Class of 2019: Emily Gardner

BA (Hons) Fine Art, Warwickshire College

“When I started the course I really had no idea about where my work would go or what I wanted to do. I began by simply discussing ideas about art and the viewer, using installation and thinking about visual and physical sensations. This soon developed as I found an interest in the everyday.

My work now is focussed on the physical relationship we have with food and the ways in which this can manifest in our methods of consumption, and looking at how the domestic allows for this – or if not, how I can manipulate it. For this I use video and sculpture, something I would never have predicted at the beginning of the course.

For my degree show I will be presenting a body of work exploring the grotesque nature of the body in relation to food. This will be shown in a short video as well as a selection of sculptural pieces.

I want to be able to showcase the multidisciplinary practice that I have spent the last three years building on. I hope I can look at my work and feel a sense of achievement and confidence to move forward as a practising artist.

My degree show is an opportunity to concentrate on an audience’s perspective of a body of work, as well as practise for logistical planning which is something that will benefit me in any shows I am part of in the future.

I am considering my options at the moment, perhaps a Masters will follow my completion of the course. If not, I will be working on integrating myself into the community of artists and into artist-led spaces in Birmingham and Coventry.”

Degree show: 17-21 June. www.wcg.ac.uk/course/11c203ff-0672-e711-8111-e0071b6611f1/fine-art–contemporary-cultures

Images:
1. Emily Gardner, Untitled. Photo: Lewis Owen
2. Emily Gardner, Lick Plate. Photo: Emily Gardner

Interview by Jack Hutchinson