C:/forward

The graduating Fine Art and Ceramics classes of 2011 have a special place in my heart. We started at the same time, nearly 4 years ago, at the Sharman Crawford Street campus. I have seen them grow in so many ways – in maturity as people and in stature as artists.

As a group they have always been proactive and engaged in the learning process. They have been instigators, people who could see the way forward and realise it. They have forged new spaces for themselves and for us, and for that I am grateful.

The name they have chosen this year for their Degree Show also resonates well with me. I am of the era that recalls the DOS prompt and the clumsy communication it afforded. A specialist, almost elitist language was required to convey the simplest meanings; a language afflicted by jargon and endless parameters. There was surely a better way. How easy that communication seems nowadays, through the medium of the visual, the intuitive understanding, the simplicity of interaction. But still the occasional frustration!

There is, I believe, a parallel to be seen in our engagement with the work being exhibited this week. No elitist language is required to participate in this communication process. Explore, view, learn, feel, engage, interact, understand, be challenged and occasionally be frustrated. But most of all be enthused by the ideas, the creativity, the skills and the talents of these, our graduating students of 2011.

Crawford is proud of them!

 

Orla Flynn, Acting Head
CIT Crawford College of Art & Design
June 2011