Graduate 2008
now organises workshops for Buddhafield Festival, Devon
www.buddhafield.com
Dear All,
I graduated from the Visual Studies Course in 2008. It was the best, and most life changing 3 years of my life. It was an exceptionally efficient and well run course, lead by exceptionally skilled, caring and talented tutors, Chris Locke, Kimberley Foster & Peter Martin. Anita Hallet also was incredidly patient, and supportive to all the students.
I have been a practising Buddhist since for 15 years, and in all my meetings with practising individuals, I had not been as consistently impressed, nor humbled by the communication I had with Kimberly and Peter. I was never once criticized. This really is quite phenomenal, because we talked a lot! I cannot say that for any other individuals I've ever met. Chris Locke is also probably the most encouraging, creative person I've met, and although I would be thrown by his slightly old fashioned exterior, I always felt he was the younger, more questioning of us, and it was me that was caught in my ways, not him!
I would add that the first year was extremely well lead by Andy Campbell, and all the students were very disappointed when he was not reinstated as First Year tutor. It was a loss for both the Art School and Visual Studies.
I cannot say how important I think this course is. In my opinion it is THE course that makes NUCA great, and unique. The standards with which it upheld, gave rise to my friend saying 'having a baby was easier than doing my Visual Studies course!'. The commitment, and hard work was always rewarded by self discovery, increased self confidence, a belief that I could take on the world just a bit more, and above all to ask why, and keep pushing for greater understanding. I gained a very high first. I have never worked harder, nor felt as proud.
I would never have been able to do the work that I do now. I organise workshops for a charity that run a festival in Devon, along with retreats, a cafe and land. Had I not gained the experience of running a fundraising art auction that raised £5,000 for our final show, nor helped collaborate with the students desiginng the final show, nor been encouraged to be student rep and a PAL, I know that I would not have been able to take on this demanding work. I certainly would not have had the confidence, nor technical skills to take on such work.
I still talk passionately and strongly about my degree experience. It fundamentally asked how I see the world, and what creativity really is. It asked who our audience is, where the work lives and crucially how best to communicate that. Working alongside other artistic practitioners, I realize that they just weren't asked in their creative practice to really consider their audience, or how to communicate effectively to them.
I feel incredibly privileged to have been part of the course, and it saddens me deeply to think that other students will not be given the same opportunities that I had.
Integrating the course will be such loss for NUCA. Such a diversity of spirit and creativity will not be encouraged. Visual Studies in my opinion makes NUCA special.
Best wishes,
Abie Raynsford
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