It’s that time of year again, summer has sprung and the art & design students of Glasgow have collated the sum of 4 years experience into one eclectic whirlwind of a show. The Glasgow School of Art Degree Show began on 13 June and continues until 20 June, featuring work from graduating students across the schools of Design, Fine Art and Architecture.

Due to the fire which devastated the Mackintosh building this time last year the Fine Art show is taking place in the Tontine Building in the Merchant City while the Design show is running in the newly built Reid Building in Garnethill. Despite the physical distance separating the two shows, the work exhibited across the two venues maintains the strongly unique spirit that ties The Glasgow School of Art students together.

Entering the Tontine Building I was excited to see how the Fine Art students had adapted to their new space and curious to find out how it affected the work they produced. The first piece that caught my eye was Jess Kelly’s beautiful installation ‘Translucent.’ The work effectively acts as a walk-in kaleidoscope with seamlessly moving images projected behind a screen within the structure. The viewer becomes immersed within the installation and becomes part of the artwork itself.

Jess Kelly, Translucent

From sculpture I moved through to the painting rooms, this is where I found Anna Thomson’s work. Her large-scale paintings display serious skill with a deep understanding of texture and subtlety of palette, a perfect combination of bold and understated.

Anna Thomson

Anna Thomson

After leaving the bright white of the painting room, I ventured into the darkness of a windowless alcove where I bunkered down on a huge beanbag, intrigued by a voice that echoed around the small room. When the visuals began, I knew this was a piece worth getting comfortable for.

Jack Boutwood

The short film by Jack Boutwood explores collective memory through an intimate and engaging series of pondering thoughts and observations on modern existence. This skilfully written narrative is refreshing in its honesty and simplicity, nostalgically reminding the viewer of the beauty in the common everyday.

It was time to move on, although I could have stayed much longer revelling in the wonders of the fine art studios, I knew there was so much more to see. Entering the Reid building you cannot help but be overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the place; it is without doubt a fantastic building to exhibit within. As I enter the Communication Design Department I was struck by the vast array of varying styles of work, ranging from fine art style large-scale installations to cutting edge graphic design.

Romany Rowell, Time Through Colour

It was the work of Romany Rowell that first caught my attention, in this thought-provoking and frankly very clever piece of work, Romany investigates the way in which time is measured – in numbers – alters our perception of time. The aim of this project is to challenge the viewer’s perception of time by use of colour, light and movement.

Hannah Jane Nixon

At the other end of the Communication Design spectrum is the highly appealing and humorous work of Hannah Jane Nixon, her brightly coloured screen prints display a bravery and uniqueness all of her own. Obviously inspired by popular culture, Hannah has also made a comic book based on the childhood of tennis superstar Roger Federer.

Another Illustration graduate who stood out for me was Sam Russell Walker.

Sam Russell Walker, Bygone Magic Stone

‘Bygone Magic Stone’ is a double sided poster book born out of the idea that each generation looks to their predecessors for inspiration, imparting their own interpretations, creating a kind of Chinese whispers through time.

Calum Douglas, Only the dead have seen the end of war

From the Photography department of Communication Design I spy the work of Calum Douglas. Calum produced a series of powerful images as a response to the unseen and misunderstood aspects of war. The series shows a body of simplified and re-appropriated images that represent key events throughout the Middle Eastern conflict over the past three decades. The way in which the images are presented invites the viewer to question what they see.

Leaving the Communication Design department my head is spinning with all that I have witnessed but I am eager to see more as I venture into the fashion and textiles exhibit space. In this room I feel like a kid in a candy shop, the colours and textures of the work screaming out to be held, stroked and worn. Hardly knowing were to begin I am drawn, as if by a tractor beam to the explosion of pattern on display by fashion designer Luis Miguel Sanchez Garzas; nothing about this work is mundane, everything about it makes me happy.

Luis Miguel Sanchez Garzas

Luis Miguel Sanchez Garzas

There is a passion for abstract forms and playful use of scale alongside a surreal use of found objects, all of which speaks of a great humour that warmly invites the viewer to rethink both traditional forms and functionality within fashion.

I was also very impressed by the work of Elinor McCue, who, like myself is a great fan of fringes. Elinor uses a mixture of hand cut leather, laser cut mdf and acrylic to create her wonderful fringed panels.

Elinor McCue

All in all this year’s Glasgow School of Art Degree Show has been a great success with too much quality work to go through in one review, I have not even mentioned the work of Product Design or Architecture but I strongly advise taking a look at the intriguing designs of Cheng Zhai Wei and the exciting concept piece ‘Tent in the Tenement’ by Michael MacFarlane.

If you want to see more, the show will be running until 20 June from 10am-5pm daily. Information on artist and designers who are participating in the show can be found here.

See Emma’s work online here.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

//////

For more events, see our Weekly Bulletin here.

The theme of this year’s Degree Show at Gray’s School of Art, ‘Open Your Eyes’, aims not only to showcase the emerging artistic talent of the North East, but to do so to a wider audience than ever before; challenging perceptions and promoting creative practice and engagement with the arts. What is immediately apparent is the strong sense of identity possessed by each of the graduates and their shows.

Martyna Benedyka

The paintings and photographs of Martyna Benedyka contain a poetic stillness as she encourages the viewer to pause through the act of looking. Transient moments are recorded, transformed into objects of beauty and, through their modest scale and collective display, make a powerful impression. There is a certain intimacy with work of this scale – viewers will find themselves staring for what may seem to be hours at a possible wheel of cheese or a speculative bridge. Through Benedyka’s brush and lens, the everyday becomes more alluring, more beautiful.

Dreams; incoherent, strange, unsettling, fleeting. Printmaking graduate Siobhan Scott’s work explores this impermanent landscape. Her gentle mark-making and colourful palette depicts the dream as an ephemeral encounter. Diaphanous areas of colour bleed into hazy clouds as oneiric scenarios are literally stitched together across the paper. Scott uses the terminology ‘weaver’, considering the protagonist as the creator of this dreamscape, which links thematically to the other aspects of her work. Delicate fabric creates a canopy of Scott’s show, onto which a film is projected – the viewer, in this comfortable, enveloping space, takes on the role of this protagonist waking from sleep. The wallpaper, cushion and curtain she has made merge elements of the domestic and everyday with the playfulness of the subconscious.

Siobhan Scott

Dominic McIvor

“Endurance” is the key word Dominic McIvor uses to describe his practice, the term applying not only to the subject, but to both the material and the artist too. The painting graduate and selected RSA New Contemporaries artist rigorously tests how far he can push a material; in the paper drawings, this can involve scraping away much of the actual marks. For the plaster sculptures, this aspect of endurance is openly displayed – each model sitting proudly upon a formed disc of rubble, the detritus from the carving of each model. Themes of creation and destruction appear throughout his show, as there is often an element of recycling within his practice (accepting technical mishaps, damage or unpredictability and using these factors to make something new). Of course, as I said, endurance also applies to the artist. Strict rules are set for the making of the work, and each task is time-consuming and repetitive. There is a stunning contrast between the precision and symmetry of the drawings and where the marks meet an erased void. Perfection cannot always be achieved by control. The result is an intriguing and effective play between order and the power of chance.

Ben Martin

Ben Martin of the sculpture course has created for his graduate show an installation which resists definition. Referring to the piece as a ‘drawing’, its transition from two dimensions can be seen through its intense focus on shape and line. In lieu of a pencil, black rope becomes a linear tool through which to draw through space. There is an incredible elegance and simplicity in the starkness of its presentation – nothing is superfluous, every object has a purpose which keeps the work perfectly in balance. The piece also interacts with the space, creating new compositions depending on the physical parameters in which it is installed. Martin’s work also earned him the Fred Bushe Award, presented by the Scottish Sculpture Workshop.

Among the various accolades, and the strong and varied selection for the RSA show next year, Gray’s has also managed to produce a nominee for the prestigious Woon Foundation Prize. The Foundation, which chooses only ten UK graduates a year, has prizes worth £40,000, and selected artist and painting graduate Catherine Ross, was chosen for her evocative depictions of the mysterious and remote North. A defining feature of Ross’ collection, which she shares with her fellows at Gray’s, is the integrity of her work and the individuality of her vision and practice, which makes the show a rich and diverse experience. For these young artists and designers, the years of all-nighters in the studio, constant coffee-drinking and sheer hard work have paid off – these individuals have a clear sense of direction, and they are moving forward.

The Gray’s School of Art Degree Show is on display in Aberdeen until 28 June.

Words & photos by Julie-Ann Simpson

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Please visit here for more Degree Show reviews on Central Station.

So writes the curator and writer Tom Morton in this year’s 44-page a-n Degree Shows Guide. His essay, Six notes on the degree show, opens the publication, providing a framework for looking – and some incisive thoughts on what makes every show a unique snapshot of a particular moment in time.

With a new-look courtesy of Newcastle design studio Founded, views on degree shows come thick and fast in the guide. “They’re brilliant because they’re so random,” says Toby Webster, director and founder of The Modern Institute in Glasgow. “Each year has its particular thing.”

Webster is one of a number of art world figures interviewed by the guide’s editor, Chris Sharratt. “Every year, there’s the possibility that you’ll see something really remarkable,” says Maria Balshaw, director of Manchester Art Gallery and The Whitworth. “There’s always a sense of intense, frenetic energy.”

There are notes of caution among the enthusiasm, too. Polly Staple, director, Chisenhale Gallery, London, debunks the myth about collectors scooping up a student’s work and launching them on a glittering career. “It’s just a complete nonsense, a fantasy,” she says.

Elsewhere, Gavin Wade from Birmingham’s Eastside Projects questions the value and format of shows. “There isn’t really any reason why degree shows should be the way they are – they need to find completely different ways of existing.”

Student work

The thoughts of students preparing for their degree shows are also included, and the guide features many examples of student work. This year’s cover image is by Catriona Meighan from Edinburgh College of Art. “I’d like my show to be thought of as ambitious yet tangible,” she says. “I hope it marks a clear point in my artistic career from which the next step will take its own form.”

The guide also has a section on collecting art, which includes tips from the Contemporary Art Society on buying art at degree shows and an interview with North-East collector Jamie Warde-Aldam. “I don’t collect a particular type of work,” he explains. “I just follow my nose.”

With listings for over 60 degree shows across the UK – from Falmouth University in the South West to Moray School of Art in north east Scotland – the guide provides a timely snapshot of what Tom Morton describes as ‘the last record of a tribe that is about to fracture and disband.’

a-n’s Degree Shows Guide 2013 is available to view online as a flip book or as a downloadable pdf.

With this year’s a-n Degree Shows Guide, guide editor Chris Sharratt and designer Alan Ward of Axis Design have tried to reflect a little of the energy and anticipation of this time, both for the graduating students and the rest of us. The guide also looks to the future and what happens next, once the shows are over and the real world beckons. There are tips on life after graduation, but also advice on buying work at degree shows.

Francis McKee, director of the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, offers his take on the wider significance of the degree show, and we talk to four a-n Degrees unedited student bloggers about their work and shows. Elsewhere, Northern Art Prize winner Leo Fitzmaurice picks his top three a-n student blogs, and four established artists – Michael Fullerton, Emily Wardill, Rachel Goodyear and Phoebe Cummings – talk about their first steps after graduating. And of course, there’s a wealth of information about degree shows the length and breadth of the UK.

Did we say we had a spring in our step? We’re positively bouncing…

Find a-n Degree Shows Guide 2012 here.
Read more about a-n and their projects here.

Sabine Bein  – BA (Hons) Design for Digital Media

Sabine work was a real stand out. Her 3D and After-Effects projects were of a well polished standard that easily translates to professional standards and expectations.
Use of colour, tone, fonts and layout were all well considered with a beautiful grasp of balance and tone, executed with a resolute neatness that is always the mark of great graphic design.  Sabine’s fictional idents for Channel 5 and typographical style visuals for a fictional documentary on 1950’s fashion were standout pieces in particular.
With such quality being produced at this level it’s exciting to think what will be produced when these skills are applied to future ventures.  We will watch this space (and our televisions’) to keep an eye out for just such ventures…..

Kevin Cameron – BA (Hons) Visual Communication

Kevin’s work stood out for a number of reasons.  The most important being something that we hail highly within our own department – the idea.  Kevin’s work was prolific with ideas.  From conceptual to commercial there was a good run of consistency running through his output for the year.  Coupled with the idea is the inventiveness.  Perfectly demonstrated by his Becks beer bottle top idea (fig1) to help promote responsible drinking and deter drink driving.  A clever idea and simple execution which could easily be adopted by the brand at little cost.
Another highlight was Kevin’s magazine cut outs.  Characters in editorial illustrations were carefully cut out and propped up with a single carefully placed pin to create  depth of field and subsequently bring the images to life in a playfully delicate way.

But what also made Kevin’s work stand out was the volume.  There was much to look at with several inflections of multiple projects on show; all consistent in quality, ability and examination of the subject.  Such tenacity and exploration will see Kevin continue to discover and create brilliant work as he exits the fold of university.

Shona Hutson – BA (Hons) Print Making

Shona’s work is distinctive.  Heavy, bold lines make up blocked prints composed of outline shapes layered and built upon to create a composite image.  Interestingly some of her work features different materials to add texture and colour to the various components – most notably her ‘chair’ composition.  The feel is graphical but seemingly organic like a gentle form of pop art.  Her wall design which took up much of a corridor would be at home in Berlin.  Her work in approachable with (quite literally) many angles to study and appreciate with each view.  The style will lend itself to many other subjects in years to come.  It would be interesting to see them as they come together.

Seila Sysberg & Johanna Lyczko – BA (Hons) Photographic & Electronic Media

Tucked behind the sculpture section was a wall of large photograph prints.  The space was probably ideal as the lengthy, mostly uncluttered approach to the work allowed them to be undiluted by other pieces hoping attract eyes and interest.  But even amongst a busy set of images these particular group of images would stand out with ease.  With unusual subject matter that leans on surrealism, these images invite wonder and debate.   But far from mere concept, the execution of the images merits praise and admiration.  Some images have been captured in a light that has pushed the camera’s gain control settings.  Far from the purist’s taste the grain is evident but bestows softness to the image that from a distance makes it look like a fine details pastel drawing.  A particular favourite was the ‘Octopus’ image.  A naked model displays two octopus (or should that be octopi?) carcasses which drape over the shoulders and down the models back.  The image is both striking and stark in equal measure.  The colour palette that makes up the composition of the scene agrees with perfectly with each other.  The meaning of the image is elusive and presumes to be questioned.  It may question society’s use of animals for fashion purposes, or it may be an attempt to discover beauty in the seemingly ugly, or it may just be a really interesting image.  Whatever conclusion you arrive at the image is hugely enjoyable on many levels.
Another interesting aspect to this work is that it is the work of two artists.  Both working in partnership to discover, explore and capture ideas and concepts; unusual but ultimately in our eyes, successful.

Nicola Walster BA (Hons) 3DD Ceramics/Glass/Jewellery

Tucked away in the Porto cabin section was the ceramics and glass section.  It should be he said that all displays were high commendable with some beautifully fashioned objects on display.
However, there was one set of pieces that exhibited particular beauty and splendour.
Nicola Walster’s work consisted of hand carved stone shapes and vases. The control and flow of the etched linear patterns that laced the objects had the ethereal charm of ancient Nordic artefacts.  But where each creation evoked a spirit of history it was annulled by the modernity of shape or features such as the flaking split that tears down the side of a series of vases.  The rugged splits seemingly natural at first sight but betrayed by the uniformity of reproduction that suggests that it was the hand of the artist that imbued the aesthetic of the design.
Each of Nicola’s pieces resonates with the tactile craft, skill and rarefied technique.  All could claim to be classics and each will find their way into homes to be prized or gallery plinths to be enjoyed by the masses.  Beautiful work.

Other work that caught our attention on a big was Craig Harpers’ paintings, Elizabeth Legges’ plaster reliefs, Hannah Malones’ red string instillation, Mark Rennies dark drawings & paintings,  Marion Leipers’ prints and Jade Murrays paintings.  All great work.

http://www.stvcreative.com/

3 videos, 5 soundtracks, need finish it in 8 days…

VIS COM 11  GSA Degree show
Foulis Building
11th–18th June

viscom11.com

See you soon.

• If you’re on Twitter use the #degreeshows hash tag to tie in with both CentSta and a-n’s conversations in and around degree shows.
Follow @CenSta

Follow @degreesunedited

• Check out a-n’s 2011 Degrees publication with adverts for degree shows around the UK, plus commissioned articles from new graduates and student blogger interviews.
Take a closer look at the publication
Search by region degree shows listings

• a-n opportunities for graduating artists and new writers:
a-n Magazine cover recommendations – get an image of your work in print
Upload degree show reviews to a-n’s sites plus selected reviews will appear in a-n Magazine Jul/Aug issue – Get your writing published

• PLUS – are you a final year student? Get a-n’s free twelve-month student subscription and maintain support and resources through Students community – tinyurl.com/a-n-students-resources

Bloggers featured on the cover of 2011 Degrees:
Moopsy Archer »
Rob Jones »
Alice Lynch »
Natalia Komis »
Ian Robinson »

Rather than a blog, I’ve created aprofile (Preview.GSA_BA_FineArt) and uploaded aPortfolio of images of personal favourites from Painting & Printmaking, Sculpture and Environmental Art, and Fine Art Photography. There’s also some additional shots of the show in the main profile.

For a comprehensive run down of the entire show and graduates, please visit:
http://www.gsa.ac.uk/degreeshow2010/

Preview:
Glue Factory, Friday 11 June, 5–7pm
CCA, 7–10pm

Exhibition Runs from Saturday 12 – Saturday 26 June
This year’s MFA is sited in The Glue Factory*. Used earlier this year for Glasgow International, the space provides a much less uniform space than the awesome, hangar like Tramway, with odd quirky rooms and warren-like staircases. Today, after weeks of sunshine, Glasgow is buckling under an intense rainstorm, and The Glue Factory resembles a bit of a leaky ship. This is a familiar Weegie set-up then - unsuspecting, post-industrial, grimecore warehouse plays shelter to conceptual work, which in turn pays site-specific homage.

It’s possible to identify two broad (and very generalised) strands present at the show. One is the site specific, post-industrial kind mentioned above, the other a more detached practice which relates to contemporary phenomena – chiefly data and the internet.

In the post-industrial, site-specific camp are artists like Sarah Forest, and Olga Schulz, who has installed an interestingly minimal sculptural shelter based on a peeling poster.

Tom Harrup has taken all the heavy-duty rawness almost full circle. His light installations take apart and celebrate machinery – everything is recycled, junk-yard-sourced and unfinished – yet in the darkened space these are two of the most hypnotic and graceful interventions you’ll encounter. Rings of light ebb and float mid-air, a theatre iris breathes a pattern against a dull brick wall.

Perhaps Tom is the conceptual bridge to the other camp of artists who deconstruct the technical and the digital. Ellie Harrison needs no prior introduction to Central Station members, and her works often have an online presence. She shows her witty General Election Drinking Game in it’s entirity here. Emily Donnini has made a slick piece which re-presents top google-searches of various countries as stop-frame animations back-projected onto floated glossy perspex screens.

Maybe the most intriguing graduate is Oliver Braid. Braid has presented a framed drawing – six pencil portraits in a detailed but slightly schoolboy style. Five of the portraits are of male graduating BA artists whom Braid considers to be the ‘hottest’ in the year. The images are culled from their Facebook profiles. The 6th image is a distorted reimagining of the artist as a sort of Facebook Zombie. A tangled off-white sculpture made from glue sits atop the frame – “the content of his gluepot”, Graham Ramsay, one of the MFA tutors explains.

How do I begin to unravel Post-Relational Aesthetic Onanism via Social Networking? Do I even want to? Seeing as we’re exploring the medium here, I have, in the interests of thorough research, befriended Oliver Braid on Facebook*, and will attempt to get him onto this very platform, and perhaps he can have the last word. Who knows, he may already be lurking as I write. In the meantime, here’s a Quentin Crisp quote from his artist’s statement:

“People who have learned to sing will always have richer, rounder voices. People who’ve learned to dance will always have bigger, bolder movements, but as for pottery and basket-weaving, what good are they? The moment the doors of the evening institute clang shut behind you you are back where you started. On the way home you might get into an argument with a stranger at a bus stop. It’s no good saying I can’t express myself you’ll have to come and see my baskets.” Quentin Crisp, 1980

*UPDATE. Friend request accepted.

Thanks to Graham Ramsay, MFA Tutor, for the tour, and to Kirsty Barr for organising.

The elephant in the corner? The tricky group dynamics. How do you achieve a coherent show with twelve voices? How do you ensure that your audience isn’t overwhelmed by the noise of a group curated group show? It’s difficult not to consider this, and imagine conversation and conflicting visions as you walk around some brilliant but at first seemingly disconnected pieces.

The ‘Mastercats’ say that the project “has evolved and developed from our shared interest in the archival process, influenced initially by the historical significance of the gallery itself. Exploring the practice of collecting and exhibiting has become the foundation for this exhibition.”

So perhaps all the pieces are there to be put back together again by the viewer – a sort of customisable collection. With all archives, there is a process of sifting and searching for value and meaning. Neil McGuire – After The News – has produced a catalogue which is considered part of the show, presented as a kit of parts that you assemble yourself in the gallery. (Worth getting your hands on one, it’s a conceptually sound and
beautiful bit of work in it’s own right.)

There is a rawness, and a vintage/other era slant to lots of the work. Sawn in half wardrobes housing nick-nacks and pottery all painted white, Dada-esque upturned pianos, screen-printed sheet metal, haphazard groupings of old televisions, fanzines. Omar Zingaro Bhatia’s family cassette selection provides some lighter interactive entertainment on a ’70’s stereo. I was personally pleased to see a reappearance of some recent Glasgow folklore – Raydale Dower’s ‘Drapeau Noir’ – or at least theblack-flag-with-hole that hung outside the Gi temporary venue until just last month.

An exception is The Otolith Group [now Turner nominated and as such considered a bit of a curatorial coup] who have a film projected here, and for practical reasons it sits outwith the main space in the refurbished Georgian gallery. It’s a documentary that portrays the intense details of working life for some of the lowest paid workers in India, and inevitably lends some perspective.

These creative decisions and ideas are a product of an open ended dialogue and process. There’s been an effort to push out research and development onto social networking platforms and blogs, and a series of panel discussions (one of which I was lucky enough to attend and speak at) with creative professionals in an aim to pool collective knowledge and resources. Go to the TDTDT site (also designed by Neil McGuire) to explore links and images, delivered via delicious tags and pdfs. Or attend the next discussion on Saturday, (2–4pm, with Nicolas Oddy, Anne-Marie Kramer, Daniel Watt). The MasterCats show is a collection of works well worth seeing, but perhaps what they all do really differently are all those collaborative project aspects – that’s really what sets them apart and sets future works and collaborations in motion.