“Diaristic statements present both melancholy and mundane moments in the female experience” says Helen Mcghie, describing Joanne Whitworth’s installation of stitched samplers as part of the Bolton University Fine Art Degree Show.
Whitworth’s installation – which, adds Mcghie, “investigates personal memories through clothes” – included 100 items of charity shop clothing, each machine-sewn with a reason why they were donated to the charity shop.
Alongside her visit to the Bolton Fine Art show, Mcghie also highlights a number of works in the Photography show including Hannah Broster’s “autobiographical journey into coping with endometriosis”. Describing the work, Mcghie says: “The image’s surface becomes a skin-like membrane for investigating the photographer’s identity.”
Mcghie’s focus on photography continued with her visit to the University of Sunderland Disclosure Exhibition (until 22 June).
Kathryn Miller’s series, her, created in collaboration with Extraterrestrial Experience North East, seeks to raise awareness of the possibilities of extraterrestrial invasion.
In her post, Mcghie describes the work as “a fantastic series that delves into the fictitious nature of the image as a document of ‘proof’”.
The female experience of a more terrestrial nature is the theme of Hannah Nespoli’s “bold and dreamy work”, exhibited as part of the Newcastle University Fine Art Degree Show and posted on a-n’s Instagram by Katie Chappell. Nespoli’s series of “beautiful and ethereal” works deal with themes of a women’s worth, loneliness, anxiety, sexual thrill and energy.
Speaking about Anna Skulczuk’s installation, also part of the Newcastle University Fine Art show, Chappell says: “I felt like I was invading someone’s bedroom, that feeling of looking around in a room you shouldn’t be in.”
Alongside our member takeovers, a-n’s news editor Chris Sharratt went along to the Glasgow School of Art BA show where his first post captured this “wonderfully bonkers” performance piece by Painting and Printmaking graduate LEA (Ye Gyoung) Choi.
Explains Sharratt: “There’s white coated lab assistants proffering scented rocket-shaped candles, the sound of bombs being dropped, and shouts of ‘It’s coming’ as pieces of paper bearing the same message are strewn about. Crazy and comically apocalyptic.”
Also from Glasgow School of Art, Marion Miranda exhibited a “witty if rather skin deep critique” of contemporary art’s taste makers and power wielders. “Fun but not fatuous, I smiled and laughed out loud (discretely, of course) at this small corner of clever light relief,” says Sharratt.
For her takeover at the Goldsmiths Fine Art BA show, Fiona Grady said she would be “sharing some of her favourite artworks”.
Included was this piece by Sue Kim, which due to it featuring “elegant” succulents was, says Grady, bang on trend: “Love this desert introduced into the university campus.”
Also from Goldsmiths, these works by Rhiane Aurielle fuse “materials to create surreal objects that feel like artificial matter” says Grady.
For her final takeover, Jacki Cairns visited the Fine Art show at De Montfort University in Leicester (until 22 June).
Included in the show, Chloe Barron’s video installation Ever Increasing Amounts features adverts and topical news reports “carefully spun together” by the artist to “give an alternative perspective” on subjects such as tax credits and weekly payment stores.
Speaking about Kia Kennedy’s works, which explore environmental issues through a tension between artificial and natural materials, Cairns says: “I love her playful and intuitive use of mixed media.
“It was refreshing to find an artist like myself who appears to have no interest in finding a set style. All the pieces were completely unique.”
Follow a-n on Instagram to catch all our degree shows takeovers
Just posted: Katie Chappell visits the Illustration, Graphic Design, Animation and Fashion shows at University of Sunderland; and for our final takeover later this week, Fiona Grady posts from the Royal College of Art Show 2017.
Images:
1, 12. Joanne Whitworth, installation as part of Fine Art Degree Show at Bolton University.
2. Hannah Broster, Photography Degree Show at Bolton University.
3. Kathryn Miller, her, Disclosure Exhibition, University of Sunderland.
4. Hannah Nespoli’s …I Think I Made You Up Inside My Head…, Fine Art Degree Show, Newcastle University.
5. Anna Skulczuk, installation as part of Fine Art Degree Show at Newcastle University.
6. LEA (Ye Gyoung) Choi, performance as part of Fine Art Degree Show at Glasgow School of Art.
7. Marion Miranda, Fine Art Degree Show at Glasgow School of Art.
8. Sue Kim, installation as part of Fine Art BA show, Goldsmiths, London.
9. Rhiane Aurielle, installation as part of Fine Art BA show, Goldsmiths, London.
10. Chloe Barron, installation as part of the Fine Art Degree Show at De Montfort University, Leicester.
11. Kia Kennedy, Fine Art Degree Show at De Montfort University, Leicester.
a-n Degree Shows Guide 2017
More on a-n.co.uk:
Revisiting Walthamstow: “This is what you can do with art education – let’s value it”
Antiuniversity Now 2017: “We can all learn from each other”
Gillian Dickinson North East Young Sculptor Award 2017: installation of miniature figures takes top prize
