Contemporary meets the past in a playful animation bringing historic designs to life
2019 e-card features stop motion animation by 2009 Communication Design graduate, Eleanor Stewart, founder of Clubhouse, with sound by musician and 2019 MDes Sound for the Moving Image graduate, Fiona McNeill.
Card celebrates the contribution to the creative life of the GSA of alumnus and lecturer Conrad McKenna, whose collection of historic Christmas cards is held in GSA Archives & Collections
Season’s Greetings from The Glasgow School of Art from The Glasgow School of Art on Vimeo.
The Glasgow School of Art has unveiled its annual Christmas e-card today, 13 December 2019. A playful stop motion film, it has been created by Communication Design graduate, Eleanor Stewart, founder of Clubhouse, with music by MDes Sound for the Moving Image graduate, Fiona McNeill.
The e-card features imagery from some of the Glasgow School of Art Christmas cards made and collected by GSA alumnus, lecturer and WWII Veteran Conrad McKenna, which are held in School’s Archives & Collections. McKenna, who died earlier this year, aged 95, collected cards created and sent by staff at the GSA over a 60-year period, one of which was also reproduced for Nicola Sturgeon’s First Minster’s Christmas Card in 2014.
Images: Christmas card (1990) designed and made by Conrad McKenna which features in the GSA’s 2019
e-card; Conrad McKenna with Nicola Sturgeon unveiling her 2014 Christmas Card (selected from the Conrad McKenna collection held in GSA Archives & Collections)
Among the cards which Eleanor has animated in her colourful e-card is one featuring Santa driving a delivery van, which was designed and made by Conrad McKenna himself in 1990. Also featured is a vibrant coloured turkey from a card designed by Mark Fernand Severin in the 1950s.
“The Glasgow School of Art has a long tradition of creativity and this year’s Christmas e-card illustrates this perfectly,”says Professor Irene McAra-McWilliam, Director of The Glasgow School of Art. “In this year’s design we are not only celebrating the work of more recent graduates Eleanor Stewart and Fiona McNeill, but also of generations of GSA artists and designers whose unique Christmas cards were collected over 60 years by GSA alumnus and lecturer, Conrad McKenna.”
“It was an honour to create this year’s Glasgow School of Art Christmas e-card and work from Conrad McKenna’s lovely archives,” says Eleanor Stewart.
“As a graduate of The Glasgow School of Art I love the thought of sending a special well-wishing e-card far and wide, with Conrad’s collections brought to life. Working with Fiona, another alumnus of the school, has been a brilliant experience,and so fitting since the Glasgow creative network thrives on collaboration and inspiring one another.”
“I am thrilled to know that Conrad’s memory is continuing to flourish with this card he was so happy to work on some years back,” adds Pat Isles, Conrad McKenna’s niece.
In recent years GSA Christmas e-cards have been created by GSA alumni animator and graphic designer James Houston (2013); BAFTA award winning animator, Ross Hogg (2014); sound designer Laurence Chan (2015) and acclaimed musicians Donald Barr (2016), Patience (2017) and Graeme Ronald (2018).
All the Christmas cards in the Conrad McKenna collection can be seen on GSA’s Archives & Collections website: https://gsaarchives.net/collections/index.php/dc-073-1
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For further information, images and interviews contact:
Lesley Booth, 07799414474 / press@gsa.ac.uk
Notes for Editors
Eleanor Stewart on Clubhouse
One of the major strengths of founding a studio in Glasgow is the vibrant creative community – which is only getting better. Being able to collaborate with and access talented professionals is a priceless boon to a creative studio – and I want the creatives of Glasgow to know that the existence of Clubhouse is down in large part to you – your vision and passion is inspiring and I look forward to creating more opportunities for us to work together in the coming months and years.
Opening a studio in Glasgow was so important to me, apart from the fact that it’s my home city, there is a such a dynamic and forward-thinking artistic scene here, with a really supportive creative community. In many ways, I think my animation work can’t help but reflect some of that playful Glasgow sense of humour. Equally, I love that thanks to modern technology we can work with clients all over the world – and as some past projects have shown, Glasgow offers a significant competitive edge over London when it comes to overheads for major shoots. Why couldn’t Glasgow be the new UK capital of animation? I can’t see any reason why not!
I’ve been working with creative clients and partners on stop motion projects since I graduated from The Glasgow School of Art in 2009. My degree show piece, the paper animationHoedown fromRodeo was awarded the Bram Stoker Medal by The Glasgow School of Art and a D&AD New Blood award. That was my first animation project and it seems fitting that exactly ten years later I am moving into a new exciting phase of animation work down the road from where it all started.
I was first captivated by stop-motion animation as a child, it was the early use of stop motion in classics of children’s television such as Bagpuss and The Magic Roundabout that first captured my imagination, as they did for millions of others. My fascination with making small worlds which seemed to magically come into motion was born then and is still with me.
I hope Clubhouse will bring that magic to many other people in the future.
Thanks to Glasgow’s creative community and the wider animation community for your support which is invaluable. I look forward to welcoming you to Clubhouse soon to discuss new projects!
Fiona McNeill
Variety is the spice of life, and I have a vast array of experience in many forms throughout the last decade; in countries includingJapan, Pakistan, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Italyand at home in Scotland.
I am the front woman, guitarist and one of the vocalists for the folk-rock band Reely Jiggeredand the guitarist for the McNeill Sisters duo, alongside Alison McNeill on fiddle & vocals.
My clients includeHistoric Scotland (Edinburgh Castle),The National TrustStirling Castle),British High Commissioner(Islamabad), Kilchoman Distillery,Laphroaig Distillery,Islay Ales Brewery,Royal Yachting Association,BAE Systems,BBCandBBC Cbeebies. (You can catch me and the band on an episode of “Rivercity” and also on a children’s programme called “Woolly and Tig”).Reely Jiggeredfestival performances include –Celtic Connections, Celtival(Italy),Eden Festival, Volmarstein Irish Folk Festival(Germany),Islay Whisky Festival (Feis Ile),Edinburgh Fringe,Glasgow West End Festival, Viking Festival,Musica en Verano(Mexico) andT at the Tower(Germany).
I have over five years’ experience as a radio presenter and producer of “Celtic & Folk Fusions”, speaking to and interacting with a worldwide audienceonSchottenRadio(Germany),Dunoon Community Radio andInverclyde Radio. I have been one of the broadcasters forCeltic ConnectionsonCeltic Music Radioover the last three years. From broadcasting to Voice Over seemed like a flawless move.
As a solo performer (guitarist & singer/songwriter), I have supportedIvan Drever,The Groanbox Boys as well as appearances on Bangladeshi TVas part of the Robert Burns/Kazi Nazrul multicultural events which take place to commemorate both Scotland’s and Bangladesh’s national poets.
I have also broughtScottish Music & Heritageworkshops into Scottish primary schools along with Alison McNeill (as part ofYouth Music Initiative), teaching guitar, bodhran, penny whistle and ceilidh dancing.
Conrad T McKenna
Conrad T McKenna, (born 8th March 1923 died 2019), was admitted as a student to Glasgow School of Art in December 1939 at the age of 16. WW2 interrupted his studies when he was called up to the RAF in 1942, serving from then until 1946. He returned to Art School in 1946 and was awarded a Diploma in Commercial Art in 1948. He won several prizes and scholarships during his time at GSA, including the Robert Hart Bursary in 1941, the W.O. Hutchison Prize for Drawing in 1948, the Main Scholarship for Commercial Art in 1948 and a £120 Travelling Scholarship in 1949. Conrad was also a member of GSA staff from 1950-1984. His positions included: Visiting Staff, Design & Crafts 1953/54; Assistant, Design & Crafts 1954/55-1965/66; Assistant, General Course 1966/67-1970/71; Lecturer, First Year Course 1971-1972; Supervisor, Evening School 1972-1984. He spent a sabbatical year in 1962-1963 as a visiting lecturer in the Fine Art faculty of the University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa, returning to GSA until his retirement in 1984