We're back from the Easter break and its lovely to see your projects through the images and blogs on Dotbiz. Remember you'll still have access to the site up until September and after that we'll be offering you the opportunity to renew your web page annually for a small fee. In the last 12 months we had well over 34,000 new people visiting our websites, thats nearly 190,000 pages viewed each month!

It's just as exciting to find out about the inspirational student support that's been going on. Our AA2A student reps have ben blogging highlights of artists talks, demonstrations and exhibitions for students during the scheme. A big thanks to them and to all of you who have been encouraging, interacting and mentoring alongside doing your own work. Have a look at our students newsletter for a brief roundup.

Don't forget our digital pack 'Making it out there' is now available. This is the first of our 'digital packs' aimed at artists, graduates and students, with more than 80 embedded links to key arts organisations. You can buy it from our new website sales area for £5.95  or view sample pages here.

Only a few weeks left to be our 'Pic of the Week'! We'd particularly like to feature work from the following institutions, as they've not been represented yet, so if you'd like the chance to be on our Facebook and Twitter pages please upload some of your images over the next few weeks:

University of Sunderland 
Bradford School of Arts and Media 
University of Salford   
De Montfort University 
Anglia Ruskin University 
University of Hertfordshire 
London Metropolitan University 
Camberwell College of Arts 
Wimbledon College of Art
University of Reading
University for the Creative Arts 
Plymouth University  

As always, a big thank you for making our job such a pleasure!

Jo (and the AA2A team)

Lovely to see so many of you using Dotbiz to showcase your progress on the scheme with a wealth of inspiring images and blogs. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone with all of you well into the second term now! There's still time to encourage any web shy fellow AA2A Artists at your college to use the site, even if it’s only to upload one image. You can find our easy training guides including uploading an image on the website.

Having a profile on the site is a great way for your students to be able to identify you and easily see examples of your work. We also have a listings page for advertising any upcoming exhibitions and don't forget our pic of the week is also showcased on our Twitter and Facebook pages. You've an even better chance of being chosen if your college has yet to be featured. See our latest newsletter for a list of featured colleges.

Thanks again for making Dotbiz such a pleasure to browse.

Jo (and the AA2A team)

I create sculptures which explore line and space rather than solidity and see all my work as multi-dimensional drawing. Working with metals and natural materials I use various techniques including ‘weaving’ with fine wires, bending and welding metal rods, and working with pine needles to create geodesic exoskeletal figures.

My art practice is inspired by the figure, nature and science. I am particularly interested in exploring the connections and dichotomies between our understanding of our world through quantum physics and our ancestors’ understanding of their world through mythology.

http://fieldandhedgerow.blogspot.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/TouringCaravanGallery

http://www.duckettandjeffreys.com

Click here to see work for the Exhibition at UCA Canterbury 15-19 April 2013.

Click here to go to Hope's Linkedin listing.

Click here to go to Hope's Facebook page.

Click here to follow Hope on Twitter.

Click here to go to Hope's Youtube Channel.

I graduated from London College of Fashion in 2010, where I studied costume for performance. I also have qualifications in museums studies, fashion, textiles and education. I live in Peterborough, although Cambridge is my hometown and I work with Museum Collections across the UK making costumes and costume based artwork.

In this residency I will be working on pieces for my upcoming exhibition The Fashion of John Keats Life and Death in which I am producing new artistic work for Keats House London and The Keats Shelley Memorial House, Rome.

John Keats trained as a doctor and died from Tuberculosis. This exhibition will encourage reflection on medical care, the experience of illness and how medicine shaped the poets life. This work is Inspired by Giacomo Leopardi’s Dialogue between Fashion and Death (c.1830), I will be using costume as a vehicle to explore the themes of knowledge, illness and death. Leopardi proposes fashion to be death’s sister and I know dress to be spellbinding narrator despite its everyday appearance, with the power to touch individual lives while connecting people of all ages, genders and cultures.

My work is designed to be touched, handled and even tried on, Each piece invites the audience to explore further to uncover their multi-layered narrative. The more the audience engages the more they will discover.

see more of my work on my website: www.costumier-saurus.co.uk, my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Costumiersaurus or follow me on twiter @costumiersaurus

Please can you help us spread the word about AA2A, whether you've been on the scheme and would recommend it to others or if you might apply yourself:

We now have application deadlines for all our 33 AA2A host institutions. To get all the information in one page go to our web advert

Map and list of our 33 schemes   Follow us on  Twitter  and  Facebook

The AA2A project offers artists & designer makers the opportunity to undertake a period of research or realise a project using art college facilities eg. workshops, IT facilities, lending library, & lecture programme.  AA2A schemes aim to benefit students and Colleges through their interaction with practising artists.

FOR FULL ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA AND DETAILS OF HOW TO APPLY   aa2a.org/apply

Access is free, for at least 100 hours, between Oct 2012 and April 2013 and a materials/travel grant of £220 is usually available.
Closing dates for applications vary but all are in September 2012.
Applicants must have at least one years professional practice and should be able to work with minimal technical support.
Artists on AA2A schemes run from 2009 to 2010 or before can now reapply. 
To see current AA2A artists' work go to http://aa2a.biz or read previous artists' stories here.
AA2A particularly welcomes applications from applicants with disabilities, from culturally diverse backgrounds and non-graduates.

APPLICATION PACKS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE COLLEGES TAKING PART

If you'd like to join the mailing list email georgia@aa2a.biz