Since 2017 Fife Contemporary has supported and encouraged new makers by hosting online exhibitions under the title Materialise, which has provided a platform for new and emerging practices. We have also awarded a yearly residency to support the development of new work and hosted relevant professional development events.
This year we have had to re-think how we develop a meaningful package of support; we have paused the residency and in its place have decided to invite a cohort of makers that will benefit from tailored development sessions to help support the next phase in their practice, and an online exhibition launching next year.
We have selected the graduates from online degree shows visited by a panel of Fife Contemporary staff and Board members who shortlisted, and with the help of their tutors, selected the makers to invite for this opportunity. An outstanding student from each Scottish art school has been chosen to receive a monetary award of £250 to pay for equipment or materials to help them progress their practice.
We have selected based on criteria that embodies the types of work Fife Contemporary are interested in engaging with and developing. We look to share and encourage activity that is multidisciplinary in approach and outcome and are exited by innovative, environmentally aware and conceptual work.
It has been an incredibly difficult year for these students to graduate so please join us to congratulate and celebrate the work of the following makers who have each given us a short introduction to their work.
Francesca Rea
“I have designed embroidered textiles for burial-wear with fabric that is 100% decomposable and plant-based, including the dyes. This closed-loop life cycle is a reminder of our place in the environment, one that we must look after for the next generations on our planet.’’
Website, Instagram: @francescathreads
Kelda Young
“My work is inspired by recollected fragmented memories, highlighting abstract shapes from details that often go unnoticed within contrasting environments. My collection brings structure to memories, allowing them to be preserved through materialisation. The fabrication of these pieces creates a place for them in my physical world.”
Website, Instagram: @kelda.jewellery
Emalie Lise Dam Christensen
“My work situates itself in the divide between traditional and innovative knitting practices. Through looking at archives, I explores an approach to textiles based on emotional design theory. Strik:t is a process-based enquiry and knitted texture library, where textures can be combined to compose a unique stories.”
Website, Instagram: @emaliedam
Melody Uyanga Ramsay
“I am a fashion researcher and designer whose work explores Postcolonial Theory in relation to the luxury fashion industry – which is grounded in a love of thoughtful design, conceptual innovation and British style. In doing so I invite the us to define our own understanding of aspiration and hope.”
Website, Instagram: @melody.uyanga.ramsay
Michelle Currie
“A collision of the beautifully interconnected realms of Science + Art, my practice results from my exploration of magnetic forces and ferromagnetic materials, creating reactive iron mixtures that are sculpted directly onto magnetic field lines forming curious wearable sculptures that invite cross disciplinary conversations.”
Website, Instagram: @michelle.currie.artjeweller
Anne Morgan
“My work combines cultures of abstract landscape painting and textile design to create heirlooms for the home. Journeys through the Scottish landscape inspire abstract shapes, texture and colour expressed through the slow craft techniques of hand painted textiles, screen printing and embroidery, while reclaimed materials add tactility and depth.”
Website, Instagram: @anne_morgan_designs
Amelia Wang
“Our identity is often moulded by the experiences of our predecessors. My graduate collection embraces different modes of fashion presentation: blurring typical display techniques and bringing memories to the present in tangible, relatable ways. My collection is an exhibition to celebrate these familial memories, sympathetically coalescing the passing of time.”
Website, Instagram: @Ameliawang.design
Vanna Paabor
“I love to explore – challenge mindsets, forms and conventional use of materials. My work is a personal learning experience for my mind and hands. I tend to gravitate towards environmentalism, although justifying making can be difficult, I aim to make conscious choices.”
Website, Instagram: @vannapaabor.creative
Yanan Li
“By pushing the capabilities of paper mache I have found innovative and sustainable ways to work and have developed my own paper mache material. I can adapt my paper mache ‘recipes’ to provide different textural and visual outcomes creating truly unique pieces.”
Instagram: @ttfjewellerydesign
Isabelle Rice
“Human Interaction- So underrated yet vital for survival, loneliness has made people consider the crucial need for touch. My own experience of isolation forced me to feel the impacts of the lack of physical connections also known as skin hunger. The project considers both sides- Human Interaction and the Hunger for Skin.”
Instagram: @belles_conception
Erin Scott
“Artists and designers are constantly connecting with our bodies and with every product we encounter. The lights represent how unaware makers are about our nerves’ contribution during our “making process”. Concealed inside, the data inspired structures are invisible until the lights are switched on illuminating a space with relaxing shadows.”
Instagram: @erinscottdesign
Winners of the School Cash Prizes: Francesca Rea for DJCAD, Melody Ramsay for GSA, Yanan Lee For ECA and Isabelle Rice for Gray’s. Each will receive £250 to help further their practice.
View the online degree shows by following the links below
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art
We are launching Materialise 3 at the end of this month which will showcase last year’s selected new makers; so keep an eye out to see what they have been up to!
