EXTRAS - SUBJECT FUTURES WEEK
On Friday 30th Jan I went into uni for the last day of subject futures week... My golly where has the time gone?
The first session of the day started at 10pm with Dr Richard Gant presenting Fine Art, Photography and 3D Design. His work stemmed from nature as most great work does, his in particular was landscapes in a range of mediums.
My favourite was simple but a beautiful piece of artwork in my eyes. Set in France this piece was formed using watercolour paint and pen to create a treescape/forest landscape... Minimal colours were used; a wash of green on the top and brown on the bottom. To define the trees' silhouettes a mixture of bold pen lines were created in a burst of energy yet forming something that looked very natural, pure and meant to be.
He then went onto his more present work involved in business management in regard to art. Two important statements he had to share with us that I found important to note were:
"Culture is Currency"
"Art benefits Business"
In essence I found this a surprising presentation as it left me feeling a need to return to my roots of education in art. During the presentation I was not only enjoying the display of art before me but reminiscing on my own artwork and how much I miss drawing and painting, even though I may have not enjoyed every piece I created... Nevertheless the presentation has set the seed and I feel the motivation to apply more of my creativity into my work ... Something I definately need during all the chaos of deadlines!
The next session was a visual display by Andie Scott (Artist and Costumier) and Claudia Hughes (Contortionist). The presentation was called, 'Running Away With The Circus'.
The first part of the display was a storyboard of Andie Scott's work and life and how she came to be involved with circus work. Andie Scott is what I call a creative Goddess; she can do it all and to an amzing standard! She does commission art, sculptures, installations and much more, however she thrives in theatre work and seamstressing, something that a circus is built upon along with all the amazing acts! Hence the circus and her are a great match for eachother and why she is now full-time in the circus business.
Along with the great stories and artwork she had to show she also allowed us to see her work in the making. Currently she is designing a costume for Claudia Hughes in the theme of dragons. Whilst Claudia was doing her part of the demonstration Andie was explaining the importance of experimenting with materials to produce the most efficient and comfortable costume for Claudia... An important part of my world as well, the experimentation and exploration of materials to apply to a building structure.
At the end of the presentation she allowed time for questions and feedback from the audience. I was curious to know whether she was self-taught in her seamstressing and decided to ask away... Not to my surprise, she is self-taught. She also kindly expanded on the question explaining that sometimes this is the best way to learn... Which is exactly what my mother told me about her learning to seamstress... A few words of wisdom I need to take on board this year to expand my skills! Needless to say this will not be in the field of Revit for the time being... I'm very happy to have my dedicated tutor!!
A quick lunch later we had arrived for my last talk of the day; Sustainability and the future of Environmental Innovation by Professor Dennis Loveday.
To begin, as most presentations go, Dennis introduceed himself and his role within society. By the end of the intro I had learnt that this man is very passionate about our future and how we are going to protect it. His present work is with 'Project CALEBRE' (Consumer Appealing Low Energy technologies for Building REtrofitting) which is to help achieve the 80% reduction in carbon footprint by 2050.
Dennis talked about various subjects such as consumer appeal in regards to retrofitting their homes to be more energy efficient and the technologies needed to achieve it. However one statement that seems obvious to me now is that the first step is not technology, it is to change consumer behaviour. If you do not change consumer behaviour then the new technologies can never be applied appropriately and what a waste that would be! One question that still remains unanswered ... How do we change consumer behaviour but more importantly, how do we enforce it?
One aspect of many that I found fascinating was the sample he passed around of a vacuum glazing panel. It consists of two or more sheets of glass hermetically sealed around their periphery to enclose a vacuum gap between the glass sheets. As it so happens I was the first to be given the sample and questioned, 'What do you find perculiar about this glazing?' ... and I replied, 'There is loads of miniscule bubbles in a grid format' ... 'Indeed. And do you know what they are for?' he questioned ... I replied with a gentle shake of the head in the form of a 'No, sorry I don't.', which were also followed by a few other students in the room ... Thank goodness, it wasn't just me!
Anyway he did happen to inform me that they are in fact tiny support pillars used to separate the glass panes and prevent them from touching due to atmospheric pressure. All together this technology will reduce heat loss significantly compared to double and triple glazing with the added bonus of easy application to old buildings with traditional windows. However the downside is that it is still in development because the sealing of the glazing is a very costly and lengthly process ... Fingers crossed for the near future!
All up this presentation was well-executed, interesting and vital in regards to my course and future industry ... Well then, I better get detailing vacuum glazing, electric heat pumps and the like!
If you are interested in Project CALEBRE please visit the links below for more information:
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/microsites/enterprise/calebre/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5AKmy9ZG6Y
To mark the end of the day and sadly, subject futures week, a small awards and snack event unleashed ... The party was small and intiment as by this time a lot of people had to go home, nevertheless it was great to see some of the work produced during subject futures week ... Let us not forget about the humungous amount of snacks that were on offer. Sadly in our wildest dreams there would be no way of consuming it all ... Fret not ... There's always next time!!
Picture:http://andiescott.com/?page_id=189
