V&A Illustration Awards 2005: Student Category

The Student Illustrator of 2005 received £1300 and the commended students £300 each.

Student Illustrator of 2005

Julianna Kasza

Kent Institute of Art and Design

Julianna Kasza came to Kent from a Graphic Design course at the Hungarian University of Art and Design. She previously graduated from an art secondary school in Hungary where she studied mainly book arts, from design to bookbinding, book illustration, typography and photography.

Kasza is particularly interested in illustration for its imaginative and narrative application. She is inspired by medieval woodcut illustration, when artists were not so knowledgeable about rules of delineation such as perspective but knew how to create a narrative through pictures.

Winning Illustration: Piglet

Tempera on printing paper

Of her work on Piglet, Kasza says, ‘I was always criticising myself, and making little changes, planning the pictures smaller and smaller, to focus my ideas more accurately.’

The story is based on an original folk tale called The Little Piglet and the Wolves, which illustrates the triumph of the weak over the strong. A wolf is hungry and cold and visits a piglet's home in the forest. He is hoping to eat the piglet but the piglet knows this. He pretends to put on some water to boil, but he pours this over the wolf, causing his fur to peel off. Wanting revenge, the wolf goes into the forest to look for other wolves. The piglet finds safety in a tree. The wolves climb on top of one another to try and reach the piglet. At the end the piglet causes the pillar of wolves to collapse by shouting, ‘Let’s pour boiling water over the peeled one’. This makes the already injured wolf at the bottom run away and the pillar.

Student prize-winner

Swava Harasymowicz

Royal College of Art

Swava Harasymowicz is currently studying for an MA at the Royal College of Art. She previously gained a first class degree in Illustration at Middlesex University and also studied in Kraków, Poland.

She is interested in the relation of text to image but can also see herself working in poster and commercial art, or self-initiating print art projects. Her inspirations are diverse. They range from Byzantine art and early Renaissance masters such as Giotto and Botticelli, to Picasso and Modigliani, Hopper and Warhol, German and Russian graphic art, and Polish poster art from the 1950s and 1960s.

Winning Illustration: A Woman's Day

Linocut

These illustrations provide a sort of bittersweet take on real life situations, doubts and aspirations. They represent both real and symbolic events.

Student prize-winner

Meng-Chia Lai

Anglia Polytechnic University

Meng-Chia Lai gained a first class degree from Anglia Polytechnic University this year. She previously completed a Foundation Course at Central St Martins and spent two years at the Fu-Hsin Trade & Arts School in Taipei, Taiwan.

She is interested in pursuing a diverse illustrating career, including adult and children’s illustration, editorial and character design. During her studies, Meng-Chia made four children’s books, of which OH! is the third. She is currently in discussion with French publisher, Edition Lirabelle, over its publication and that of another book Peebi Lost . For inspiration, she draws with children at her parents’ kindergarten in Taiwan. Artists who have influenced her include Picasso, Matisse and the ancient Chinese calligrapher and painter Wang Hsi-chih.

Winning Illustration: OH!

Dummy book, laser printed from original artwork in Chinese ink on Chinese paper

Meng-Chia came up with the story for OH! after swallowing an orange pip while chatting to her mother. ‘She said to me that I don’t need to buy oranges in the future! I chose ink with a touch of orange to make the book with a simple but practical message for children, "Don’t talk with your mouth full".’ - Meng-Chia Lai

Student prize-winner

Salvatore Rubbino

Royal College of Art
Salvatore Rubbino has just completed his MA at the Royal College of Art. Previously he studied for a BA at Falmouth School of Art and a Foundation Diploma at the Central School of Art and Design.

His inspiration comes from ‘the variety of city life and the "everyday" events that we take for granted but are in fact extraordinary and shape our lives. Making a picture slows the pace of things down and helps to draw attention to the overlooked. I like to draw wherever I go, gathering material for projects or simply in order to enjoy the act of looking.’

Winning Illustration: A Walk in New York

Gouache paintings and laser-printed book

The paintings and subsequent book, A Walk in New York, developed from sketches Rubbino made while visiting the city in summer 2004: 'New York proved to be the spectacle I have always imagined and the subsequent book is my response to this wonderful city' - Salvatore Rubbino

The paintings appear in the book alongside some of his sketchwork. Rubbino sees the sequence of eight images as accompanying a short story in a book or editorial supplement.