Seven well-known faces, most of whom attended the school, have been named as ambassadors as the anniversary programme was launched. They include award-winning artist, author and activist Oliver Jeffers, and Oscar and Bafta-nominated animator, illustrator, cartoonist, producer and director, Paul Young. Also on the list is award-winning fashion and embroidery designer Niamh McCarthy, one of Ireland’s leading contemporary artists, Alice Maher, and curator and creative director of the Mac, Hugh Mulholland.
The others are product designer Stephen McGilloway and textile artist Irene MacWilliam. Mr Jeffers said: “Art has always been a really important part of Belfast, as an illustration of politics, and definitely as a means of communication. “It’s a strange and scary thing to do to display your work to the public for the first time in many ways, but Belfast is a city that produces brilliant people, and from what I’ve seen so far, the works on display are fantastic.
” The Belfast School of Art has been at the forefront of innovation and design since 1849. Globally renowned artist and Ulster University chancellor, Dr Colin Davidson, said it’s important for the university to mark a “really significant milestone”. “Some of the world’s most prolific artists and designers of the last two centuries have trained at the Belfast School of Art at Ulster University, with Turner prize winners and nominees among its alumni,” he said.
“Personally, it holds a really specia.