Four artists awarded AA2A placements at Loughborough University

As part of the national Artists Access to Art Colleges (AA2A) project, four artists and design-makers have been offered placements at Loughborough University.

The AA2A project is a national set of schemes, providing visual artists and designers with the opportunity to undertake a period of research, using workshop and supporting facilities in fine art and design departments of Higher and Further Education institutions.

This scheme helps creatives realise their ambitions, whilst giving our students the opportunity to visualise their future from working alongside, and interacting with practising artists and makers.

Meet the four artists who have been awarded AA2A placements at Loughborough University below.

Lucy Stevens

I'll be developing skills in sculpture and printmaking, which I hope to take back to continue in my studio in Leicester to create a collection of works to showcase at a solo exhibition in Leicester Museum in 2022. 

As a sound and visual artist, Lucy's will look to translate 2D drawings inspired by birds and weather into 3D wall-based and floor-based sculptures. Eventually, Lucy would love to create a large-scale outdoor public art piece that woukd be displayed somewhere like a National Trust property or the Yorkshire Sculptture Park.

Lucy Stevens AA2A placement
Lucy Stevens

Mita Solanky

I hope to extend the 'Wheel' series of work which explores our relationship to nature through the work that we do as humans. I will use my experience of the pandemic time to create a live and participatory work that allows visitors to contemplate ideas through a visual installation. 

Mita explains that during the pandemic, a lot of people's work lives were impacted, and we all were exposed to the roles that 'key workers' for example played, and this expanded to individuals reflecting on their own work roles. Mita's work uses various techniques, including printmaking and painting, to explore these ideas and different themse of humans nature, in the context of modern technology driven environments. 

Mita hopes to be able to deliver a live piece of art with a live audience after having to restrict practices during the pandemic.

Mita Solanky AA2A
Mita Solanky

Rhiannon Kendall

"My project on the AA2A scheme at Loughborough University will use contemporary drawing, painting, printmaking and poetry as a means of enabling, documenting and making visible queer female working class narratives, often inspired by the physical objects and spaces I associate with these experiences and my own upbringing."

This project is inspired by Rhiannon's recent body of work earlier this year titled 'Queer Lovers, Different Faces in Pre-fab spaces'. Rhiannon's practices often returns to themes of loss, desire, obsession, repetition, the un/maternal and uncertainty, so this is something Rhiannon expects to appear throughout this project.

Rhiannon Kendall AA2A
Rhiannon Kendall

Sarah Tutt

I wish to further research two taxonomies of drawing within my practice - Object Drawing and Writing Drawing - producing two bodies of work that question what drawing can be. 

Through a series of Writing-Drawings, Sarah wishes to explore the relationship between writing and drawing, working with the ductus of text. Sarah hopes to learn more about materials and processes as part of this project, whilst working alongside other students and academics to share and explore discourse.

AA2A Sarah Tutt work
Work by Sarah Tutt

The supporting facilities offered to these artists at Loughborough University include printmaking, wood, metal, ceramics, mould making, digital media, film and video, performance, photography and painting.

Elizabeth Hawley-Lingham, University Teacher – Professional Practice and Design has said:

“We’re delighted to have offered places to four fantastic and very different artists and are looking forward to being able to support each of them in developing their practice, through access to excellent facilities and hands on technical expertise, as well as a platform for promotion and communication.

We’re also excited about the opportunity that having the artists here brings, to introduce students and the wider university community to diverse contemporary arts practice and to enable knowledge exchange, cross fertilisation of ideas and relationship building across that community to take place.

The artists will share their approaches to their practise and interact with students through talks and demonstrations, complementing fine art teaching and learning provision. Working alongside practising artists in the studio will boost the students’ exposure to the realities of professional practice.

We hope to create opportunities for a wider audience to engage with the resident artists’ work in progress during their time at Loughborough.”

The School of Design and Creative Arts are looking forward to welcoming Lucy, Mita, Rhiannon and Sarah to Loughborough University.

Read more about Artists Access to Art Colleges (AA2A) here.