Masters Festival at Edinburgh College of Art

We are delighted to be able to offer a rich programme of events, including the Degree Show exhibition for graduating postgraduate students from the Schools of Art and Design; talks, performances and films from PhD students from these Schools and from the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Reid School of Music and History of Art at ECA; and postcard installations by staff and students. Graduates from our June Degree Show will also be represented in ECA’s Sculpture Court.

The Masters Festival complements Counterpoint, our GENERATION exhibition at the Talbot Rice Gallery (ww.ed.ac.uk/about/museumsgalleries/talbot-rice). Counterpoint is supported by an ambitious programme of interactive performances that run throughout August, and an international critical forum that will take place at ECA in October.

As a creative institution, we encourage our students to exercise their freedom of expression. Individual work is never censored, unless it contravenes the  law or health and safety regulations. Some visitors may consider some work to be offensive. We therefore ask you to use caution and discretion, particularly if you are attending the exhibition or any of our events with children. If you wish to make any comments, please use the visitors’ books at the Information Desks.

-Professor Christopher Breward, Principal

For nine days in August, the College will be part of the Edinburgh Arts Festival as it celebrates the work of our graduating artists, film makers, designers and architects. The show will once again be open late on two evenings during the week.

Masters of Art

Our Masters of Art is a shorter programme running over one academic year, compared to two years on the Masters of Fine Art. Candidates for this course must demonstrate that their previous practice is well-grounded and poised for a deeper and more focused period of rigorous studio development and investigation. Course visits to international and national trade fairs, and the opportunity to exhibit work in shows and engage with major competitions during the course, all help students reach this final presentation of their work during the Edinburgh Festival.

Prudence Horrocks progressed from our BA (Hons) programme to further develop her practice that embeds intricate drawn patterns of fine gold and metal threads into acrylic sheet to beautiful effect. Prudence won joint 1st prize in the 2014 Gill Packard Bursary for postgraduate study at the National Craftsmanship and Design Awards at the Goldsmith Hall, the second year in a row that an ECA MA Jewellery student has won this prestigious award.

Ya Wen previously studied Metal Art at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, China. Ya has refined her technical skills to enable her to
create fine jewellery inspired by light, shadow and optical illusion. To realise this work, Ya works with a combination of soldered silver sheet and wire,
and laser cut non-precious materials. Both graduates successfully walk a line between material investigation, innovation and traditional handcraft skills.

Their collections are evidence of the thoughtful synthesis of concept and material that leads to sensitive and expertly executed work. Our long established course has an outstanding international reputation and an impressive track record of employability. I am in no doubt Prudence and Ya will confidently establish themselves in our special creative field.

Stephen Bottomley, Programme Director


Prudence Horrocks
prudencehorrocksjewellery@gmail.com | www.prudencehorrocksjewellery.com

After completing my BA(Hons) in Jewellery and Silversmithing in 2013, I decided to continue to develop my work on the MA Jewellery course. Throughout this year, I have been working on refining my jewellery and creating a wearable collection using precious metals and plastics.

My inspiration comes primarily from drawing. I aim to replicate the patterns I see in nature in my jewellery. The freedom that paint, pen and ink provide me with in my drawing and design work is something that I wish to reproduce in 3D form. Repetitive pattern and contrasting colours are common in my drawings and essential in my work.

Using different plastics allows me to achieve various surface patterns in my jewellery. By using several techniques, I am able to replicate my drawings onto the material, using precious metals to set the plastic elements into a piece of jewellery and also as an embellishment.

Ya Wen
Kaylaaa1101@gmail.com

Light, shadow and optical illusion are the original inspiration for my work. I like to combine Op Art with my jewellery pieces in order to express the ideas of space and tension, for example expansion, contraction, distortion and stretching.

I play with the relationship between optical spaces and picture plane. I want to engage the spectator with, not only my jewellery, but also with the process of observation. The transfer from two-dimensional patterns into three-dimensional jewellery pieces, and the paradoxical spaces in my work, let the audience experience the process of seeing, recalling and understanding.