Art and design blog

Each year final year students in our art and design programmes put on degree shows which showcase their practical work. 

Attending these degree shows is one of the highlights of the year for Suzie Williams, Academic Liaison Librarian for the School of Media and Creative Industries. “I love going to the degree shows each year and seeing the work of students who I have taught during their degree. I can often see themes in their work that echo conversations I have had with them earlier in their studies. What makes it really special is when students are invigilating the exhibition and get to chat with me about their work in situ.”

Suzie picks up a copy of the degree show exhibition catalogues and adds them to the Library collections so that future students can see the nature of work produced by previous student cohorts. The exhibitions catalogues from the 2025 degree shows for BA Artist, Designer, Maker (Glass and Ceramics) and BA Fine Art are now in the St Peter's Library and can be borrowed. Catalogues from previous years are also available for loan.

The Carnegies are long-running UK children’s book awards which recognise outstanding reading experiences for writing and illustrating in books for children and young people. The Carnegie Medal for Illustration is the award for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people. The Carnegie Medal for Writing is awarded for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people. 

The winner's of the 2025 competition have been announced! More information is available on the Carnegies web page. 

• Margaret McDonald was announced as the Carnegie Medal for Writing winner, the youngest in its almost ninety-year history for her “life changing and emotional” novel Glasgow Boys. This “honest” and “hopeful” story explores mental health, trauma, inequality and identity through the friendship between two boys who have grown up in foster care. 
• The winner of the Carnegie Medal for Illustration is Olivia Lomenech Gill for Clever Crow, written by Chris Butterworth. This “innovative” and detailed non-fiction picture book illustrated in “earthy” watercolours, charcoal, gouache and collage encourages readers to look afresh at a fascinating, but often maligned, bird. 

The Carnegies celebrate achievement in children’s writing and illustration and are unique in being judged by a panel of children’s and youth librarians, including 14 librarians from CILIP: the library and information association’s Youth Libraries Group. 

[Text and images sourced from The Carnegies web site with permission. More details about the prizes, authors and illustrators are available on the Carnegies web pages]

We have some beautifully visual books in the library which are part of the Portrait of Humanity and Portrait of Britain series:

• Portrait of Humanity volume 4
• Portrait of Humanity volume 5
• Portrait of Humanity volume 6
• Portrait of Britain Volume 7

Johannah Churchill is a lecturer in Contemporary Photographic Practice at the university and she says: “For photography students the books are something to aspire to and something to draw inspiration from. Each of the books showcase 200 new portraits from national and international photographers, selected from thousands of entries, allowing the privilege of a glimpse into the lives of their subjects, and celebrating what connect us.  They’re such a valuable resource for students to draw upon - a wide selection of contemporary photographers and subject matters – I think what I like most is when students find an image in there and then do a deep-dive into favourite photographers’ work.”

Thanks to Johannah for sharing her insights into how these books are useful for our students studying photography. Do pop into our St Peter's Library to discover the delights of these books and the photographs included in them.

Box of Broadcasts is a brilliant resource which all our students and staff have access to through the library. 

For anyone who hasn’t discovered it yet, Box of Broadcasts (often know as BoB) is an on-demand TV & radio streaming service, giving you access to programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels from the UK and beyond. You can also to be alerted when programmes in the next two weeks are ready to watch - a great tool for your time management!

This series of short videos will help you get the most out of this resource for your studies and research including:

• How to access and search BoB.
• Using the programme guide.
• Using your own personal area of BoB.
• How to make a playlist and clips.
• How to request a programme.

If you're not a big reader but are keen to learn about your subject, this is a really good way of developing your knowledge and helping with your research.

It is always a delight to promote research by academic colleagues in the university. Craig Ames is the Programme Leader for our BA Photography and Digital Imaging course. He has recently donated five of his creations to the library - thanks Craig!

You can find the details of the books below which are all available to consult and borrow from the Library@DavidGoldman:

• Ames, C. (2023) Evidential 
• Ames, C. (2022) New topographies: Images of an algorithmic landscape
• Ames, C. (2022) Photographs of British algae: AI impressions
• Ames, C. (2023) The waters of Thera
• Ames, C. (2022) Twentysix image returns

The Carnegies are long-running UK children’s book awards – they recognise outstanding reading experiences for writing and illustrating in books for children and young people. The Carnegie Medal for Illustration is the award for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people. More information is available on the Carnegies web page.

In the library we are fortunate to have a number of the books which have won this illustration award in recent years.

• Becker, A. (2023) The tree and the river (winner of the 2024 prize)
• Nguyen, T. and Zdung, J. (2023) Saving Sorya: Chang and the sun bear
• Pinfold, L. (2011) The black dog
• Reynolds, J. and Novgorodoff, D. (2020) Long way down: the graphic novel
• Smith, L (2017) There is a tribe of kids
• Smith, S. (2019) Small in the city

We encourage all illustration, design and creative writings students to borrow and read the books.  Explore them to discover the style of illustration, how the stories have been written and how the illustrations enhance the stories. 

…. and who knows, you could be a winner in future years!

Digital US is an online digital skills module brought to you by Student Journey, available to all Sunderland Campus students through Canvas. Completing Digital US will enable you to make a confident start with the University of Sunderland's key digital systems and develop the digital competencies and capabilities which are central to academic success, student life, employability and personal and professional practice.
 

Your Academic Liaison Librarian, Suzie Williams, regularly writes blog posts for you on this Art and Design Library Subject Guide.

The posts cover a wide range of topics including details about new books we have bought for you to use, promoting key resources in your subject and much more. You can sign up to get an email alert to any new posts - there are a couple of posts each month so you won't be inundated with emails, and you can choose to unsubscribe at any time. 

Just go to the Art and Design blog page and enter your email address where it says "Subscribe." Happy reading!

“The Carnegies are the UK's longest running and best-loved children's book awards, recognizing outstanding reading experiences creating through writing and illustration in books for children and young people. The Carnegie Medal for Writing is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people. The Carnegie Medal for Illustration is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people” (Source: The Carnegies).

The shortlist for both awards have been released and may be of particular interest to our BA Illustration students and staff, and those linked with our BA Creative and Professional Writing programme.

(Image sourced and used with permission https://carnegies.co.uk/2025-longlists-announced/)