Author: Theodora Philcox
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Keeping the Wunder in the Kammer
I have always enjoyed visiting museums. I’m not alone.1 They were, and still are, special ‘grounding’ places where I could return to favourite exhibits, like a much-loved storybook. At my childhood local museum, the exhibits were more domestic; a large dolls house that you could press a switch to light up and then climb little…
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The art of looking up: A social prescription.
Social prescribing might feel like a new initiative but its key principle of connecting individuals with what matters to them, offering moments of joy and respite from personal struggle, echoes ideas found in the writings of some of the earliest philosophers. On A111, an arts and humanities module I teach alongside the design module, U101,…
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Linley Sambourne and his visualisation techniques
In one of our Level One design modules, U101, students are shown how to create an abstraction from a photograph to communicate a story. It’s a good technique to use, and great for building confidence in visualising ideas. I saw this process played out when visiting the fascinating home of Edward Linley Sambourne (1844-1910) last…
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Reflections on our face to face design meet-ups this year
We have been delighted to be able to run a number of informal face to face meet ups at various venues across the country this autumn. It has been wonderful to meet with students as well as their partners, children and grandchildren! It has been a joy to meet such enthusiastic students and to see…
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Dark foundations for heavenly architecture
My research has always focused on the interactions between the arts, design, science and philosophy, particularly in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to teaching on the level one design module, U101, I am fortunate to teach on A111 where students examine the impact of the arrival in Europe of artefacts from…
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Concerning the Spiritual in Design
Having visited 78 Derngate in Northampton with students and tutors on the design courses last month, I was inspired to return to my studies of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) and the Glasgow Four. 78 Derngate, a small terraced house near one of the old town gates, was originally built in 1815. The interior, extensively remodelled…
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Anxiety and Optimism: Designs on Barbenheimer.
As an 11 year old in the early 70s, I was fascinated by the idea that the tiniest components of everything in the world, (including ourselves), had within them the power to obliterate the planet. I read avidly about the structure of atoms, and what they had the potential to unleash. The Cold War fuelled…
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Hexagonal Living
A small group of houses always intrigued me as I hiked past them with my children on the way to birthday parties on the north side of Leamington Spa. Set back from the road, and almost hidden by numerous trees, they still managed to stand out; an experiment from another era. I was thus rather…
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Every city needs a Supergarden!
During the last weeks of summer, hot on the athletic heels of the Commonwealth Games, Birmingham burst into flower with the arrival of a spectacular supergarden. PoliNations, a celebration of Birmingham’s diverse population, wove an exploration of the city’s cultural heritage with that of the plants that adorn and breath oxygen into its gardens, conceived…
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What did YOU do in the War (against Covid19)? Engaging a response to the covid pandemic through visual communication.
It seems we might just, finally, be starting to win our battle against the scourge of covid. In fighting an invisible enemy that has had such a devastatingly tangible impact, it is not surprising that the rhetoric has sometimes carried metaphors of war. COBRA meetings in Whitehall and the Queen urging the country to remain…