Recent student work

[Sgian Dubh]

Here is a link to some of the work of 2012 graduates at Leeds College of Art. They are graduates of the FD/ BA (Hons) in Furniture Making, the course I run. Seen at this link is probably about one third of all the work produced by students on the three levels of the course, ie, levels four, five and six.

Sadly, the course will be closing down in a couple of years, so yet another opportunity for people that want to get into the profession via a formal qualification will be lost. So enjoy (or not) looking at what recent graduates produce while you still can, ha, ha. Slainte.

http://www.richardjonesfurniture.com/Te ... -2012.html

 

[woodbloke]

Some nice pieces in there Richard, but nothing that really 'grabs' me...perhaps the 'Elevation Cabinet' is the one that I like the look of most, but the stand looks strange to my eyes. Still, takes all sorts etc...be interesting to see what others think - Rob

 

[Harbo]

Excellent work - you must be proud.

Not all the designs appeal but the I am a bit of an old fogey?
I do like the J-H B desk and the comfy looking chair and footstool.

 

[MickCheese]

Some very good work.

I liked the desk with the metal treadle frame stand and the dripping tables.

Mick

 

[deserter]

Good work all round, my personal favourites are the elevation table and if I had the cash I'd be making offers on The Angels Share whiskey cabinet, absolutely beautiful piece.


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~

 

[Woodchips2]

There is some beautiful work here and my favourites are the whisky cabinet and the dolphin table. However well done to all of them.
Regards Keith

 

[toysandboats]

I liked Fusion (the Dripping Tables) the most but I'm afraid that I didn't understand Stool Pigeon (or even the words that described it). It could be a piece of art but not sure that it is furniture - do you really sit on it? Maybe words don't mean quite what they did long ago when I was learning!

Despite all that though, it is good to see students working with our favourite medium and producing things that I know I couldn't.

Well done S D, you've got some talented people there

David

 

[Paul Chapman]

Some very nice work, Richard. A great shame that the course is closing.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Some very nice work, Richard. A great shame that the course is closing. Cheers :wink: Paul

Thanks for the comments guys. Naturally not everything is to the taste of everyone, but it's interesting to see what new entrants to the profession create.

Paul it is disappointing that the course is closing down. I know the course is a fantastic opportunity for people, mostly young ones, to get into the business, and it saddens me greatly to see it go. The usual reasons were given for its closure, eg, too expensive to run, year groups too small (not that you can really supervise more than about sixteen, by definition, inexperienced woodworkers at a time around flesh and bone mangling kit), course is too dependent on a key member of staff (me), and look how many graphic artists we can cram into the space one of they wood hackers take up, etc. Slainte.

 

[woodbloke]

Paul it is disappointing that the course is closing down.

...which begs the question Richard, what are you going to do when it closes? Back to professional wood mangling? (in the best possible taste as KE used to say :lol: ) - Rob

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Paul it is disappointing that the course is closing down.

...which begs the question Richard, what are you going to do when it closes? Back to professional wood mangling? (in the best possible taste as KE used to say :lol: ) - Rob

I might just become a professional grumpy old b*stard, start a blog, spew out bile, cynicism and vindictiveness into the ether, and become a publishing sensation, ha, ha. Slainte.

 

[woodbloke]

I might just become a professional grumpy old b*stard, start a blog, spew out bile, cynicism and vindictiveness into the ether, and become a publishing sensation, ha, ha. Slainte.

Oh no...not another Jacob!! :mrgreen: :lol: - Rob

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I might just become a professional grumpy old b*stard, start a blog, spew out bile, cynicism and vindictiveness into the ether, and become a publishing sensation, ha, ha. Slainte.

Oh no...not another Jacob!! :mrgreen: :lol: - Rob

Not really. I'd only grouse about it once, or perhaps just three times, ha, ha. Slainte.

 

[Bradshaw Joinery]

i really like the carbon fibre/walnut table. great little piece!

 

[devonwoody]

Very interesting designs, wish I was younger.

Perhaps another college will take up the opportunity to start.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Perhaps another college will take up the opportunity to start.

I can't really see that as things are. HE institutions are dropping courses that require human manipulation of material up close and dirty as if they are a handful of burning coals. Slainte.

 

[Modernist]

Perhaps another college will take up the opportunity to start.

I can't really see that as things are. HE institutions are dropping courses that require human manipulation of material up close and dirty as if they are a handful of burning coals. Slainte.

Can we blame Gove, the B*** deserves all the flac we can throw

 

[woodbloke]

I can't really see that as things are. HE institutions are dropping courses that require human manipulation of material up close and dirty as if they are a handful of burning coals. Slainte.

Why is that Richard? There seems plenty of 'take-up' and folk interested in pursuing this sort of activity...it seems odd that this course is going to close - Rob

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Why is that Richard? There seems plenty of 'take-up' and folk interested in pursuing this sort of activity...it seems odd that this course is going to close - Rob

I don't know all the answers as I'm not party to information available to senior management at the college. But I think it all comes down to permutations on numbers one way or another.

*My course usually recruits 15- 17 students each year. Other courses recruit 45- 55.

*Furniture students take up a lot of space to learn, eg, studio, workbench in a workshop, a share of all the three phase machinery in the machine shop and professional wood finishing/spraying facilities, and all the technician support needed to maintain that area. A student graphic artist might take up a desk space 4' X 3' plus a computer and some software, and a really traditional graphic artist may use a drawing board and drawing tools. Maintenance of the hardware and software is relatively economical.

* With small year groups (less than about twenty students per year group) the teaching team is small. In my case I'm pretty much a one man band with some teaching expertise 'bought-in' for certain modules. It was put to me when the closure was announced that if I got sick or died, who would be able to step in and run the course? Larger courses have a larger teaching team and there is cover for unexpected shocks like that.

* Application numbers dropped significantly for my course this year, about 30% down on the previous year if I remember it right before the college stopped people applying. Having said that application numbers for entry in September 2011 were up by about70% on numbers for 2010.

* Fees rose from about £3300 per year for students starting in 2011 to nearer £9000 for students starting in September 2012. You can extrapolate from that a course taking on 50 new students is going to give a better return than a course taking on 15- 17 students. And that's especially the case if those students are relatively economical to teach, eg, apart from the cost of the lecturuer equipment needs that are either relatively harmless (not much in the way of H&S to worry about) unsophisticated, or relatively economical to maintain, repair, upgrade, etc.

I guess that'll do for now. Slainte.

 

[deserter]

My mum works in a college (not teaching) and to quote her " a college/university is a government run business and as such practical subjects don't make viable business sense teaching has nothing to do with it", she told me this when I asked why they were dropping most construction courses, she was totally disgusted but was repeating what the senior college management had told her.


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~