Competition – School of Arts & Creative Industries

To Create is Great!

Being creative is important…in fact, it’s great! Creativity can help to reduce stress, make you feel calmer, improve your wellbeing, combat depression and anxiety and generally alleviate stress, leaving you happy and content. In fact, entering our MIMA Great Create competition could be just the tonic you need – here’s what you need to know.

The School of Arts & Creative Industries and MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) are celebrating the third birthday of our MIMA Great Create competition, and this year’s theme is sure to prick your social conscience. This year we’re challenging entrants to submit a creative piece that responds to the theme of ‘creating a sustainable future’.

The creative piece, which must be developed solely for MIMA Great Create, could be a painting, an illustration, a comic, a piece of music or a film. It could be a model, a photograph, a fashion item or a piece of creative artwork in any form. All shortlisted entries will be featured in a special pop-up exhibition at MIMA and the winner of our special People’s Champion category will be displayed in Teesside University’s Net Zero Centre for all visitors to see.

The competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over and this year entries will be judged in three categories:

School or college student
Current Teesside University student and
Creative in the community.

There will also be an exciting opportunity for everyone to vote for the ‘People’s Champion’ from the shortlisted entries.

The MIMA Great Create judges come from across the creative industries, and this year include magazine founder and fashion academic Abigail Dennison, artist and curator Bobby Benjamin, children’s art charity Theatre Hullabaloo chief executive Ben Dickenson, Professor Dawid Hanak of the Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre, photographer Drucilla Burrell, artist and illustrator Errol Theunissen, MIMA artistic director Elinor Morgan, and last year’s Great Create winner Hayley Harris.

MIMA Great Create winner, 2023 – Hayley Harris

Hayley was announced as the second winner of the World Book Day themed MIMA Great Create in March 2023 with her illustration inspired by her favourite book The Secret Garden. Speaking when she was announced as the winner, Hayley said:

“I feel a strong connection with the book and characters, having lost a parent and being surrounded by wildlife and nature has helped to heal, give guidance and comfort. The scene that I chose to encapsulate is when the robin shows the way to the door and sadness is given some light and healing through nature.”

Haley’s advice to anyone considering entering the MIMA Great Create was:

“Let your imagination run wild and don’t be afraid to let your artwork out into the world. It helps others in giving encouragement and a bit of inspiration.”

The standard of entries gets higher every year and entries already received for this year are no different. With a closing deadline of Friday 29 March 2024, there’s still time to get your entry in, so if creating a sustainable future matters to you, then get those creative juices flowing and head to The MIMA Great Create | School of Arts & Creative Industries | Teesside University

Study at our School of Arts & Creative Industries https://www.tees.ac.uk/schools/mima/

MIMA Great Create Finalists revealed

We received over 90 incredible entries to this year’s MIMA Great Create competition, with some outstanding creativity expressed on our theme of the wonderful world of books. Difficult as it is to choose finalists from such an outstanding pool of creativity, our judging panel have decided upon the following 5 entries to go through to the finals on Saturday 18th March.

(finalists listed in numerical order of entry)

Entry number 25, by Hayley Harris

My illustration is inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett’s book, The Secret Garden. I feel a strong connection with the book and characters, having lost a parent and being surrounded by wildlife and nature has helped to heal, give guidance and comfort. The scene that I chose to encapsulate is when the robin shows the way to the door and sadness is given some light and healing through nature. In my illustration, one side represents the four seasons in black and white, to show sorrow and grief. This gradually transforms into colour where nature heals the pain and shows light again.

Entry number 45 by Megan Keedy

I have created a photography piece relating to the books of the Twilight series. I have taken photographic images to inspire a dark setting with roses and gore/blood. Additionally, I have displayed my piece with dark red lights and more flowers . It relates to the book, by the end of the last scene with the fight of the vampires and the Voltari, and also the black and red robes.

Entry number 53 by Rebecca Fletcher

This oil painting is based on the autobiographical book ‘The Bell Jar’ by Sylvia Plath. I was inspired to create a piece representing Esther’s descent into depression and regression into madness, to encapsulate the feelings in her book that could not be described. I intended to capture her breakdown, the horror and tragedy of her life and the societal expectations placed upon her by imprisoning the face with fingers. The possessive hands gripping onto her and confining the face were used as symbolism for the entrapment, anxiety and isolation that Esther felt at her lack of freedom.

Entry number 61 by Tony Hamill

This is my entry for the book “Diary of a Young Naturalist” by Dara McAnulty. The book is written from the author’s perspective of an autistic young adult and is replete with scenes told from a unique perspective full of wonder and magic. This image is of grasshoppers and dragonflies in the undergrowth and is intended to capture the scene through the author’s eyes.  It was digitally created, allowing me more control over the process of layered objects and background details.  I used a process of pen and eraser to get a strong depth to the vines and undergrowth and make them appear intertwined.

Entry number 61, Diary of a Young Naturalist

Entry number 81 by Ayebabeledaipre Sokari

The illustration is for the book titled, Notes on Grief, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The scene is portraying the author writing down her thoughts in phases. It hopes to capture the forlorn moment of her pouring out all she felted about the death of her late father. The window representing a reflection of the past and present where she stays in-between thoughts. “Grief is forcing new skins on me, scraping scales from my eyes…. I cage my thoughts, I torque my mind firmly to its shallow surface alone. I am unable to quiet myself until I look away.” She speaks.

A huge thank you to all entrants – the submissions were quite outstanding, making the judges jobs incredibly challenging. Our finalists’ work will be displayed in a pop-up-exhibition in MIMA (Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art) along with a showcase of all the 20 shortlisted entries from Saturday 18th March, when the overall winner will be announced at 4pm. If you would like to come along to the finals event from 3pm – 5pm please contact us on thegreatcreate@tees.ac.uk

Take a look at our courses in the School of Arts & Creative Industries

UNDERGRADUATE STUDY:

Art & Design Courses

Media & Journalism Courses

Music Technology Courses

Performing Arts Courses

POSTGRADUATE STUDY:

Art & Design Courses

Media & Journalism Courses

Celebrating a Winning Year

Students and graduates from the School of Arts & Creative Industries are encouraged and supported by lecturers to enter national and international competitions, and to apply for funded programmes. Find out more about our recent successes in a truly winning year.

Competitions are a great way for students to gain experience of responding to live briefs, as well as creating noteworthy content for a CV and a topic of discussion for interviews. That’s why our lectures encourage students to enter their work.

The support doesn’t end there though – we encourage students to keep in touch once they have graduated and turn to the lecturers who know them so well for support in applying for a variety of funded opportunities.

We’re incredibly proud of all our students, but in particular wanted to give a shout out to a handful of students who have achieved some outstanding successes over the last 12 months and celebrate their success, including:

Keavey Gamwell, a Graphic Design student, was so successful in The Adobe Certified Professionals National Championships that she has been selected as one of just 20 students in the UK representing the UK and Ireland at Certiport’s Adobe Certified Professional World Championship in California, USA, from 24 to 27 July 2022. Read more about Keavey’s story here

Earlier this academic year, Fashion graduate Emily Dey completed a rigorous selection process to be selected for an exclusive and 10-month, paid training programme funded by YOOX NET-A-PORTER and The Prince’s Foundation, the YOOX NET-A-PORTER GROUP Modern Artisan paid training programme in responsible design and luxury textile craftsmanship.

fashion designs — Fashion designs from Emily Dey’s final year portfolio

3^rd year Product Design student Kristina Kuzcenova has reached the next round of the Pro Carton Young Designers Award 2022. The Pro Carton Young Designers Award is Europe’s leading annual young talent competition for packaging design. Focussing exclusively on cartonboard, the award plays a pioneering role in promoting sustainable packaging and innovation amongst students across Europe.

There were over 800 entries and Kristina was notified in June that she is in the top 100. She has now sent her prototypes for the next stage of judging, taking place in the Hague. Judges will announce the shortlisted top 25 in July and these entrants will go to the public vote – if Kristina makes it to the top 25 she can be assured of the vote of all our lecturers and students!

Nick Moffatt an MA Illustration student has been longlisted for the World Illustration Awards in the Book Covers category for his classic beat generation collection With category winners yet to be announced we’re holding our breath and wishing Nick the very best of luck.

Second year Product Design student, Zara King, secured a place as one of just six finalists in the Design Plastic Awards in April. The challenge this year was to design an innovative product for use in any part of the healthcare sector and Zara desgined EASYMODE, a reusable bed pan.

The finalists presented their products to the judges in London on May 27, and the final award ceremony, announcing the results, takes place on July 1.

*** WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT ***

Zara King won the Design Plastics Award

With the academic year drawing to a close, lecturers are busy scheduling the next set of entry dates for competitions to share with students. Meanwhile, we’re holding our breath to find out if any students will be announced as 2022 winners…but if truth be known, they’re all winners in our eyes!

MIMA Great Create shortlisted finalists announced

Saturday 28th May sees the long-awaited finals of the MIMA Great Create competition and six worthy finalists will be joining us at MIMA with their family and friends for an intimate celebration and the revealing of the winner by Elinor Morgan, Artistic Director, MIMA.

The competition opened to entries on 26th March 2022 and in just over six weeks the School of Arts & Creative Industries at Teesside University received a range of highly creative entries, from music clips, illustrations, paintings, upholstery designs and photographs, to short films, origami sculptures, drawings and more. Judging began on the 10th May and our team of judges from across the creative industries have made their decisions.

Six entries were shortlised, with judges commenting on the high standard of entries

“What a treat to get to review such creative work. There were some absolutely fabulous entries!”

The six shortlisted finalists along with friends and family are joining us for an intimate finals celebration at MIMA on Saturday 28th May, where the winner will be revealed and all finalist entries will be displayed in a pop-up exhibition in the MIMA atrium. The exhibition will be available to view over the coming Platinum Jubilee extended Bank Holiday weekend for all visitors to explore. Whilst you can see a version of the shortlisted entries below (links to songs on artist’s name), we’d encourage you to come along to MIMA to experience them visually and audibly in their full glory, in the creative environment of the atrium:

Ella Miller

I created this piece with a risograph printer to build up the rich layers of history and beauty and celebrate details that are important to me as an illustrator; we have so many local creative hubs, like MIMA and Darlington Hippodrome, that are so resourceful and full of inspiration. I also wanted to celebrate my pride in being northern with a bit of humour because who hasn’t had a giant seagull steal a chip in their life, and I certainly couldn’t live without a lemon top! From steam trains to bridges, the North East is built with strength and radiance.

Jonathan Raiseborough

My entry, ‘Boro Skyline’ is an illustration inspired by the environment and landscape of Teesside and the different aspects of the area that represent it as a whole. The foreground nature scenery in the illustration is based on the RSPB saltholme and Seal Sands nature reserves and the heritage of the biodiversity preserved so close to the industrial areas that represent another, very different, part of the region’s identity. The illustration was drawn in fineliner, coloured in Adobe Photoshop and based on how varied, seemingly opposite, prominent elements of what makes up Middlesbrough and the region co-exist together as one.

Grace Coverdale

I created an acrylic painting on canvas depicting a concept I believe is a dominant part of my culture and region. ‘The decline of the Teesside Steelworks Industry’ as a result of postmodern technology and globalisation. This concept is something that affected all generations in this region.

I chose a long canvas and presented my painting horizontally, as you glance down left to right, you see that the further along the canvas the steelworks become less shows the industry has completely disappeared.

Airen Sopany

Since the theme of the competition is the heritage of North East England, I decided to recall all the memories I’ve made while studying here. Although I have yet to explore the whole of North East England, there are fond memories I have of this region. I’ve decided to commemorate my wonderful experience so I get to cherish it forever with this entry filled with my images.

Jake Beddow

I decided to write a piece of music to represent the history and current story of the Teesside region. Middlesbrough was one of the first towns to be bombed during WW2 so the first half of my track is full of trumpets and loud drums as an omage to the music played whilst armies marched towards battle. Using samples of the UKs greatest sports commentator, Middlesbrough born Chris Kamara, I attempted to capture how Teesside has evolved into a great and modern place as the track also evolves into a more modern sounding song.

NICEGUY

A song I wrote about the sneering at Teesside from those who’ve never lived here

The winning finalist will be revealed on Saturday 28th May – Good luck everyone!

The MIMA Great Create competition

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It’s Competition Time!

The School of Arts and Creative Industries at Teesside University opens its doors once again on 30th March, with workshops and activities to encourage creative thinking and possibly sow the seeds for some new entries to our MIMA Great Create competition. Register here if you want to come along and join us.

With 6 weeks to go until the deadline for entries Elinor Morgan, Artistic Director of MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) and judge for the competition, invites entrants to surprise her with their entries. Here’s what she has to say…

Elinor Morgan talks about the MIMA Great Create competition

Find out about our courses at the School of Arts & Creative Industries: