Open Studio — Portfolio Preparation Course,
Creative Practices 2020–2021

We Lost You For A Moment There

It gives us great pleasure to share the work of this year’s students who have studied with us on our Portfolio Preparation Course – Creative Practices. All have shown a prodigious amount of dedication to their studies during very challenging times and have embraced working online with us, establishing remote working spaces, with continued enthusiasm and commitment. They have all been remarkably abundant in their making and created portfolios of work that are diverse and engrossing; whilst supporting each other in their learning, being extraordinarily good natured and kind throughout.

Our primary focus is the creation of a unique and distinctive fine art, design or architecture portfolios of work, for both ‘Digital ‘and ‘Full’ Portfolio submissions for Further and Higher Education Courses and other directions. Students studying on the Portfolio Preparation Course work in a Studio Environment this year online, within which every student is supported in developing their creative skills, through the application of a wide-range of imaginative, technical and practical processes. The diverse online studio-based learning and teaching activities, have been and are designed to assist students in simultaneously developing experimental and innovative work as well as acquiring a strong work ethic.

This year being online has given the students this opportunity to showcase their work via the GSA Website at the end of their studies, self-selecting and curating their own work and promotional material, providing a professional experience where the emphasis is on learning and thinking through doing, and the site will be available for the public to view for a year.

The majority of our students go on to study Undergraduate Degrees, plus some Postgraduate Degrees in either Fine Art, Design or Architecture, at institutions across Scotland, the UK and Europe. Other trajectories include being self-employed, running their own creative businesses and undertaking internships.

This year’s students are all currently being invited for interviews and receiving offers, considering other and all their options and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them for choosing to study with us and we wish them all the very best for their futures.

Deborah Holland + Joanie Jack

Joint Course Leaders

Portfolio Preparation Course – Creative Practices
Open Studio

Continue Reading

Kirsty Prentice

Medical equipment

Acrylic painting of medical equipment

Medical equipment

Pencil renderings of medical equipment

Mouthpieces and Pills

Acrylic paintings of spillage of pills and distorting medical equipment

Movement

Charcoal renderings capturing movement, considering absurd display systems

Untitled

Digital compositions and ink drawings, exploring movement and distortion of shuttlecocks

Untitled

initial sketchbook work exploring shuttlecocks using ink, pencil, graphite, pen, oil pastels and charcoal

Shuttlecocks

Acrylic painting distorting aerodynamics, exploring interactions with light

Shed

Presentation of work hung on shed, acrylic painting of inside of whole shed

Untitled

shed acrylic paintings combining abstract and realism

Untitled

acrylic paintings of curious aspects of shed interior

Untitled

Sketchbooks exploring semiotics, starting point for shed series, using oil pastel, wax, ink, pen and acrylic paint

symbology

Oscillation between realism and abstraction, exploring use of symbols

Rock climbing equipment

Acrylic paintings and collages of hex, rope and carabiner

Untitled

pages from my sketchbook using pencil, graphite, pen, ink and oil pastels

Untitled

Charcoal rendering of sculpture, recycling monochromatic materials

Untitled

manipulation of 2D surfaces, into 3D

Life drawing

charcoal

Life drawing

charcoal renderings