Degree shows 2014

Throughout the 2014 degree show period a-n News covered a portion of degree shows. In some cases these were shorter versions of Twitter visits made to each show, some were first hand responses, others more investigative in to what constitutes a degree show or indeed a graduate festival.

First of all we published a short report on the visit to FAIR at Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh. FAIR was part of Edinburgh College of Art and Edinburgh University’s post-graduate festival, and preceded the undergraduate degree show at the college. A take on the art fair and how art students respond to its structure, Fair also included groups of artists from the MA course at Leeds University, and students from St Lucas Visual Arts in Ghent. Read the article here

Up next was a report from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design’s degree show in Dundee. A great collection of idiosyncratic work from three courses working together in studios, workshops and lectures from within the same department. Some good chat from the students on hand to explain their work too. Read the article here

Next up was Joe Turnbull’s visit to Slade School of Art’s BA/BFA show in London. An insightful tour of the exhibition as Joe interviews various students and picks out reoccurring themes in their work, as well as their thoughts on the degree show experience. Read the article here

Last but certainly not least was our visit to Sheffield Hallam University’s BA and MA degree shows at various venues in Sheffield. A melding of work from two undergraduate courses, which brought together some fantastic material exploration with fresh approach. The MA show took over the main gallery at S1 Artspace, with a reoccurring theme of the artist being ever present in the work and its presentation. Unfortunately with the new site transfer, this article is currently unreachable – don’t worry, we’ll find it soon and publish the link here.

Of course, press coverage of degree shows goes far beyond our own platform. We’ll be updating this post through the comments section as we come across more articles from other sites. Feel free to add your own links too!

Every year a-n publishes a degree shows guide, which is supported by institutions around the UK who take part in the degree show season.

For a-n Art Students its a guide too! We have a busy time sharing listings of degree shows as they open across the country. This year we have had an amazing response from other Twitter feeds ran by media departments at universities and art schools. More importantly, we have also had fantastic engagement with art students and student groups getting involved through Facebook groups and Twitter profiles.

For us, the guide offers sound knowledge and advice on the role that degree shows have for art students. As well as being a set of listings, the guide provides collected perspectives on what degree shows are, what people expect them to be, and how to move forward after they’re done and dusted.

This year we visited three degree shows in person and sent links and photographs of selected students’ work. As Twitter is a very ‘of the time and moment’, the best way of archiving these visits is to use Storify (see below for links). We were also mindful of other Twitter users making visits to degree shows around the country. Temper Press, an arts collective and publication based at Manchester School of Art made some great visits (and, admittedly, took better photos than us!). See below for a link to their feed.

a-n Art Student visits

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design – https://storify.com/an_artstudents/djcad-degree-show-2014

Edinburgh College of Art – https://storify.com/an_artstudents/edinburgh-college-of-art-degree-show-2014

Sheffield Hallam University – https://storify.com/an_artstudents/sheffield-hallam-university-degree-show-2014

Temper press

Specific link to most recent visit at Chelsea College of Art (UAL) – https://twitter.com/temperpress/status/480795034628136962

See the rest of their feed for most visits to Manchester School of Art, Goldsmiths, Camberwell (UAL) plus more – https://twitter.com/temperpress