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"The degree was Design History... I had spent a good deal of time making music, but I had reached an impasse in that singularly unforgiving industry and so, seeking a change of direction that was underpinned by a healthy interest in the visual arts and design, I signed up for the course at Brighton."
Helen Chadwick studied on the sculpture course at Brighton Polytechnic from 1973 to 1976. She went on to complete an MA at Chelsea, and then quickly became a kind of proto-yBa (young British artist), making installations addressing the power/gender relations inherent in specific environments. She gained celebrity with her autobiographical installation Ego geometria sum (1982-4)
Frederick Charles Herrick was a leading graphic artist following the First World War, having trained at Leicester School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London. He taught at Brighton for many decades.
Lucy Cousins is one of the world's best-known author-illustrators. She specialises in books for the pre-school age group and has received global success for her bold and humorous books and vibrant characters, most notably for her creation Maisy Mouse.
Karen Norquay led the University of Brighton's provision of arts as Head of School for many years. She is a practising photographer both in the fields of research and editorial photography. Her editorial work explores the still life genre from conforming to the traditional aesthetic conventions to challenging its language and form.
Paddy Considine graduated with a BA(Hons) in Photography and is an actor and BAFTA winning film director. Whilst still a student, Considine had a series of photographic portraits published in the Guardian. The film that brought him this acclaim, 'Tyrannosaur', is a social-realist study of a self-destructive man who earns a chance of redemption through Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker.
Realist painter Sylvia Sleigh was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Women’s Caucus for Art shortly before her death in 2010. Celebrated for her portraiture and male nudes, she "turned traditional portraiture on its head by presenting the male nude posed as a reclining Venus or odalisque." The Times, Oct 2010.
David Robson joined Brighton Polytechnic School of Architecture in early 1984. "The ethos of the School still owed much to its Arts and Crafts foundations with a structure of Beaux Art rationalism and clad with a layer of Bauhaus modernism."
Illustrator Andrew Restall worked from 1964 for the Post Office designing stamps and building on an existing interest in typography and printing processes. From 1975 to 1990 he ran the illustration option of the BA (Hons) Visual Communication course at Brighton Polytechnic.
"Spare Rib was launched in June 1971 as the daughter of the underground press. The aim was not to discuss the dialectic of liberation but to help all women find their own identity. By then I had a small baby and was very aware of how much women had to juggle their lives."
"What drew me to the expressive arts course at Brighton in 1984 was its cross-disciplinary philosophy. The intersection, interaction and play between music, film, photography and installation was for me more interesting, exciting and rich then studying any single discipline alone."
Alan Davie was a painter, poet, jazz musician and jewellery designer.
London’s Tate Gallery described his canvases for an exhibition at Tate Modern as “the result of an improvisatory process that the artist relates to his love of jazz”.
"1963. I am 31, a London County Council architect commuting to Brighton to teach one day a week in the School of Architecture first year, up in the attic studios of the old College of Art, Grand Parade. "The air is heady, the floors paint covered. We are indeed all collegiate, students, technicians and tutors together, painters, illustrators, sculptors, architects, bound by a striving for Design."
Richard Slee’s work is intrinsically concerned with the domestic interior. There are references to the decorative, the ornamental and the symbolic, both from the past and our contemporary culture. He has established an international reputation as an artist and designer.
Alan Baker was a student of Graphic Design and Illustration from 1973-76. He taught on the foundation course and the Narrative illustration MA courses in its early days and spent seven years teaching part-time on the BA(Hons) Illustration course.
A well-known poster designer, illustrator and muralist, (Alfred) Clive Gardiner was trained at the Slade School of Fine Art (1909-12) and the Royal Academy Schools (1913-14). Following the First World War he trained as an art teacher before teaching at Brighton School of Art.
Born in 1933 and educated at Brighton Grammar School and Brighton College of Art (1949-1954), the artist and teacher David Chapman played an important role in the development of several aspects of the School of Art.
As a leading illustrator, wood engraver, painter, author of many books, teacher, and designer for posters, ceramics and glass, Clare Leighton enjoyed a distinguished career on both sides of the Atlantic.
Stuart Morgan's critical writings established him as a leading writer on the art of the 1980s and 1990s. Travelling widely in Europe and the United States, he was widely admired by many artists as a result of his sensitivity to, and careful interpretation of, their opinions.
Hand-weaver, artist and teacher, Barker moved to Brighton in 1959. Her silk and wool abstract hangings were shown in the exhibition ‘Weaving for Walls’ at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1965. She showed her work with the Brighton Phoenix Group from late 50s to 1982.
B.Brown@brighton.ac.uk
Professor Bruce Brown retired from the university in January 2016, having been Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, former Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and a Professor of Design. He worked extensively with national research policy and assement, worked as a practicing designer for some years and specialised in design research with an emphasis on the social and cultural effects of visual