Spring successes for Manchester School of Art students and graduates

Alumni illustrator celebrates book launch 

Graduate Roisin Swales has recently celebrated the publication of her book Big Hid by Flying Eye Books, which explores themes of mental illness in a child-friendly fashion with colourful characters Big and Little. 

She produced Big Hid while studying BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation at Manchester School of Art and displayed a version of it in the Degree Show 2016. Following the show, she was one of the artists and designers from the School to exhibit at New Designers where her work was discovered by Sam Arthur, co-founder of No Brow and Flying Eye Books. 

Speaking to Creative Review, Roisin commented that, ‘one of my tutors told me it would be a hit, but I am very cynical, so I didn’t think for a second that it would have ended up this way. I’m so glad my tutor Ian persuaded me to pursue this story and to feature it more heavily in the Degree Show, or else none of this would have happened.

In fact, I have a lot to thank my tutors at Manchester School of Art for, they were all extremely supportive and trustworthy of me as well as all the other students on my course. They always told me I would be published on day; I think that gave me a lot of confidence in my work that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.’ 

Read Roisin’s full interview with Creative Review at: https://www.creativereview.co.uk/roisin-swales-big-hid/ 

Student Film Festival wins for Filmmaking graduates 

Two graduates from Manchester School of Art’s BA (Hons) Filmmaking course have won awards at the National Student Film Festival, also known as Screen Test Fest. 

The National Student Film Festival celebrates the very best of student film in the UK and offers a programme of over 100 student-made films. 

Out of the large number of films submitted, Rainbow by Nilofaur Zabihi was awarded Best Doccumentary. Nilofaur’s film is a double screen installation, portraying the lives of three individuals living in Tehran, and exploring the impact of childhood upon their present lives. 

Nathan Starr also recieved a category win, securing ‘Best Experimental Film’ for his film Urbis, which depicts Manchester from morning to night utilising techniques such as digital time lapse photography and slow motion 16mm recordings. 

You can find out more about Nilofaur and Nathan’s work on the Manchester School of Art Degree Show website: http://degreeshow.mmu.ac.uk/2016/courses/filmmaking/ 

Beijing Fashion Week success for fashion student 

BA (Hons) Fashion student Anna Thomas has received a runners-up prize in the prestigious ‘Hempel Award’ 25th China International Young Fashion Designers Contest. 

As part of the content, Anna’s designs were showcased on the runway at the launch of Beijing Fashion Week and then exhibited for press at an evening event. 

The theme for this year’s contest was ‘Leaving Blank’: an important expression in Chinese traditional art, which is widely used in the fields of painting, ceramics and poetry. Submissions responding to the theme were judged by a panel of scholars, designers, fashion critics and artists. 

Folio society commission for Illustration and Animation graduate 

After been picked out at New Designers 2016, recent graduate David Howe has completed a new cover design and accompanying suite of illustrations for publishers The Folio Society in London. 

Prior to recieving this commission, David entered the Folio Competition 2016, where he depicted scenes from War House by Michael Morpurgo. This experience informed his practice up until graduation where he received a First Class Honours in BA (Hons) Illustration with Animation. 

See more of Davids work on our Degree Show website: http://degreeshow.mmu.ac.uk/2016/DavidHowe/ 

You can find out more about the successes of our students and graduates on our news webpage, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram for the latest updates from the School.