Art, visuality and creativity are all part of our contemporary lexicon. In the School of Fine Art it is a way of seeing and acting in the world that our students ‘make good’ through the process of making and doing. Our student’s ability to respond meaningfully to issues of contemporary concern is one of the key skills they develop in Fine Art. Their practice develops through a mix of learning and critical challenges across a matrix of images, materiality, applied forms and digital framing. The School of Fine Art’s efforts to grow research and practice partnerships for its students and staff continues to prosper. We now have a suite of embedded studios with MISA at St James’ Hospital, funded scholarships with the National Forensic Medical Hospital Service, and partnerships with Dublin Airport, Frontier Economics, the Firestation Artists’ Studios, Rua Red, Rialto Youth Project, Creative Campus, and The National Famine trail. The School also draws on a large suite of Erasmus partners across Europe and in America that keeps us further connected. In Fine Art the efforts to frame and cross borders of knowledge are part of our further momentum. Whilst this might be felt most closely at Postgraduate level, it is also in evidence at undergraduate level in more agile programme structures and content. For example Studio +, an optional extra year of study that is outward facing into different contexts in the world, is proving of significant interest to our students. Ultimately it offers them the opportunity to develop new co-ordinates and networks, and achieve alternative validation. Relationships to Europe have never felt more important. This year we concluded our ‘In Public In Particular’ European Project with participation in a spectacular and humbling parade in Antwerp in Belgium. We travelled with 21 staff and students bringing banners and performances in a compelling participatory fusion of form and function with colleagues and with 1,000 others. The School is also involved in the ISGNE Glass project, a European funded partnership, and is part of a consortium bidding for Erasmus Plus Teaching and Learning project funding in the area of public art pedagogy.
