Enhancing the Learning Environment with Studio+
In February we welcomed NCAD student Leah Bredendieck to the WorkGroup team as an undergraduate intern. As a participant in the pilot year of NCAD’s Studio+ programme, Leah and her fellow classmates were given the opportunity to spend an academic year tailoring their own learning experience, choosing to work on real-world client projects in a student-run ‘Design Bureau’, studying abroad or, as in Leah’s case, doing an internship. At WorkGroup, we foster creative development in every role on the team, so taking on a Studio+ student seemed like a great cultural fit for us.
With the reduction of NCAD’s undergraduate courses from four years to three, Studio+ provides the option of an insert year between second and final year. Devised by the Head of the School of Design, Alex Milton, the contemporary educational model offers a whole year of self-directed learning to a group of interdisciplinary students. Depending on whether they choose Design Bureau, Erasmus or to do an internship in Ireland or abroad, Studio+ participants graduate with ‘Studio+’ or ‘International’ added to the end of their BA degree.
Now in its second year, Studio+ has been extended beyond the Design faculty and is now available to all Design, Fine Art and Visual Culture students who have successfully completed their second year. It’s safe to say the programme is flourishing, with enrolment growing from 7 to 90 students. Places are currently unlimited, with almost half the year group in both BA Graphic Design and BA Illustration deciding to take part in the current academic year, showing the initiative among students to make the most of their time in third-level education.
In a similar way, every team member at WorkGroup puts aside time once or twice a week for self-initiated development. We clear space to work individually on something we are passionate about; designing a typeface, spending time on an internal creative project or enrolling in an online course for additional technical know-how. This learning is perhaps most visible in the work of the interns who spend time with us.
West Cork native, Leah Bredendieck took to our studio environment with exceptional ease after spending her first semester working with her fellow Studio+ students. As one of those naturally multi-gifted people with exceptional technical craft, Leah brought a tangible, artistic approach to her 6 month internship. Perhaps influenced by her mix of German and American lineage, or maybe by her native creative hub of Skibbereen, Leah is pro-active in searching for creative stimulation, despite being only 21.
One of her latest passions is paper weaving, using an old book of weaving patterns left to her by her late grandmother as a guide. Leah’s self-proclaimed lack of patience has led her to use paper, rather than fabric, to make these intricate patterns quickly and graphically. This interest in paper weaving, combined with other experiments with paper cut illustration and model-making, add a unique richness to her work.
A typical internship at WorkGroup introduces a student or recent graduate to the processes of idea generation and research, while providing smaller learning opportunities on bigger projects. When Leah’s hard copy portfolio arrived in the post, we could see how her layout, typography and print design skills could be useful to the team, but we had no idea about her strong illustration capabilities. It was only after a few weeks in the studio that we realised just how multi-talented she is.
Leah’s favourite project while at WorkGroup was a set of artworks for BOOM!, an album by Lamont/Bailey/Wall. The album tells sad, upbeat stories about easy mortgages and life in a recession. Having worked up a series of images with the broader team on-screen, Leah meticulously executed these as a series of eight hand-painted illustrations; one for each track on the album. These were then photographed and edited by the wider team and incorporated into the final album artwork. She appreciated the opportunity to contribute to a project from start to finish and in her words, “…it was a lot of fun”.
As well as making a contribution to client projects, Leah also gained an insight into studio life. “Working here it’s like you’re never working on anything just by yourself…that’s definitely something you’re not really prepared for, ” she noted. Three months were enough to give her an introduction to studio life, but the extension of three months gave her more responsibility and the chance to to see projects through until the end. Her advice to anyone seeking an internship is to “go into it with however much time the studio will give you, even one month would be worthwhile.” Consistently unassuming, her notebooks are a true window into her methodical mind and are works of art in their own right.
When her time with us came to an end, Leah stayed true to her roots by creating a paper cut illustrated card for us to treasure in the studio. We look forward to seeing what else Leah creates and know that she is in a great position to take on the challenges of her final year at NCAD.
A special thanks to the Head of Communication Design at NCAD, John Paul Dowling, for providing details on the Studio+ program. Use the following links to see more of Leah’s work on her Instagram or Tumblr and learn more about Studio+.
