2012 Bath Spa presentation

Catalonia and the Netherlands: Bath Spa Travel Scholars of 2012

On April 18th Trustees the 2012 Gane Travel Scholars gave their final presentations at Bath Spa’s Sion Hill campus, to staff, students and Gane Trustees Peter Metcalfe and Cleo Witt. Two outstanding candidates meant that last year’s scholarship was divided and the additional costs met by the University.kable reports. Each had used the £1000 as seed money to spend longer in their chosen countries, immersing themselves in a different country and profiting from new opportunities, in one case deferring her third year to take full advantage.

Esmé Eros set up a month-long residency with the BCN Gallery in Barcelona, which extended to 2: “I wanted to take myself out of my every day…and for that change to inform my practice”. Primarily a sculptor, she focussed on restricting her practice to one of the earliest photographic techniques, the pinhole camera, printing both positive and negative on paper. Ranging the streets of Barcelona, she layered multiple images of people and buildings with an old random unexposed film from her parents’ camera, which turned out to contain images of Carnival from 1999. Barcelona’s Catalan language made commmunication difficult, but she gained much from living in the Gracia neighbourhood and exploring her independence from the University environment in England, as well as the society of the many artists in the Gallery through peer criticism and collaboration. The Gallery also had links to other galleries, and gave her experience on an education project. She relished the discipline of constantly keep on going with her work: ”creativity is like exercise”. For her the experience was “invaluable to my progression in the art world as a practising artist.”

Visit http://esme-eros.com to see more.

Lisa Dillon “just wanted to go and see something different” and to take her textiles and dyeing to a higher level. So she set up a 4 month internship with Jo Meesters in Eindhoven, where the Design Week had impressed her – it had “a focus and a purpose … and everyone in the City seemed to embrace it”. She researched accommodation and friendship networks on the internet, finding a place to live with three Design Academy students whose skills and attitude were at a very high level, a real inspiration. Lisa began at Jo Meesters’ textile studio with 6 other interns, working on developing yarns: she then approached SoniA, another textile artist and jeweller she admired, securing a 6 week internship which she much enjoyed. SoniA took her to Milan Fashion Week where they worked as a team, introducing her to a new ‘public relations’ role, and a potential new career. Other experiences included the Eating Man food design exhibition at the Design House in Eindhoven, featuring robots delivering salad, a Concept Dinner and all sorts of delights. The whole experience really developed her self-confidence and ability to trust in her own self-belief.

Pictures: Lisa with Trustee Peter Metcalfe, images from Esme’s exhibition in Barcelona