Natural Ability

Student Emily Nicholls has produced a creative set of tile designs for Gradbach Outdoor Adventure. Emily, who studies the BTEC Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC), was set the brief of producing door numbers in an unusual way to help guests identify the centre's 20 rooms.

Emily referred to Peak District wildlife as a guide to gain inspiration and began working in watercolour before enhancing her designs in Adobe Photoshop. Emily completed her designs by getting the design transferred onto elegant Minton tiles.

Mike Kelly, Assistant Head of Academic and Creative studies at NULC, said: "This has been a great 'real world' opportunity for Emily, and her tutors on the Foundation Diploma in Art and Design think it's going to be the first of many projects our students can get involved in for Gradbach Outdoor Adventure."

For more information about studying the Foundation Diploma in Art and Design call 01782 254254, email info@nulc.ac.uk or visit www.nulc.ac.uk

Photography students on fast track at Tour of Britain!

 

NULC students studying the BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Photography & Digital Imaging used the recent Tour of Britain Cycling Race to gain some real life photo journalism experience.

Course Leader, Alex Williams, said: “The Tour of Britain passing through the Potteries offered a fantastic opportunity for our second year students to add another string to their bow.  The students were set a live brief, which gave them some work experience in the fast paced environment of event photography. This gave our students a real taste of real world requirements for preparation and planning, as well as the quick turnaround time after capturing the images to edit and send them to the customer.”

Alex added: “The students did extremely well in the task, achieving various images that fit in various genres of photography, including Social Documentary and Corporate work, understanding that a sports event can be captured in various different styles and ways. Many students also had their work liked, praised and re-tweeted on various social media platforms.”

To find out more about studying photography at NULC, contact 

alex.williams@nulc.ac.uk, visit www.nulc.ac.uk or call 01782254254.

AS Theatre Studies programme

On Friday 1st May the AS Theatre students performed the first moderated work in the new Performing Arts Centre.  

The images show a performance of Matilda which was absolutely fantastic, the students attained 100% A-D grades with 61% attaining high grades (A-B) for the unit.  John Shortall our AQA moderator was very complimentary of our new facilities at the Performing Arts Centre and the superb acting ability of our cohort.  The unit is taught by Faye Matthews who has worked extremely hard with the learners to deliver a superb performance of the classic!

And on Friday 8th May A2 students will be moderated and we invite friends and family to watch a range of physical and creative adaption pieces which will start from 11am.

Thanks to Sue Bowdery who took some amazing pictures of one of the AS performances.

Expert Ex-Students Help Current Students on Final Project

Students are helping to signpost the new Lego Innovation Studio at Newcastle-under-Lyme College.

The Level 3 ED Graphics Design & Interactive Media students are working on a project which is set to complete on the 9^th February. There are three tasks in this project which the students have to fulfil. The first task asks the students to produce several pages of evidence in a sketchbook, which shows evidence of a variety of methods used, including traditional, computer generated materials, also the techniques and process the students learnt during the projects.

The second task sees the students produce a number of thumbnail designs that can be refined. They must also produce a number of mock-ups for the final idea, using materials and the new processes and techniques they have learnt.

In the third and final task the students will research a number of supporting ideas that will inform the Lego Innovation Studio. They can then use these ideas as a starting point for their final project.

Over the duration of their task the students will produce a number of pieces for use in the promotion, branding and sign-posting of the room.

The students involved in this task have been split into three teams depending on their skills. One team, headed by lecturer Shannon Steyn, will be focused on graphics design. They will be producing promotional material for the Lego Studio, which includes posters aimed at staff and students. A second team, headed by lecturer David Burgess, are the illustration team and will produce three 2.5m x 1.5m prints to be placed outside of the Lego Studio. The last team is headed by lecturer Mark Smith and this team is the 3D computer modelling team and they will design a mural 265cm x 288cm in size to go along the wall outside the ED Graphics Design & Media staff room.

In order to produce these final pieces and coursework the students have been encouraged to bring in resources from home, from old toothbrushes to sponges. They were also given resources to use in college, including ipads, cameras and graphics tablets.

The students also had help from former students of NULC who have gone onto have successful careers: Tom Perry, a letter smith from PezandPencil of Stoke on Trent, Anthony Owen, the Creative Director at Delineo in Manchester and Jon Paul Green, lead Graphic Designer at Q Railing in Stoke on Trent. All three ex-students completed the Level 3 ED Graphics Design & Interactive Media course and Ant and Jon also completed a level 2 course in Art & Design prior to that.