- Card has been commissioned from artist, Donald Barr, a recent SimVis graduate
- Glasgow’s Pollok Park forms backdrop to atmospheric film
The Glasgow School of Art has unveiled its 2016 Christmas Card today, 14 December 2016. Made in Pollok Park, the film and sound track are the work of artist Donald Barr, a recent Master’s graduate in Sound for The Moving Image from the GSA’s School of Simulation and Visualisation (SimVis).
A fir tree in the woods appears to decorate itself as if it is coming into bloom for Christmas…Glitter, decorations and lights appear to spring forth from the natural world. Decorations are revealed like bulbs reaching out of the soil. Strands of tinsel glide through dark water like sea serpents. In a fleetingly glimpsed paracosmic parallel world created with macro lens, the tree is decorated from within and without.In the opening shot the GSA tree is just one tree among many, in the final shot it becomes a decorated Christmas tree blossoming miraculously in the night-time forest.
"My film's genesis stems from memories of being driven to school in the dark winter mornings as a small child,” says Barr. “Christmas trees would appear gradually in windows, first just one or two... then eventually, in almost every house…..As if by magic….. Nothing was more exciting. Darkness and growing wonder."
The GSA Christmas Card is always one of the most eagerly anticipated creative contributions to the festive season. Recent cards were commissioned from James Houston (2013), BAFTA Award winning filmmaker, Ross Hogg (2014), and Lawrence Chan (2015).
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Further information
Lesley Booth
0779 941 4474
Notes for Editors
- SimVis (formerly known as the Digital Design Studio) works at the cutting edge of 3D digital technology. Among its many acclaimed projects are the award-winning Scottish Ten (a partnership with Historic Environment Scotland), the archaeology of Staffa and Fingal’s Cave (with the National Trust for Scotland), a fully interactive 3D virtual Amy Johnson (with the University of Hull) and the definitive 3D Human Anatomy (with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and NES Scotland). Currently a centre of postgraduate teaching and research, from 2018 SimVis will also offer undergraduate programmes.
- The GSA tree was planted in Pollok Park and shot on location with kind permission of Glasgow City Council and the Park