Joanne Dawson is a final year student of the BA(hons) Painting and Printmaking course at The Glasgow School of Art, graduating from the School of Fine Art a year after the fire of the Mackintosh Building. She is currently working up to the 2015 Degree Show using a variety of video, sculpture, screen-print and installation. She tells us more about what this year’s graduating Painting & Printmaking students have planned.

47 graduates from the Glasgow School of Art Painting and Printmaking course will exhibit their work in London at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane on the 2 – 6 July, as part of The Free Range Show. With the destruction of the Mackintosh Building, we lost a valuable platform for showcasing the culmination of four years hard work. We were in third year during the fire, so our work was not personally damaged, but we worked very closely with graduate students during that time, and we know how much it affected them along with the following repercussion that impacted ourselves in our final year. ALL YOU CAN EAT is the perfect opportunity for us to take our work beyond Glasgow and to exhibit to a wide new audience in a location central to London’s art scene.

Image of Rosie Swan by Ewan McCaffrey

Image of Nathan Cook by Ewan McCaffrey

ALL YOU CAN EAT is more than a painting show. We are an eclectic group and we will be running community workshops, performances, poetry readings and other events throughout the week in London. There is very little restriction on what will come out of the show, however we want to project how strong we have all been as a year together. We initiated this project entirely off our own back, and have been fundraising ourselves over the past year. With huge support and with much gratitude, our Kickstarter raised £3000 in just over a week (here is a link with a video by Gary Zhang). £3,000 is only half of the full cost. If we do not reach our target the show must and will go on. The cogs for potential resolutions to a lack of funding are already in motion. We are trying to supplement our funding through other avenues, writing proposals to different arts charities, throwing club nights, events, and bake sales.

After the funding is fully realised our largest challenge will be safely delivering, curating and installing the best possible show. The event, in the Old Truman Brewery in London, takes place between 2 – 6 July, a fortnight after the official Fine Art degree show in Glasgow will be held in Tontine House, off Trongate Cross in Merchant City from 13 – 20 June. The building surrounds a public art project of Douglas Gordon – his EMPIRE sign.

Image of Jude Hagan by Ewan McCaffrey

Image of Lewis Prosser by Ewan McCaffrey

Image of Jessie Whiteley by Ewan McCaffrey

You can follow our Instagram account here @gsa_painting with regular updates throughout our degree show and lead up to ALL YOU CAN EAT Graduate show. Preview students’ work on The Free Range Portfolio site here. Information will also be posted on The Glasgow School of Art’s website about our upcoming Fine Art Degree Show in the new Tontine Building.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

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Find more events in our weekly bulletin here.

“The degree show is an incredible moment when all this expectation kind of explodes and you witness all these new voices. It’s a fantastic manifestation – a kind of passing out parade of all the work and all the students.”
- Bob and Roberta Smith

Holly Warrener, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge

Steven Bode from Film and Video Umbrella talks of moving image work putting pressure on the appropriateness of the traditionally bustling and busy degree show, while Artes Mundi director Karen MacKinnon wonders if universities could be doing more to engage with their locality and to accommodate the work of students for whom the gallery is a problematic space.

Louise Hutchinson of S1 Artspace in Sheffield, meanwhile, suggests that the degree show needs to be approached more like a ‘proper’ exhibition – and that students really shouldn’t bother with those business cards.

One thing underpins all these thoughts – an excitement and curiosity about this time of year, as new voices emerge and futures take shape. Some of those voices can be heard in the guide’s Class of 2015 series, which provides a snapshot of current thinking from five final-year students, including Holly Warrener from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, whose work is featured on this year’s cover.

Also featured are the thoughts of practising artists, who recall their own degree shows – as far back as 1979 and as recent as 2014 – and share what the time meant to them.

Among these, Graham Fagen says the experience was similar to working towards an exhibition, even today. “You are flat out, nervous and unsure whether what you’re doing makes any sense at all – to anyone, even yourself,” he explains. Fagen is currently representing Scotland at the Venice Biennale. Read more from him on Central Station here.

Emily Speed says her degree show was when she really began to see the potential of her ideas: “I could see quite clearly that I was only just beginning to explore what I was really interested in and that I had a hell of a lot of work ahead of me,” she says.

The a-n guide is the perfect companion to the degree show season and to prepare yourself for what Bob and Roberta Smith describes as “a fantastic jamboree”.

View or download the a-n Degree Shows Guide 2015 online via Issuu here.

More: Website | Twitter

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Central Station’s own Project Coordinator, Kim highlights a selection of works on display:

Wandering through the Glue Factory, I can’t help but notice how great a venue it is for a huge group exhibition such as this. Having been here several times before, I soon realise the material of the building stood out more than previously because so many artists have successfully created site-specific works, respecting and (in some cases) enhancing the fabric of the building.

‘Thigh Rack’ by Vigdis Storsveen

John Calcutt (MFA Programme leader) kindly gives me a brief intro to the show, showing me all the nooks and crannies the students have used to display their works. I immediately encounter Norwegian multi-disciplinary artist, Vigdis Storsveen’s large wax sculpture which hangs from the ceiling as you enter the building. Vigdis also has a ‘metal forest’ on display upstairs, resembling fragments from trestle tables.

‘Mercedes (café)’ by Maria Toumazou

Maria Toumazou’s work literally stands out with maze-like structures emerging from the walls. I am particularly drawn to the one pictured above as it holds an especially eerie quality in the darkness with beautiful contrasting textures – lambswool, wood and ceramic.

The unmistakable sounds of strong Québécois voices come from Sarah F. Maloney’s video piece – Gagnon-Ville you’re my Dearest. Maloney’s video explains the closure of Gagnon-Ville, a mining city in Québec which was completely torn down when the mines closed. This short piece becomes a melancholic ode to a city most have never heard of.

Jack Cheetham explores people as commodities using 3D printed ceramic models. An iPad sits on an unusual shelving unit and plays ‘fake’ CCTV footage of the models in a shopping mall along with the occasional tannoy announcement.

‘Asda made us great’ by Jack Cheetham

Installation by Fanny Wickström

Mangled and contorted forms in Fanny Wickström’s sculptures with enlarged genitalia and extra limbs is reminiscent of the Chapman Brothers‘ works. Mixing humour and the grotesque, green painted fingers grow from the ‘garden’ and a scrotum earring hangs from an oversized human ear.

Aniara Omann’s altered replica of an Easter Island Moai figure is slightly hidden upstairs. The imposing structure becomes somewhat less intimidating as a playfully raised eyebrow shifts the viewer’s first impression. Complimenting the figure in a bizarrely appropriate way are two videos which include Arnold Schwarzenegger discussing his life and body.

‘Real Bodies #2: Moai, raised eyebrow’ by Aniara Omann

‘Zabriskie’s Point Reversed.MOV’ by Emily McFarland

Emily McFarland’s reversal of cult film, Zabriskie’s Point approaches film as a ready-made, in a similar manner to GSA alumnus Douglas Gordon. McFarland reappropriates found footage by reversing the main explosions, crashes and fire elements in the film; creating a poetic composition.

Stephanie Burt’s mixed media installation is aesthetically titillating from every angle. Amazingly, Burt also succeeds in portraying the installation as an accident, with shards of glass on the floor and torn chicken wire across its frame.

‘Celine and Julie Go Boating’ by Stephanie Burt

‘for a bucket: your hand or mine’ by Kirsty Palmer

The building serves Kirsty Palmer’s work particularly well with her flaky, fragile sculptures mirroring the edifice’s degenerative qualities. Icelandic artist, Selma Hreggvidsdottir creates a “Shrine” inside the building, revealing and celebrating a neglected space with exposed brickwork and cobwebs aplenty. Selma highlights this again in the adjoining space where a video ‘through a keyhole’ plays in a room where a divider wall is papered with a white brickwork pattern.

On its surface, the Glue Factory still appears a bit battered and bruised from years of neglect. However, it’s precisely this history which makes it the perfect venue for this year’s MFA graduates who have the energy and diversity to bring this building back to life.

‘Shrine’ by Selma Hreggvidsdottir

The exhibition continues at The Glue Factory, 15 Burns Street, Speirs Locks, Glasgow G4 9SA until 22 June. A selection of works from MFA 2011-2014 is also on display at citizenM Glasgow until 28 June.

Words and photos by Kim Stewart

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

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

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) will showcase work from some of the country’s best young creatives later this month when the annual Degree Show season gets underway.

The DJCAD Degree Show is the first of the flagship exhibitions held by Scotland’s four main art and design colleges each year. The traditional Preview Evening for the students, their families and invited guests takes place on 16 May, with the city’s largest annual exhibition of art and design, featuring the work of some 245 final-year students, opening to the public the next day and remaining open until 25 May.

Students from all 11 undergraduate programmes will exhibit their works across the two buildings and fourteen floors that comprise DJCAD. The show attracts thousands of visitors each year and is seen as a springboard for some of Scotland’s most exciting emerging artists.

DJCAD has a reputation as one of the leading art schools in the UK and many of its students go on to be world-renowned artists. Turner Prize winner Susan Philipsz and nominees David Mach, Louise Wilson and Luke Fowler are all DJCAD alumni. The standard of DJCAD students has been borne out by the number selected for prestigious prizes and exhibitions, such as the New Designers, New Blood, FreeRange and New Contemporaries on the basis of their Degree Show work.

Jeanette Paul, Acting Dean of DJCAD, said, “Over the coming months, thousands of talented artist and designers from across Scotland will be exhibiting the fruits of their training over the past four years and our graduands consistently prove themselves to be among the best in the country.

“This is demonstrated by their strong performance at New Contemporaries last year. This illustrious exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy brings together the best work from all Degree Shows and the number of awards given to DJCAD graduates shows how skilled and creative the artists we produce are… Degree Show is always a special time for the University community, and indeed the whole city, and I’m sure the thousands of visitors who flock to DJCAD will once again be impressed by what they see.”

The exhibition will be open to the public from 17 – 25 May. Admission is free and the exhibition is open from 10am – 8pm (Monday to Friday) and 10am – 4pm (Saturday & Sunday).

The DJCAD Degree Show is one of the highlights of the city’s cultural calendar, attracting some 10,000 visitors each year and generating in excess of £1 million for the local economy in the process. It is part of the Ignite Dundee festival, which runs from 16 – 31 May and showcases the very best of Dundee’s creative talent.

Further details can be found on the DJCAD Degree Show website.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

For more events, see our Weekly Bulletin here.

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.

Illustration by Ben Aslett (Just Us Alumni)

Set up in 2009 by three final year graphic design students, with the aim of promoting the work of and aiding young creatives in making that giant leap from student living to working life – the collective is now run by freelance designer/illustrator Mark Grant.

Each year Just Us changes its collective members, bringing in new young creatives, working with them over the course of the year and giving them opportunities that will help for when they graduate. Previous members of the Collective form the Just Us Alumni and are called on occasionally for live briefs and projects.

Illustration by David Biskup

“From the outset our aim was to showcase young and emerging creative talent from universities and colleges across the UK – through exhibitions, live projects and online presence. We wanted to give students the confidence to network with industry creatives, whilst encouraging integration; boosting communication and collaboration.”

Illustration by Mariana Labao

The Just Us website also has a blog which is a place where you will find the latest news, events, and goings on from the collective and alumni, coupled with inspiration and anything we find interesting; providing a helpful resource for designers and illustrators alike.

Over the course of the years Just Us has worked on a number of projects from desktop wallpaper projects with art & culture blog Kitsune Noir (now The Fox is Black) to tent designs for Field Candy.

No Hats Indoors by Jamie Jones – Just Us x Evermade ‘London Etiquette’ project

This year the Just Us Collective had a project with Evermade.com in which 3 designs were chosen and produced for sale online and around various locations in London.

At the start of August the Just Us Collective will be exhibiting at Beach, London in Shoreditch. Titled ‘Pick & Mix’ the show will feature a mix of some of the collective’s latest work. See here for more details.

Pick & Mix is a collective exhibition from members of the Just Us Collective

Look out for ‘Just Us Editions’ in the near future, featuring a series of t-shirts and prints from members of the Just Us Alumni made available online through the Just Us Shop.

KKareer Centre, a Just Us Collective exhibition at KK Outlet, Hoxton Square (July 2009)

If you would like to be a member of the Just Us Collective next year and will be studying during 2012/13, keep posted in September for information.

Find Out More:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Pick and Mix

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See here for more Collectives featured on Central Station.
Contact us to talk about a feature for your Collective.

We came across FAIR recently and thought it deserved a bit of attention. FAIR brings together post graduate students from a number of institutions for an art fair with a difference…

What’s ‘FAIR’?:

‘FAIR’ is unique. There is no other art fair anywhere in the world that exclusively exhibits the work of students; students are excluded from participating in such events by virtue of being students. Additionally, students are prohibited from applying for public grants that would enable them to initiate such a project, leaving art fairs at the behest of an established network of art fund investors, collectors and dealers. To break this monopoly, it makes sense for students to establish a community of purpose and build their own fair on their own terms. We hope that this pilot will establish the parameters for future occurrences of ‘FAIR’, both in Edinburgh and in the home towns of our guests. This is the first and only art fair for art students by art students, but hopefully, will be the first of many.

Who’s ‘FAIR’?

The programme of ‘FAIR’ is user-generated, it will emerge from the interests and desires of its participants which, for this pilot event, are postgraduate art students from Edinburgh and their guests from the Royal College of Art, Sheffield Hallam and Sint-Lucas Beeldende Kunst in Ghent. Participants will produce and install their own work in Edinburgh College of Art’s magnificent Sculpture Court. The work-in-progress will be visible to the public. As a means of hosting their guests, masters students Edinburgh’s School of Art have designed an accompanying public programme to run over four days.

FAIR opens Friday 24 February, from 7pm.

Find out more about FAIR here.

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For more creative delights we’ve Spotted on the web take a look here.

Anyway back to the work and graduates that grabbed my attention.

Colin Wilson

More of Colin’s work can be seen here at his website.

Lyndsey Redford

Unfortunately I couldn’t find links to more of her work which is a shame as this scanned image of her postcard does not do it justice. She is one of the artists mentioned in The Skinny review.

Naomi Archibald

Once again I can’t find links to Naomi’s work, but she is mentioned in the Scotsman review.

Sinéad Bracken

I particularly liked Sinéad’s animated artwork – which you can enjoy by visiting her website although you won’t get the same scale as you did at the exhibition.

By visiting the Dundee Degree Show 2010 website you can see the work of some students whose work is being showcased and who have also been reviewed in the two linked articles I have mentioned.

Please visit the links and post or blog your comments regards the student’s work on display.

Since around 2005 Degrees unedited with http://www.a-n.co.uk has been supporting the critical context of degree show season through a platform for review as well as one of the first blogging communities to hit the web, designed especially for the student voice. We have students stretching their virtual thoughts from all over the UK and beyond so, talking of diversification… there’s voices from universities and colleges in London, Wales, Devon, the midlands reaching up to Northern England into Scotland.

This group on Central Station is great, it’s pulling in so much more interest! Degrees unedited (i.e.Richard Taylor) is happy therefore and would like to say thank you to the drive of Central Station!!!

If any more of you are visiting degree shows make sure you get on Twitter and either use #degreeshows hash tag or #degreeshow hash tag to recommend your pick of student work. a-n Magazine is pulling from your interest to get a student image on the cover or featured in the summer issue…