Degree Shows 2019: site-specific archaeology, painterly installations, and meticulous miniatures
The first of our Instagram takeovers for the 2019 degree shows season saw artist and a-n board member Dan Thompson heading to the ‘Sweet FA’ preview at University of Kent’s School of Music and Fine Art.
A review of courses means it is sadly the final fine art degree show at the Chatham Historic Dockyard campus. Thompson captured the highlights of what he said “marked the beginning, not the end, for everyone in the show”.
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To mark the occasion, artist Bob and Roberta Smith opened the show with a performative speech, described by Thompson as “inspiring stuff for graduates”.
Course leader Tim Meacham commented: “Thank you very much Bob for opening our last degree show. Your words and performance were apt and uplifting for both students and staff. Much appreciated.”
Posting a work by Oliver Morris (top image) created from clay, stone, wood, wax, soil, plaster, concrete, Thompson highlighted how “some works try to compete with the old industrial buildings of Chatham Historic Dockyard, some ignores them, some fits. This fits… mixed media isn’t even close.”
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Angela Pilgrim’s work makes an even more direct reference to the history of the dockyard. “Archaeology and the Anthropocene uses materials excavated from a site where people have lived for 2000 years,” explained Thompson.
The Sweet FA Degree Show continues at University of Kent School of Music and Fine Art until 24 May.
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a-n’s Stephen Palmer visited the BA/BFA graduate show at Slade School of Fine Art in London which includes works by 39 graduating artists and continues until 23 May.
His first post featured Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s gothic video and sculptural installation YOU ARE BEING LET INTO A SPACE. The work explores identity, with the main video element using a frenetic game style aesthetic – there’s also a VR element to the work which Palmer described as “particularly dark!!”
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Exhibiting painting as part of an installation is a popular format at this year’s show. One example is Aurhur Poujois’ installation which fills a small room with paintings and collaged and painted photographs. There’s also a series of cut-out mirrored portraits featuring what look to be faces taken from historic paintings or drawings.
“There’s a lot going on including a classical soundtrack which lends the work a filmic narrative,” Palmer explained in his post. “But look through the eyes of these mirrored faces and a whole new world is revealed beyond.”
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Harriet Taylor also presents a series of paintings as part of an installation that includes what Palmer described as a “selection of curiously decorated objects”.
While Taylor’s paintings use portraiture to focus on mostly everyday scenes, the sculptural elements have a fairy-tale aesthetic, and a powdery blue floor lends a fantasy edge to the installation as a whole.
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FK McLoone, who graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design last year, returned to Dundee for the first of three Instagram degree show takeovers – they will also be posting from shows at Edinburgh College of Art and Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen.
“It’s been a year since my own degree show at DJCAD and nothing feels more like stepping back into the action than Finlay J Hall’s work,” said McLoone in their first post.
“A loosely curated collection of art student ephemera, detailing workshops, performances, clubs, events, radio stations and other miscellaneous creative activity. Contrasting the pristinely presented work found in other parts of the show, Hall’s installation provides a vital glimpse behind the scenes to an experimental, collectively-minded and slightly less serious take on the art school experience.”
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But what about life after art school? Posting Eden Thomas’ “meticulous miniatures”, McLoone said the work “contains everything a freshly graduated artist might need at a pocket scale.
“Featuring cosy domestic scenes and thimble-sized servings of favourite comfort foods, Thomas’s work satisfies a desire for everything to be just so. If it’s too tiny to use, maybe it’s just small enough not to mess up.”
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McLoone described this work by Katherine Fay Allan as “understated but deeply moving”.
They continued: “Drawing on the personal experience of watching her mother undergo intensive medical treatment, Allan’s work sees her play doctor to a body shaped from plants. The exercise might be a form of catharsis or control, but the feeling of care resonates either way.”
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design Degree Show continues until 26 May 2019.
Coming next: Richard Taylor will be posting from the City of Glasgow College Degree show. Follow #andegrees19 to catch all the posts.
New work by FK McLoone is included in THEY HAD 4 YEARS at Generator Projects in Dundee which opens Friday 24 May and continues until June 2019. The show features newly commissioned works by recent graduates from art schools across Scotland.
Images:
1. Oliver Morris, Sweet FA Degree Show at University of Kent School of Music and Fine Art, clay, stone, wood, wax, soil, plaster, concrete. Photo: Dan Thompson
2. University of Kent School of Music and Fine Art Sweet FA Degree Show guest speaker Bob and Roberta Smith.
3. Angela Pilgrim, Archaeology and the Anthropocene, Sweet FA Degree Show at University of Kent School of Music and Fine Art.
4. Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, YOU ARE BEING LET INTO A SPACE, BA/BFA graduate show at Slade School of Fine Art.
5. Aurhur Poujois, BA/BFA graduate show at Slade School of Fine Art.
6. Harriet Taylor, BA/BFA graduate show at Slade School of Fine Art.
7. Finlay J Hall, Fine Art Degree Show, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design.
8. Eden Thomas, Fine Art Degree Show, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design.
9. Katherine Fay Allan, Fine Art Degree Show, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design.
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