FAD Nantgarw 30

30/08/2024

10/11/2022

Come and have a chat with FAD staff this evening at Nantgarw - be great to see you!

28/06/2022

beautiful animation by Efa Blosse Mason 👌

A Welsh animated short about q***r love, fear and a boat made of a leaf.

05/04/2022

well done BLOOM BOY 😍

From electric colours to arrangements inside washing machines, his clients know better than to ask for the subdued or polite.

20/01/2022

Come and chat to staff about the benefits of the FAD course

02/07/2021

Join us in Celebrating the amzing achievements of our learners in this most challenging year. Our 30th end of year exhibition! https://60ca02611c091.site123.me/?fbclid=IwAR10DmpEy1Xr0aX84E4a2rErRnMnVBS92l4t2hJgBY5j2OOFE2y2fSdFHhU

Foundation Art & Design 2021 Exhibition - ARDDANGOSFA CWRS SYLFAEN CELF & DYLUNIO FOUNDATION ART & DESIGN EXHIBITION 2021

28/05/2021

Please share🙏

25/03/2021

Name : Dai Howell

Foundation Campus/year: GCADT Glyntaff 2006/07

Secondary School: Coed Y Lan comp

Higher Education: University of Wales, Newport - Photographic Art BA (Hons) - Swansea Metropolitan University MA Photography

Where are you now: Artist, Writer and Heritage employee.



Foundation was brilliant. Coming out of school and suddenly being encouraged to make art was great. I remember feeling really knackered after the first week because it was such an intense explosion of creativity. It was fantastic meeting and being around so many wonderful people too. I'm still good friends with lots of people I met on Foundation and everywhere I’ve gone since I’ve discovered there’s a wonderful “Foundation old student" network. When I went to Uni there were a few foundation students there. Then years later I started my MA, walking in on my first day, I discovered a friend from foundation. Working in the Art’s around South Wales the alumni from Foundation are everywhere. I think nearly every gallery has/had a former foundation student somewhere. Even working in the Museum sector in places you wouldn’t expect to find us, we are there too. I find it's really fun when you meet someone who also has been through Foundation, it’s like you both share a really positive experience where you both can relate and swap stories about our time on the course. It makes getting to know people a lot easier. For me Foundation gave me creative thinking which has come in handy in all aspects of my life since. There have been projects I've run in both the arts and museum sectors which I know have been successful thanks to the new ideas and ways of working that were opened up to me on Foundation.

Creative Industries at Coleg Y Cymoedd Foundation Art and Design, Nantgarw

19/03/2021

Alumni Stories : Sean Morgan

Nantgarw 2016/2017

Secondary school was Cardinal Newman

Higher Education: BA (Hons) Illustration At Plymouth College of Art

Where are you now: I’m currently living in Plymouth and preparing to graduate from my course. I love creating things but I'm not fussed on making big beautiful works that make people go “oh I couldn't do that, I cant draw a circle”. I love to make work that people can enjoy and see themselves in. I think art is something that everyone should enjoy and not be scared off to try themselves


My time on foundation: Foundation was extremely helpful to my journey as an illustrator. Before completing the course I had little knowledge of the art world and industry. Prior art courses only ever taught me the basics with painting and portraiture, but FAD widened my understanding of how art can be used and its reaches within the community. The wide range of subjects within FAD allow me to really experiment with my approach to art and has been the jumping point for further experimentation whilst at University.

Creative Industries at Coleg Y Cymoedd Foundation Art and Design, Nantgarw Coleg y Cymoedd

12/03/2021

Alumni Stories : Jenny Clements

Foundation year: Glyntaff 2003 to 2004

Secondary school: Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales High School

Higher education: Glamorgan University/ GCADT BA in 2D Animation

Where are you now? Author and artist of online and published graphic novels.

The first physical book I ever made was in 2004, when I had settled on the Illustration course. Neil had taught us all how to prepare paper and bind together books from scratch, a beautiful traditional skill. For my final project, I filled a hand made book to the brim with a pen and watercolour story of the art studies and experiments from my year there, all in the guise of a maniacal Renaissance polymath and his hapless assistant. He would have noted that year as “annus mirabilis”. It really set the start of the road and journey I’ve ended up on, and It’s fascinating to look back and compare the parallels.

That year not only taught me such a glut of skills but also fuelled my imagination. From inspirational travels to Catalonian capitals (my first introduction to the joys of comic book shops) and, literally, new perspectives around Wales’ own (that very cold Millennium Stadium), to the location of the course itself and the friendships we made and experiences we shared (dissecting a mackerel in that small, warm attic studio. Bleurgh! Sorry, guys). There was always fun at the core of the work we created together.

I was fortunate knowing I wanted to pursue animation as a degree at GCADT that following year, so that meant I had the freedom to pick any of the other courses available and, frankly, have the most fun I could. I was spoiled for choice. Fashion never before appealed to me, but here it did and there’s a multi universe version of me who specialised in screen printing; an instant love. I went with illustration knowing I could push storytelling and my art style further. I felt safe. I felt confident and challenged. I felt I was where I belonged. It was a wonderful feeling. All the tutors and the company I kept are reasons for that.

The parallel I draw is being able to still emulate that freedom to explore and travel and have fun with my job. Drawing and writing from my experiences wherever I go. Starting from one hand bound book then, and ending with multiple publications today. I had brilliant years in the animation industry as a storyboard artist and designer, but leaving that behind and creating my own stories, completely unbridled by bosses and contracts and drawing other people’s art, has brought me back to that grounded feeling of exploration, freedom and personal growth; The treasure of the foundation year.
My comic work has taken my books and myself all around the world, including Sydney, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Studying lore in London, exhibiting at comic conventions all around the UK and meeting remarkable people along the way.

The credo I took from foundation is ‘art without borders’.
Art and freedom. A flying pencil. A valuable badge, gifted then, and re-pinned on every journey.
Foundation Art and Design, Nantgarw Creative Industries at Coleg Y Cymoedd