MMU Degree Show 2022

It has been a few years (for obvious reasons) since I’ve been to a local degree show. So I made the effort to go and see the Manchester School of Art Degree show which is on until the 22nd June 2022.

I was thinking as I walked around the show how difficult it must have been in trying to organise yourself and work during all that has been going on in the last three years. I see it as a testament to the students pure determination, that they created the work and pulled a show off at this time. One of my favourite places to start at is always the Textiles in Practise area.

Nasaybah Arshad has formed some wonderful repeat patterns and tessellations on ceramic tiles and using laser cutting techniques with wood. Great nature paintings and serene studies from Bethan Faulks.

Jessica Wise says ‘My practice throughout my final year of university has focused on blending the worlds of fine art and textiles and showing the connection we, as artists, have to our work. Inspired by traditional artists and painters, I use introspective thinking to create artwork that has a voice of its own and which mirrors a person or story with meaning. ‘ I thought her repeat patterns and colourisations worked very harmoniously.

Finally in this area, Bette Pryor-Hadley and Rebecca Bullas both created some beautiful woven fabrics. Rebecca’s weaves echo the feel and nature of her watercolours very well.

Moving into Product Design and Craft, a couple of people’s work spoke to me. This wire horse by Millicent Patten, expressive marks concerning the landscape from Fergus Byron and nature and surrealism combined from sculptor Anab Mohamed.

Being very truthful, I can’t say that I really understand the concepts behind the creation of these spaces below, (nor did I grasp the names of the students that created the art works either, sorry !) but I feel that Tracey Emin somehow got there first with her ‘My Bed’ exhibit back in ’98 ?

Some fabulous paintings from 22 year old Fine Artist Rachel Clancy. Her work is described where “She creates illusionary surfaces of two dimensional imagery that are compromised by trickery in the glazes of transparent oil paint that infer depth and luminosity. Her exhibition series explore sleight of hand, and play with lighting to emphasise details within the compositions. I thought her paintings showed real undertsanding of her media and a sense of patience and observation that was refreshing to see.

Her depiction of light and sheen on these fabrics was also quite beautiful.

Finally I saved my favourite area for last, Illustration with Animation. Two students work really caught my eye this year. Firstly Georgina Reynolds who has a freshness to her illustrations with a hint of optimism which makes them a pleasure to look at.

And Chloe Watts who blew me away with the amount of strong and fabulously illustrated work she had. The fact that she already has a very well constructed website of all her achievements to date speaks volumes.

Well done Chloe, I love your strong style and the way you considered so many different topics and aspects of life in today’s society. You get my top student award for your stunning work : )

Thank you to everyone who has their work featured here today and I wish you all well going forward with your careers. The degree show is on until wednesday this week.