Time Based Art & Digital Film

Sylvia Law

Time Based Art 2009 – 2012

I applied to the Time Based Art & Digital Film course in 2009 due to its wide variety of specialism’s and its reputation for having state of the art equipment and facilities, which made me think that the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art would be the ideal place to further explore my creative practice. I went into the course with an initial background in video and art. Throughout my time studying on the course my practice expanded and I found myself working mostly with sound and performance art. The programme offers a series of professional workshops with professional artists and directors that cover each specialism including lighting, directing, editing, sound and performance art. It was during these immersive weeklong events that I discovered my interest in sound and performance art. I found these aspects to the course very engaging and helpful and it was a great way to explore my practice within an open and creative environment.

I found the nature of the Time Based Art & Digital Film course very DIY and I was encouraged to be very self-directed and to engage with the local arts community from day one. The course also encourages you to work out of the studio and in public and site-specific spaces. As a department we share one collective studio space and this enables students from all year groups to socialize and learn from each other. I had a very proactive year group and together we organised a series of events and publications, which have remained as part of the college and are left as student legacies. I feel that this course has a great ethos as it encourages its students to create artistic collectives. This has allowed for great things to happen including Yuck 'n' Yum and Tin Roof, which are arts organisations made up from Time Based Art & Digital Film graduates and who have created a platform and supportive network for artists in Dundee. 

Dundee as a city offers great spaces for art including the DCA, Generator Projects, Tin Roof and the Hannah Maclure Centre. It also holds a series of exhibitions and art events all year long, so I found it a very lively city to live in during my studies. In my third year I went on the Erasmus exchange programme and went to study in Milan for a semester. I could not advise this opportunity more, it was a fundamental part to my overall art education experience and I think it is a great way to network and see art from a different perspective. I graduated from the course this year with amazing opportunities ahead. I was lucky to be selected for next year's RSA New Contemporaries exhibition and also received the John Kinross Scholarship to go to Florence. Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art has been a great place to grow as an artist and develop my practice. I feel very thankful to all the tutors, technicians and students who made my experience at art college so significant and fundamental to my future career as an artist. 

http://sylvialaw.wordpress.com/

Jessica Treffler

Time Based Art (1st Class BA HONS) 2000 – 2004

I applied to Duncan of Jordanstone because I had always wanted to study in an English speaking country not only to improve my English but also as an opportunity to learn about another culture and way of living. I visited Scotland and fell in love with it and Duncan of Jordanstone too. I felt that the staff were really interested in me as a prospective student. I was given a tour of the college by one of the general course tutors and I knew that this way of studying, which seemed very different to the German practice, would be the right approach for me.

“Not only did we have very professional equipment and facilities in the department, but we were also taught in a way that I found to be very helpful. We were able to use other departments' facilities and staff expertise. The art history and theory program offered a broad range of possibilities to develop artistic work and gain experience.”

I deliberately chose not to stay in the university area of Dundee or socialise with other Germans. I wanted to get to know the people from Dundee and Scotland. The Dundonians I met were a great laugh and I became really good friends with them. Years after leaving Dundee, I still keep in touch with some of them. As a foreigner I felt very welcome from the start and was never treated like an outsider.

After graduating from Time Based Art I left Scotland heavy hearted and went back to Augsburg. I worked in a planetarium as a lecturer and took on freelance jobs as a software Trainer and in a TV-production company where I worked in graphic design and in the editing department.

In 2006 I applied to a post grad course in art therapy at the Academy of Fine Art in Munich (Akademie der Bildenden Künste – Aufbaustudiengang: Bildnerisches Gestalten und Therapie). My portfolio which contained some work I had produced during my course at DJCAD as well as some new pieces got me into the closer circle of applicants. After passing a colloquium and an artistic trial test, I got one of 12 places on the course.

I finished the course in 2008 I started up my own business: frischkunst. I have a studio and therapy-practice where I offer art therapy for individuals as well as groups. Additionally I work with groups in a women's prison and in a children's home. I also offer purely artistic courses and organise and curate exhibitions and cultural events. I still work in the planetarium and the adjacent nature science museum, where I have started running kids art projects on top of my usual lecturing (museum pedagogic) work.

My creativity has been reignited and I feel challenged in the most positive way every day. Helping people to find a healthy and creative way of living, introducing art practically as well as conceptually to their lives really pays of. Boosted by the energy I get back from them, I have even found a quite relaxed approach at perusing my own artistic output again.

Sam Spreckley

Time Based Art 2004 – 2007

I began studying Time Based Art & Digital Film in 2004 where I hoped I would be able to continue to further my interest in the moving image.  My experience of studying at DJCAD was very positive, so much so that I occasionally wish I had that time back.  Perhaps the biggest draw was simply to be in an environment where you could show and discuss new works with fellow artists.  The process of group critiques and feedback (for better or worse) was something which I find hard to access outwith the course.  There is also something very rewarding about experiencing your peers creations, often a good source of inspiration.  Besides the aforementioned points DJCAD also provided me with a lively and diverse studio space, great tech support and ultimately the freedom to experiment with and explore my practice as a whole, something which I am very grateful for.

“I would definitely recommend DJCAD to any young artist interested in both traditional and digital arts, specifically video/film and sound. ”

The environment has a great balance of resources, tuition (including great visiting lecturers) and above all the freedom to explore the many facets of your own personal practice whether it’s digital video/film, sound design or installation art.  If you have the desire and motivation to work hard and push yourself you are certainly ensuring a great start and definitely making the right choice by studying in Dundee.

Since graduating from Time Based Art I went on to study at Masters level, successfully gaining an MSc in Electronic Imaging (also at DJCAD) where I continued to explore video/film and sound.  Since then I have continued to develop my practice as an independent artist besides working as a freelance camera man, video editor and sound designer.  I have been fortunate enough to have had works shown nationally and internationally. Some of my proudest moments were being nominated for and winning a Scottish Students on Screen award, being shortlisted for a Bafta Scotland New Talent Award, being included in a group show at the National Gallery of Modern art in Edinburgh and more recently the news of being selected with a handful of other artists to represent the UK at the Young Artists Bienale taking place in Morocco later this year.

www.vimeo.com/samspreckley
spreckley2@hotmail.com