Category: Ramona White

Z I N E

Posted in Digital Residencies, Gower College Swansea, Ramona WhiteTagged

The past week I continued to work towards a few graphic design projects to include in my zine. In full, the zine is now 12 pages which I am planning to get printed and distributed very soon. This is my first time creating a full product and I am extremely grateful for the use of this blog to promote my work.

The zine lends itself to a scrapbook aesthetic, with the taped down pressed flowers and somewhat diary entries. I believe this adds to the childlike innocence I am trying to convey. I wanted to make an analogous theme throughout the zine, with each page incorporating organically smooth shapes and twisting lines. The idea was to create a fluid motion which brings the viewers’ eyes to all corners of the spread, and seamlessly transports them overleaf.

Have a flick through the E-zine here.

Z I N E

Posted in Digital Residencies, Gower College Swansea, Ramona WhiteTagged ,

This week I began to develop a series of mock pages for a zine. I pulled influences from 2000s styled advertising and retro computer games because that was my first experience of graphic design growing up. My initial thoughts on colour palettes was pastel pinks and vibrant blues. I wanted to create an iridescent title and I experimented with a myriad of different coloured gradients until I found an effect I was pleased with.

The main concept and story behind the zine is how I have become addicted to romanticising the past. For me, it’s easy to paint my childhood in such a glowing brush that I find it difficult to appreciate current life in the same light. With each major life change, I am forever believing that those were the good old days, without giving value to the present. With these graphics and words in my zine, I am attempting to fall back in love with my current life, rather than only enjoying the moments when they become memories. Forever looking back is no way to live life.

Have a flick through the digital copy of first pages in the zine.

More to come soon.

R A M O N A W H I T E

Posted in Digital Residencies, Gower College Swansea, Ramona WhiteTagged

My name is Ramona White, and I have just finished my Art and Design foundation diploma at Gower College Swansea. I am extremely grateful for the use of the Jane Phillips Award blog, and I’m delighted to be the first from GCS to do so.

N O S T A L G I A

I have always been fascinated by the feeling of nostalgia. A thought of the past floats through your head, instantly filling your heart with warmth while it simultaneously begins to feel suffocated. It’s as though the rose-tinted glasses allow you to fall in love with the past but the bittersweet tinge of reality could burn a hole straight through you. To me, it’s a beautiful and confusing concoction of heart retching aching and carefree love, two emotions which are painfully strong, pulling your heart in two completely different directions. When feeling nostalgic, I never know whether I want to live in the bliss of the memories or to cry forever at the thought of them never repeating themselves.

This photoshoot revolved around the idea of nature and childhood nostalgia.

While growing up, I had a relatively small garden, but it was gracefully packed with overgrown nature. Long grass and wildflowers sprouting between concrete slabs, making a plethora of miniature ecosystems. As a child I would leap face first into this personal landscape. I have always been drawn to nature, compelled by something within me to reach out and adventure into interesting landscapes hidden within the cities I have lived. My inner child yearns to be fully surrounded by wildlife, which is where the inspiration for this series’ look stemmed from.

The makeup, modelling and photography was all done by me, allowing me to have complete creative control over the outcomes. The dried flowers I have displayed on my face were picked from my garden and pressed by myself. The flowers are still aesthetically beautiful and delicate but will eventually become completely stale and lifeless. The knowledge that something will never fully return to its earlier qualities once removed from its original home; that is where the pain originates from in nostalgia.

Digital Residency | Gower College

Posted in Blog, Gower College Swansea, Ramona White

The Jane Phillips Award has over the last few years offered Digital Residencies to Foundation students at Swansea College of Art UWTSD.

Following the success of this programme, Jane Phillips Award have invited Gower College Swansea to select a graduating student to take over the Jane Phillips Award blog for 3 weeks; posting about their work, practices, results and ideas.

This first residency will take place from 28 July – 18 August 2021.

The selected graduate for this opportunity is Ramona White – we look forward to seeing what’s produced!