Category: Professional Research

Miss Hannah Grace Edwards

Leicester

Email: hannah.edwards01@gmail.com

Phone Number: 07929050509

I am currently studying Fine Art at De Montfort University, my current practice involves looking at the human body and finding ways we can use our body as a material to create art work. I believe I specialise in printmaking the most as its always something I am drawn to when it comes to creating art work, especially the work I am doing at the moment. I am experimenting with different materials and printing my body onto different materials, really looking and examining all the detailed marks its printed.

Education and Qualifications:

2020-Present: Currently studying Fine Art at De Montfort University in Leicester.

2018-2020: Ascentis Level 1 award in understanding British Values. Level 3 award in Art and Design – Merit. Qualifications achieved at Tresham College, Kettering.

2012-2018: English Language – Level 5. English Literature – Level 5. Maths – Level 4. Double Science – C. Art – C. Geography – D. Physical Education – D. BTEC Creative Digital Media Production – Merit. BTEC Digital Media Sectors and Audiences – Pass. Qualifications achieved at Southfield School For Girls, Kettering.

Exhibitions:

28th March – 9th April: I took part in the De Montfort University second year art exhibition. The exhibition was called .TWO. It was an exhibition that took place in the design wing atrium in the University. The exhibition had an opening night on the 28th March and all the art work stayed up until 9th April. There was a combination of different art work such as print, photography, sculpture and painting. I was apart of the committee for this exhibition helping put everyone’s art work up, making sure that the gallery space looked professional and inviting for the audience.

3rd March – 5th March: I also displayed some work in ‘The Ubiquitous Individual’ exhibition that took place at the Two Queens Gallery in Leicester. This exhibition was ran by a group of second year students who fundraised money to hire out the space for the exhibition.

Publications:

Print Edition: In the first term I also did a Print Edition where all the print students had to create this edition, where we had to create a magazine, book, box, folder with one piece of our print work in it. We decided to go for an A3 box to compromise with everyone as some people created bigger scale work whereas some people created smaller work. We had to order around 30 boxes as every print student was given a box also some of the print lecturers and I think one got put up for auction. We then had to create our own 35 plus prints so we could put one piece of our artwork into each box.

Other Achievements:

Not only was I apart of the committee for the exhibition .TWO. however I am also apart of the fine art society, me and three other students decided to get the fine art society back up and running. My role within the society is being the health and safety officer, so making sure risk assessments are being done and making sure no one gets hurt or becomes ill whenever we do anything outside of University. After having a tough first year due to covid we thought that having this society was a nice way to bring everyone together and do things together outside of University. For example we are wanting to do field trips where we go and visit exhibitions across the UK and do fun art activities all together.

I also displayed some work in another exhibition which took place in the DMU design wing atrium, not only did I exhibit some work there however I also became one of the committee members. It was run by me and a group of second year fine art students. There was a meeting held by Gino and a group of students, this meeting explained into depth how long we had the space for, when the art work needed to be up for and we also spoke about all the different roles and responsibilities within the exhibition. Once all the roles had been assigned the first step was to set up a group chat with everyone in, so we all had easy access communicating with one another. After the chat had been made the next step was to get a poster and a submission form sorted as we only had a week before the artwork had to be installed.

The reason why the poster needed to be one of the first things to get sorted was because we wanted to advertise to all the students that there would be an exhibition taking place and to also give everyone the opportunity to submit any work. We then sent around a submission form to all the students, we had to do this quickly as we had very little time to get the art work up so we needed to see who was submitting what and try and figure out where everything would go. Within the submission form, it required measurements of everyone’s work, an image of what they were submitting and also a description on how they wanted it to be installed (bulldog clips, nails, on a plinth etc.)

Once the deadline had passed for the submission form we then began planning out where everything would go which was one of my roles for the committee, another role of mine was to help install the work. When planning out where everything would go there were many problems that needed to be solved, for example where some of the sculptures would go as we didn’t want any ones art work to be blocked or obstructed. Also making sure everyone’s work was visible and noticeable on the wall for the audience to see. We also needed to have equal spaces between each art work so it looks professional, also making sure that there was enough room for the audience to walk around and view the art work as we had plinths so we didn’t want anyone knocking them over or struggling to get around. After dealing with all the risk assessments we began installing the art work.

When installing everyone’s art work we needed to make sure everything was displayed correctly also making sure everything was secure on the wall, floor, plinth and so on. We also needed to make sure we had all the materials and equipment to assemble the exhibition, so we made sure everyone brought their own nails, bulldog clips and equipment and began putting the work up.

I recently took part in an exhibition that took place in Leicester, in the Two Queens Gallery. This exhibition was held and run by a group of second year students. The title of the exhibition that took place was called ‘The Ubiquitous Individual’ to be ubiquitous is to be found everywhere, the individual is everywhere, you just have to look.

I decided to put two pieces of artwork into this gallery as the pieces of artwork I displayed really complemented each other and looked more effective besides one another. The entry fee for the gallery £5 however it was an extra £3 to put an extra piece in which I did as I believe both of my prints really did work well together.

Here are the two pieces of artwork I submitted to the Two Queens art exhibition. The pieces of name do not have a title to them. There were a few issues and problems getting these printed off, when I first originally printed the pieces of art work off on the wide format printer they came out very dark and dull looking, they almost looked like a black sheet of paper, I also realised that they were on matt paper, which may have been on of the many issues. After doing some editing on Lightroom on a mac book, making them brighter and also alternating the saturation on it, as when you look at an image on your phone or laptop it automatically makes it brighter for you where as if you printed it out it would look completely different, a lot darker. So after doing some editing on Lightroom, I then decided that it would look a lot more interesting and vibrant on glossy paper as it would make the colours really pop and shine through.

After deciding what paper to print it out on, I then had to decide what size to print it out, so I printed the two pieces of art work out in size A1 and also A2. The way I made my decision was to hang them all up on the wall and to see which ones were more effective, so by slowly walking back and looking at my art work I realised that the further you walked back the more you started to lose the marks and colours within the size A2 one. I wanted my work to be noticeable and effective from a distance, where you could see all the fine lines and all the different layers so in the end I decided to go with A1. When printing the print a bigger size I noticed that it had started to lose focus, some of the details started to become fuzzy and blurry which was really disheartening to see as I wanted them to be perfect. However I managed to resolve that problem with Lightroom, it didn’t make the print perfect however it did sort out most of the blurriness.

Another issue I had when deciding how I was going to install my work was how I would hang it on the wall. I originally wanted to frame the prints and then hang them on the wall however due to the prints being printed on glossy paper, it would create a shine between the glass and the glossy print which would create a blind spot where the audience wouldn’t be able to see my art work due to there being a shine on it. So I decided to hang them up bull dog clips and hammer the bottom section to the wall to prevent the art work from curving.

Here are my pieces of artwork displayed on a screen.

These images were taken on the opening night which took place 3rd March. The opening night was very effective and a lot of people came to support and see all the amazing art work.

If I was to become an Art teacher in the future, I would be interested in teaching in either College or University, so the age groups would be 16 onwards. The reason why teaching appeals to me is the idea of having an impact on a pupils future, help motivate them and pursue their goals. Also creating a bond with pupils within art, teaching them new techniques and help them understand and develop art even further.

To become an art teacher I have to obtain a bachelors degree in art, I would need at 2:2 or above. Also, potentially will need GCSE’s of grade C or above in Math’s and English. Having proficiency in various basic skills and various styles in art mediums is a must.

I will also need to obtain a teacher training course, to become a qualified teacher in England I need a QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) or a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) a PGCE is training course to allow graduates to become a teacher, it is a mix of University study and teaching practice, it can also give you the flexibility to teach internationally as well. There are also different types of PGCE, the teacher training course I would do is a PGCE Further/Adult Education which allows me to teach in colleges and universities, this course normally takes around a year or two years if I was to do it part time. A PGCE course costs around £9,2500.

The reason why I would rather teach art in College or a University instead of a school is because I believe in a school environment Art is very much forgotten about and is sidelined along with other subjects such as drama and music. I also did a year at sixth form before leaving and going to college instead and I just didn’t like the atmosphere of the school environment and only having a small room for everyone to create art in, also multiple year groups are being taught art so I feel like they didn’t really care as much. Whereas at College or University you are taught all these new techniques with new materials and it really opened my eyes. Having a lecturer with an artist background teach me inspires me more as its nice to see how engaging and enthusiastic they are with art.

Many schools in the UK are considering dropping art off the curriculum. Subjects such as art, drama, music etc. are all very one-sided, schools often tend to focus more on the core subjects such as English, Math’s, Science. Also the Government do not seem to be funding Creative Arts areas as much as they used to anymore, so if the Schools, Colleges or University’s are not getting the funding they need, then there will be a lack of materials, lack of staff and even potentially the consideration of dropping the subject. Budget deficits, this is the main problem. There has been a 6.5% decrease in creative and performing arts subjects.

Why are fewer students taking on art and design at university? | Design Week Here is an article I found interesting telling us why fewer students are choosing art based subjects at University. Looking at articles and doing research and seeing that art based subjects are under attack makes me want to pursue being a teacher even more, to help try get these figure back up and show people that art is a core subject and that it should stay on the curriculum.

The pay for teachers varies all over the UK and it also varies in which department you go into such as, primary school, secondary school, college or being a lecturer at University. On average a teacher will roughly earn between £29,915 – £45,766, these digits are not a hundred percent accurate and can go below or above the average salary. The salary also depends on the experience of each applicant as well.

• The average salary of a Primary School Art teacher in the UK: £33,229.84
• The average salary of a Secondary School Art teacher in the UK: £34,525.98
• The average salary of a Art Lecturer in the UK: £34,508.80

I have never fully known what I want to do in the future however I know that I have always desired doing something art based in the future, looking back, I have always followed what I had a passion for which was art. Choosing art at GCSE and then pursuing that even further by completing an Art and Design diploma at college to then achieving one of my biggest goals by getting into University. Following my passion for art at such a young age has allowed me to achieve these goals, and has also allowed me to learn new techniques within art which I really enjoy.

Here is a list of career and professional opportunities that I would be interested in doing in my future pathway:

• Being a full time Artist and curator
• Fashion Illustrator/Designer
• Art Teacher (College or University)
• Interior Designer
• Tattooing
• A courtroom sketch artist
• Art Therapist