The Northern School of Art’s new Middlesbrough campus reveals its first Summer Show

The first end of year summer show at The Northern School of Art’s new central Middlesbrough college level campus has opened to the public following a hugely popular launch event for students and their families and friends.

Hundreds of guests attended the ‘Reveal’ summer show in the School’s eye-catching Newport Road building to enjoy a preview of work by talented final year students at the specialist art and design school’s Ofsted-rated Outstanding further education campus.

The event highlights an impressive range of ambitious projects from young creatives who are now heading off to a range of prestigious destinations around the UK to fulfil the next stage of their creative careers.

The show is now open to the public with free escorted tours available to book on Thursday 9 June, Friday 10 June and Monday 13 June and an open day for prospective students on Saturday 11 June.

The exhibition celebrates the work of leavers from the School’s wide range of creative UAL Extended Diploma courses including fashion, photography, fine art, art and design, graphic and interactive design, textiles and surface design, film and TV and interior, architecture and product design.

Also being showcased is the work of A Level students from Fine Art, Art and Design History, Graphic Communication, Photography and Textile Design and displays by Foundation Diploma and Access to Higher Education students.

Ahead of the opening evening a series of awards recognising academic and creative excellence across the School’s programmes were presented to students by The Northern School of Art’s Principal, Dr Martin Raby, and The Northern School of Art Governor, Ian Swain.

All those nominated for an award received a certificate to display on their exhibition stand and winners were presented with a certificate and prize.

For further details about escorted tours and the open day and to book a place visit https://northernart.ac.uk/reveal/ Entry is free.

Award winners

Governors’ Award – Winner: Ellen Campbell, Foundation Diploma

The Governors’ Award is given to the student who has the most impressive work and whose work is regarded as being the ‘Best in Show’.

Nominating comments about Ellen’s work stated: “Ellen has worked tirelessly with drive and ambition to create this politically inspired board game for her final major project reflecting the current zeitgeist.  Her newly found love of graphic design and illustration … is reflected in the originality of the design of the game, the humorous characterisation of the politicians and all the components and packaging all of which were designed from scratch.”

Ellen, who is looking for full time work or a degree apprenticeship in something graphic design or illustration-based now she has finished her course, reacted to her award win by saying: “Honestly I’m over the moon it’s great, I really didn’t expect it, I’m really happy!

“I’ve loved the course,” she added. “I’ve really enjoyed it because I’ve never actually done anything like this more, I came from A level fine art so learning graphic design and working with creative cloud is not something I’ve done before, so I’ve learnt it all from scratch and I’ve really enjoyed every step of it.

“I’m career focused, and I want to do graphics as I really love designing things so I’m really keen to give working in industry a go now.”

Principal’s Award – Winner: Hannah Beveridge, A-Level Pathway

Hannah’s nomination for the award noted that “Hannah has had to overcome huge health challenges since the first year of her studies. Showing immense fortitude and strength of character she has exceeded our expectations and excelled in each of her subjects. Despite all her barriers she maintains a positive outlook and is always there to support her classmates.”

Hannah, who studied A Levels in photography, art history and textiles and is heading Birmingham City University to study a BA (Hons) in Photography, said she had enjoyed her time at the School and liked all her courses “equally because I’ve learnt so many skills that I can use later in life – I like having a wide skill base.”

She was very pleased with her award win as it was “like what I have gone through has been acknowledged as a struggle, because it’s been a tough two years and four operations, and I had the option to stop but I didn’t want to.”

Tim Leah-Adams Award – Technical Excellence in – Winner: Oliveia Bartlett, UAL Extended Diploma in Photography

Oliveia’s nomination for the award noted that “Over the course of the programme she has excelled beyond what was expected of her and had success exhibiting in London and Middlesbrough (with more exhibitions in the pipeline) as well as receiving positive reviews for her self-published photobook series ‘Uninhabitable’. This included recognition from North America and partaking in artist interviews with the Biblioscapes Podcast as well as being invited to collaborate with other professional practitioners.”

Oliveia is progressing onto The Northern School of Art’s BA (Hons) Fine Art degree course in September. She said that the award win was “unexpected” adding that it was extra special as “Tim interviewed me back when I originally was going to come here, and I knew him very well and he liked the dark room work that I focus on.”

Jan Secker Award for Passion and Productivity in Photography – Award – Winner: Ellie Murphy, UAL Extended Diploma in Photography

Ellie’s nomination for the award noted that: “Ellie is consistently hardworking in all elements of creative practice and conducts herself with professionalism and maturity at all times, with a self-driven attitude to achieve the highest standard of work.”

Ellie has just finished her first year on the course and says she is really enjoying it. She said she was “a bit overwhelmed” to have won the award. 

Library Award – Winner: Luke Cvetkovski, UAL Level 2 Diploma in Art & Design

Luke’s nomination for the award noted that: “Luke definitely stands out. He is a lovely student, very quiet, polite and also very conscientious. He comes across as a student who really wants to do his best and get where he wants to go.”

Luke’s nomination for the award noted that: “Luke definitely stands out. He is a lovely student, very quiet, polite and also very conscientious. He comes across as a student who really wants to do his best and get where he wants to go.”

He said he was happy to win the award and he uses the library “two to three times a week” and he “usually read medieval books or religious books for my art projects.”

The Reveal Summer Show at The Northern School of Art’s Middlesbrough campus in Newport Road, Middlesbrough is open to the public with escorted tours available on Thursday 9 June from 5pm to 8pm, Friday 10 June from 1pm to 4pm and Monday 13 June from 1pm to 4pm.

An open day for future students interested in joining the School is also taking place on Saturday 11 June from 10am – 1pm. Young creatives will have the opportunity to tour the campus, speak to staff and view the final year exhibition.

To find out more about the range of college level creative courses on offer at The Northern School of Art’s Middlesbrough campus click HERE