Edward Webster

Photographer Edward Webster balances digital techniques with historic processes. The basic blueprint for his work and teaching stems from the assertion that photography is a tool that filters the world.

So, he emphasises the importance of ethics in his art.

“It’s not just about teaching technique,” says Edward. “It’s about giving people the opportunity to view the world in a sensitive manner. That underpins everything we do here, as well as everything I do as a professional artist.”

Edward has taught at HSAD since 2002. He has a BA (Hons) in Photography from Blackpool and the Fylde University; and an MA in Contemporary Fine Art from Leeds Metropolitan University, where he developed his specialism in historic processes, including making a large home-built camera capable of producing 11inx14in negatives. This was used in his artist residency at Knaresborough Castle in 2005 and continuing work in Moravia, in the Czech Republic.

As a result of his research, he now specialises in cyanotype, mixed media, photomontage and portraiture.

He says:

“I came to academia as a mature student, having previously worked in the commercial photographic industry. The MA work led to artist’s residencies and exhibitions.”

His most recent gallery contribution was portraiture work at the Blueprint exhibition in at Studio Eleven, in Humber Street, Hull. http://www.studioeleven.co.uk/current-exhibitions.php

“The work I showed in Hull was four portraits of influential musicians – Jools Holland, Dweezil Zappa, Courtney Pine and ska trombone player Rico Rodriguez –shot on film and adapted.

“I mix media together using film, digital capture, scanners and process from the 1800s, such as cyanotype,” says Edward. “I make digital negatives and print from there. It all works together nicely.  The process excites me every time I see it – that word ‘magic’ often comes up.”

Edward also hosts regular workshops in cyanotype at Studio Eleven, saying: “I keep up with digital photography but now I can trace my photographic roots right back to the beginning.”

Previous work includes a Dada-esque photomontage “anti-art” series of based on the Vanitas genre, called War, Knowledge, Science and Wealth.

He explains:

“For War, I took a line drawing of the original Little Boy atom bomb, mixed with an image of a pin-up girl, and sat it on a Van Gogh table; Knowledge is based on a 16^th-century painting called The Ambassadors, in which I’ve replaced the famous oblique skull with a laptop and the two character with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates; for Wealth, I took Damien Hirst’s diamond skull, turned it upside down with Van Gogh’s flowers coming out of the top and put it through the cyanotype process.”

Ongoing research projects include themed portraiture work based around characters spotted in his home town of Knaresborough; and the delivery of talks at HE teaching and learning conferences; and theoretical research that goes hand in hand with his practice.

Edward also helps run a commercial studio www.hopewellstudios.com.

Naomi Bolser

Based in Harrogate, Naomi has an impressive career track record. She has been involved in the production of art video since the late 1980s; is dedicated to art education; and has been teaching since 2000.

Inspiring students is key to Naomi’s educational philosophy.

“In the past, my community work has taken video production to people who wouldn’t normally have access to it,” she says. “I worked with community groups and individuals to create videos about issues that were important to them.”

Naomi has created video art installations, backed by grants the Arts Council and South West Arts.

“I’m doing a practice-based PhD at Leeds University,” she says. “This involves researching and building archives of Women’s Independent Moving Image Practice – it’s about exploring art video and its context.”

Asking Is There a Tradition of Women’s Independent Moving Image Practice? Naomi’s PhD research focuses on women’s roles in avante garde, art and experimental production, within both the historical and contemporary contexts. She aims to re-examine non-mainstream productions in light of recent feminist scholarship; and to build a canon of women’s practice for exhibition, that will include her own work. Naomi Is working towards an international exhibition in 2015.

“One of the most important aspects of this process is how the discipline and rigour of studying for a PhD informs my teaching,” she says. “It’s been extremely beneficial.”

Her personal archive of work, including an award-winning MA Super 8 video project, Timepiece, will form part of the research.

Timepiece was picked by contemporary art directory, Axis, to be one of its “MA Stars” in 2005.

Danielle Treanor, of Axis, says on the organisation’s website: “She gently instigates a genuine interaction from the viewer. She expects us to confront that strange epistemic distance that ‘film’ creates between the material and the mind’s eye and in doing so cleverly calls into question innate consumerism and ready acceptance of a mass media memory machine.”

Naomi has a degree in Cultural Studies from North East London Polytechnic, an MA in Video from Middlesex University and an MA in Fine Art from Leeds University, where she specialised in digital and super 8 moving image production. A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, in 2011 Naomi started a practice-based PhD at the Institute of Communication Studies, Leeds University.

Other works – Walk In The Park