Description
An invited talk to James Gillespies High School, Edinburgh to present an overview of studying visual arts at Higher Education level, contextualised with a presentation of my own professional illustration practice and career. The audience was the Art Department faculty, the Higher and A Level Art student cohort, with some Nat 5s in addition.The teaching staff had requested that the presentation refer to application folios, articulating a lack of confidence in understanding what HE institutions were looking for. Kirkham’s intention was to bridge the gap by articulating HE values to the school’s students and staff in an engaging, digestible and applicable form.
The primary resource used to achieve this aim was an illustrated and abridged version of the DJCAD Communication Design Assessment Criteria, designed and illustrated by Kirkham. These criteria in their reduced form, became a set of values for guidance in the production of creative projects, and a checklist for the folios themselves.
The illustrations were developed through the drawing process to 1) clarify and interpret the written language 2) provide examples of the described areas of endeavour and 3) render them familiar and memorable. Humour was used to engage the audience and motivate them to consider the values in positive and sympathetic terms. The same two characters were used throughout to imply that the elements are a sequence to be travelled through. Underlying the endeavour was the desire to incorporate an example of visual creativity into a document which describes its characteristics.
The teaching staff enthusiastically received the document and confirmed their intention to use it to help review their students' HE applications, and as a tool in the delivery of their Art A level course. The success of this activity suggested the potential for the further delivery of the material in communications between HE and schools.
| Period | 8 Dec 2023 |
|---|---|
| Degree of Recognition | Local |