EDINBURGH.- As part of its annual Degree Show – a showcase of work by over 400 graduating students – Edinburgh College of Art is delighted to present the work of students graduating from the new School of Design. Formed in August 2008 under the newly appointed Head of Design Alan Murray, the School provides a comprehensive design school structure across Fashion, Visual Communications, Design and Applied Arts, now forming the broadest portfolio of design courses available in the UK. The School’s bold new vision is realised at eca Degree Show 09, alongside the work of students graduating in Drawing & Painting, Sculpture, Intermedia, Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

To mark Design at eca’s new agenda, the School will exhibit for the first time in the main building’s neo-classical sculpture court. The work of graduating students shown here and in the College’s Evolution House building on West Port will be displayed on a brand new exhibition system. Also for the first year ever, there will be a School of Design catalogue.

Head of Design Alan Murray comments: ‘We’re establishing a new platform for Design at eca. We’re seeing the beginnings of new cross-discipline collaborations and an emerging culture of producing great thinkers as well as great makers.’

Visitors to eca Degree Show 09 will have the opportunity to discover new designers, painters, animators, photographers, sculptors, illustrators, filmmakers, silversmiths and architects in a unique exhibition environment. Across three buildings, the show caters for every taste, with many artists presenting work for sale or commission.

As always the work ranges from the very conceptual to the very commercial. Throughout their four years of study, students are encouraged to read widely, to look at themselves and to look at the world around them. With inspirational sources and influences as diverse and wide ranging as French theorist Jean Baudrillard, HBO’s Sex and the City, the Scottish sky, taxidermy and the credit crunch, Degree Show 2009 is a treasure trove of creative endeavour celebrating new techniques, ideas and viewpoints.

Highlights of eca degree show 09 include:

Glass designer Amey Dalton charting the economic downturn through the changing public perception of the ‘Sale’ sign. Once a signifier of joy and saving, now a harbinger of doom.

Fellow glass artist Ramon Beaskoetxea exploring the concept of masculinity through the creation of an incredible anatomical arm made from glass and copper. Are ‘men stronger than women’? he asks

Drawing & Painting student Lottie Lindsay going beyond the constraints of the canvas to produce site-specific performance pieces that engage with an audience to encourage optimism. One of the works documented ‘The Hills Emit Hope’ involved the simultaneous release of giant red helium balloons from Edinburgh’s six hills.

Product Designer Matthew Coombs has developed a number of ‘Objects for Grieving’ including ‘a tear catcher’ that will measure and treasure the tears that you cry.

Sculptor Alex Allan bringing the Water of Leith to the College of Art. Alex will exhibit a large-scale installation entitled ‘Kiln, Driftwood 1’, a massive wave of wood and bricks made from debris found in and around the Water of Leith in Edinburgh.

Photographer Anna Claire Saunders exploring the decline of anonymity in contemporary culture in her digital projected film Voyeur.

Jewellery designer Gwen Hosker showing the technique she has developed of laser etching onto bone. Using this technique, she etches poignant extracts from old correspondence, some of it taken from as far back as1910, onto brooches capped in silver.

Interior Design student Sam Hosker, who is converting a recycling dump on the edge of the Glentress Forest Park in the Borders into an innovative hostel for outward-bound weekending groups. Guests sleep in re-used shipping containers, and drink in a bar around a vast transparent climbing wall. They can go mountain biking in the forest during the day, and bring their bikes in with them at night to the bar.

Illustration student Lizzy Stewart, exhibiting drawings for Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, the tragic true story of the settlers’ solution for the Native American Indians. A big fan of bears, Lizzy also likes pencils, cardigans and Russian history.