Despite the recent controversy surrounding art schools – the ridiculous course prices and the plague of the millennial generation with so-called “pointless” degrees – being able to study at university offers plenty of time, resources and expertise to grow as an artist.
Nottingham Trent University is a cornerstone of Nottingham’s creative community. Many students come to the city to pursue their artistic talents in careers. Of course, Notts is an excellent place to study art. The university’s artistic talent feeds the city’s creative community, and local, national and internationally renowned artists have cut their teeth and mastered their practice in Notts. The most renowned, influential and successful NTU alumni in the art world include …
Simon Procter, a Lancashire born artist and photographer who grew up in Royston, a small mining village in South Yorkshire. He studied fine arts for many years and specialized in painting and sculpture. Procter’s work is a big name in the fashion world and can be found on the glossy pages of magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Together with Karl Lagerfeld, he created the photo book Lagerfeld: The Chanel Shows, in which he highlighted the most famous Chanel’s runway shows over the past ten years. In addition, Procter’s work has been exhibited worldwide. On the commercial side, he’s nipped in advertising jobs for big names like Chanel, Dior, Nike, and more. Procter has also become one of the most collectable photographers of his generation.
Donald Rodney (May 18, 1961 – March 4, 1998) was a leading figure in the British Black Art Movement. He was born in Birmingham and was part of the Midlands BLK Art Group with Keith Piper, Marlene Smith and Eddie Chambers. Rodney has been recognized as “one of the most innovative and versatile artists of his generation”. His work used images from the mass media, art, and popular culture to explore racial identity and racism. Rodney lived with anemia all his life and used his condition as a metaphor for black emasculation, racial stereotypes, and wider sociopolitical concerns in society today. Rodney died of sickle cell anemia in 1998 at the age of only 36. His artistic career spanned two decades and produced some of the most innovative work by a British artist of his generation.
Jon Burgerman is a NYC based artist who stimulates improvisation and plays through drawing and spectacle. Think googly eyes, pizza, and flourishes. His colorful imagery creates characters and humor that jump off the page. Jon is often referred to as the leading figure in the popular ‘Doodle’ art style. His work includes murals, paintings, books, videos, and animation. It is Burgerman’s belief that through these playful, creative acts, art can function as a means to change the world by being the catalyst that enables people to change their worlds. Burgerman’s work has been featured in exhibitions around the world and he has worked with well-known brands such as Apple, Instagram, Snapchat, Coca-Cola, Nike, Disney and others.
Diana Ali is an artist and curator whose practice includes fictional narratives that play with language and text through drawing, experimental photography, installation, and direct animation. She is also a broadcast star herself and mentors on the BBC’s Big Painting Challenge show. Ali is interested in exploring correspondence, communication, connectivity and collaboration through art. She travels, gets lost and collects found and hidden images, embedding narratives in them. Her work has been exhibited regionally, nationally and internationally.
Simon Starling is a conceptual artist interested in physical, poetic, and metaphorical travel. Using videos, films, slide projections, photography, events and sculptures, Starling’s work uncovered unexpected and complex stories. Other areas of investigation are lost manufacturing histories. Building on that, he has explored topics such as engineering, mining, excavation, and geology through art. Starling won the Turner Prize in 2005 for his work Shedboatshed – a shed that was turned into a boat and sailed down the Rhine before being converted back into a shed in a gallery. Starling’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He lives and works in Copenhagen and Berlin and is professor of fine arts at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main.