The School of Art undergraduate and postgraduate degree shows are the highlight of our social calendar and this year were busier than ever before with close to a thousand visitors for the private view in May. The work of 81 third years and 10 postgraduates provided a show of varied media including video, painting, installation, printmaking, photography, illustration and animation. Here are some of the highlights of the 2014 undergraduate degree show.
This year 3 students, Chinasa Vivian Ezugha, Corina Nicu and Belinda Smith, have been selected for the 2014 Graduate Show at the Wales Milliennium Centre in Cardiff. Ezugha’s Because of Hair... is a collection of filmed performances that take a critical view of the social, political and cultural issues relating to hair and the relevance of hair in both black and western culture. Corina Nicu created a 6 metre long paper dress evocative of her past, present and future self – ‘a self that can be left behind, like a second skin’. Belinda Smith explored the theme of campanology creating a sound piece based on the creation of glass bells.
There was a great variety of painting on show ranging from the hyper-realism of Joshua Waterhouse’s portraits to Sandra Sagan’s massive abstract canvases.
Variety of style is a theme that continues with printmaking. Lithography proved to be a useful medium for evoking the experience and understanding of landscapes in the work of Amanda Botha and Sophy Corness. Other printmakers developed their ideas into other mediums such as Emily Dyble-Kitchin’s relief print installation and an animation from Elizabeth Salmon which focused on the ecological impact of the national decline in honey bees.
Illustration students again showed some high quality work ranging from Ben Faircloth’s expressive response to William Burrough’s The Naked Lunch to Bethan McDougall’s clinical approach to Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment.
Photography was represented by work in both digital and analogue processes including adventurous pinhole work from David Price and Stephanie Parry. Rebecca Pryce’s composite silver prints create fascinating combinations of interiors and exteriors. Elizabeth Prew’s photography developed into a projection and sound piece investigating the tradition of the Japanese performance art of Butoh Flux and Emily Maar’s seated portraits were projected through smoke.
Perhaps the most talked about pieces in the show though were two contrasting sculptural pieces. Harriet McDevitt-Smith created a model village with a lighting scheme evoking sunrise, midday and sunset. Lucia Cherata’s Pictorial Space was an abstract composition of geometric forms designed to utilise natural light and tone in an investigation of space around the human figure.
Overall this was the largest degree show ever hosted by the School of Art and the dedication of students and staff made it an occasion to remember. Apologies to the rest of the students who are not mentioned above (there was so much quality work to choose from this year) but here is the full list of participating artists.
Undergraduate: Laura Abbott, Francesca Apichella, Sara Barrow, Owen Barry, Kristy Blackwell, Amanda Botha, Holly Brookes, Emily Burgoyne, Luke Candler, Shirley Chan, Lucia Cherata, Lilian Chuchu, Sophy Corness, Audrey Curl, Scarlett Daniel, Alanya-May Drysdale, Emily Dyble-Kitchin, Katrina Evans, Chinasa Vivian Ezugha, Ben Faircloth, Ottilie Fine, Hannah Floate, Sophie Fraser, Rachel George, Amanda Gibson, Fiona Graham, Emily Grove, Samantha Halford, Abigail Hanson-Gardner, Eleanor Grace Huguet, Lydia Iliff, Isaac Jackson, Cadi Fflur Jenkins, Amelia Jenkinson, Rebecca Jones, Sophie Kirkwood, Ruth Kitchen, Katey Kray, Aleksandra Krolik, Kate Largan, Hanna Lindstrom, Topsy Llewelyn-Jones, Peter Lock, Emma Maar, David Mason, Harriet McDevitt-Smith, Bethan McDougall, Rachael McMahon, Francesca Meath, Emilia Nardiello, Corina Nicu, Andrew Noel, Chelsea Orme-Williams, Stephanie Mia Parry, Bogdana Peeva, Marie G Pierre, Helen Plenderleith, Elizabeth Prew, David Price, Rebecca Pryce, Holly Raddy, Megan Rees, Francesca Roberts, Catherine Rogers, Nikki Rothwell, Sandra Sagan, Elizabeth Salmon, Charlotte Sandmael, Belinda Smith, Katie Stead, Miriam Storey, Hannah Stringer, Steffan Thomas, Maria Tilt, Mike George Harvey Tucker, Olga Ventura, Claire Ward, Tom Waring, Joshua Waterhouse, Sarah Watkins, Tali Wilson. Postgraduate: Rachel Dunlop, Carly Donna Evans, James Zann George, Rachel Green, Keri Hanson, Maddy Maggs, Otto, Trish Tolentino, Tom Voyce, Kim Whitby.
For more photos from the show visit:
http://wordpress.aber.ac.uk/soanews/2014/06/13/2014-exhibition/
For the 2013 Degree Show visit:
https://aberystwythuniversitycollections.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/school-of-art-degree-shows-2013/
For the exhibition catalogue, please click: Degree Show Catalogue 2014
Many thanks to Chris Iliff, Tom Voyce and Phil Garratt for the photography.
Aberystwyth University School of Art Museum & Galleries 