Guest Blog by Jenny Lovell - Drawn to Edinburgh exhibition celebrates Edinburgh College of Art Graduates

Housed in the Scottish Story Telling Centre on the Royal Mile as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a free exhibition of illustrated works done by Edinburgh College of Art students has been on display over the summer.

This beautiful collection came together as the result of a University of Edinburgh illustration competition launched in a bid to enhance the imagery used in the annual prospectus. Organisers were astounded by the efforts of undergraduate students from Edinburgh College of Art, who came forward to submit their own interpretations of University campuses across the city. 

Each year more than 6,000 students from within the United Kingdom and over 230 countries around the globe come to Edinburgh to begin their studies. This exhibition explores what brings people here and a sense of finding ones place around the city. The group of artists who contributed their work range in styles and approaches demonstrating the wide variety of talented students each with their individual perceptions. 

Rosie Corfe, whose work was selected to be on the front cover of the 2018 Undergraduate Prospectus, at the time, was completing her Undergraduate Degree in Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art.  She said ‘This project encouraged me to expand my portfolio by focusing on architecture as inspiration. Using watercolours I captured the iconic buildings around the university whilst adding unique geometric patterns reminiscent in my style of illustration.’ See more of Rosie’s work here.

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Tote Bag

 

Fellow Illustration graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, Victoria Rose Ball who’s artwork has become the face of the 2018 Postgraduate Prospectus said ‘It was an incredible feeling to see my drawings being used to represent the University, especially seeing students carrying tote bags adorned with the illustrations’. See more of Victoria’s work here.  

A second collection of illustrations submitted by postgraduate students at the University of Edinburgh was also put together to represent the range of courses available for study. These illustrations were based on a vast range of unique objects housed at the University of Edinburgh centre of research collections. 

                                                                                                                                            Photo Credit: Victoria Rose Ball

 

The artefacts selected range from shells brought from the Galapogos Islands by former student Charles Darwin, a section of Adam Smith’s library, Florence Nightingale’s cap and the original penicillin mould discovered by former rector Alexander Fleming. This opportunity has provided a great platform for the continuing collaboration between the Centre for Research Collections and Edinburgh College of Art. 

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Jenny Lovell

Head down to the Scottish Story Telling centre on the Royal Mile to see the free non-ticketed Drawn to Edinburgh Exhibition before it closes on Monday 28th August 2017.

Other Featured Artists in the Exhibition:  Teri Po, Saskia Cameron, Peony Gent, Katy Wiedemann, Ailsa Johnson, Eve Marx.

More information about location and opening times.

Related Information

The University Centre for Research Collections is open to the public 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday, (9am-7pm Monday to Wednesday during semesters). All enquiries can be made: +44 (0)131 650 8379 is-crc@ed.ac.uk

This article was written by Jenny Lovell.  Jenny is studying Business with Marketing at the University of Edinburgh and is completing an internship at the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences working on organising festival events this summer.