UCLan’s MA Degree Show 2022 is now open
The eye-catching creations of University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) students are now on display at a free exhibition in Preston.
Design, fashion, media, fine art, photography, ceramics and textiles & surface pattern inventions all feature in the new 2022 MA Degree Show.
Politics, heritage, and mental and physical health provided plenty of inspiration for the artists, some of whom have spent three-years studying part-time on their courses due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
Seventy-seven-year-old Geoffrey Elliott, from south Cheshire, hand sculpted facial busts of 12 senior Conservative Party members. His ceramic work, entitled ‘Lest We Forget’, took three months to complete and among those featured were Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel.
He said: “I was so angry about the political situation during Covid and realised political caricatures were here and gone in a day after appearing in the newspapers. I wanted something that resonated and lasted for a long time.”
Juvairiyya Patel utilised medical equipment with vivid lighting to express herself in her art. The 25-year-old, from Blackburn, is profoundly deaf, uses a wheelchair and has a tracheostomy fitted to help her breath. The MA Fine Art student said: “I wanted to change people’s viewpoints and show that I’m a person who can achieve and enjoy creating rather than feeling lonely and depressed with my experiences.”
Brandon Kinder wanted to show that not all disabilities are visible with his eye-catching ‘change your perspective’ hanging sculpture. With help from his nan, Linda, and his girlfriend, Rebecca, he hanged 368 laser cut acrylic pieces, which were tied four times on to a foam board with nylon thread, at different lengths. When standing on a certain spot in the exhibition space, the sculpture spelled out the word ‘able’ using a wheelchair to represent the letter ‘a’.
The 23-year-old graphic design student, from Preston, hanged each piece by eye and commented: “My work is about trying to persuade people to look at others from the ‘correct’ perspective and prejudice is something which shouldn’t take place.”
Sixty-two-year-old Andrea Welsh, from Doncaster, suffered a heart attack while completing her part-time course. She returned to education, and specifically UCLan’s MA Ceramics, to explore and improve her ceramics work with clay after undertaking a fine art degree. She created a range of pods inspired by a passion and concern got wildlife and nature.
Graphic design student Christian Garlick used his experience of working with mental health patients to inspire his ‘Behind the Masks’ work. The 42-year-old, from Chorley, created 40 handmade cardboard and papier mache masks, and asked friends and family to decorate to share experiences that would ordinarily be hidden behind a mask.
Former Nelson and Colne College student Jasmine Nino De-Guzman was inspired to mix her Lancastrian and Peruvian cultures together in a clothing range. The MA Fashion Design student, whose parents both met while students at UCLan’s Preston Campus in the 1980s, created a variety of items featuring linen, cotton, alpaca wool from South America and UK wool.
The 22-year-old, from Trawden, added: “I wanted to bring the fashion and culture from Latin America into my clothes here in Lancashire to recognise my dad’s family roots in Peru and my mum’s in Lancashire.”
Animated films, 3D modelling, fashion collections, promotional campaigns, children’s book illustration and photography are on display.
The free exhibition was officially opened by Jackie Edwards, Head of the British Film Institute’s Young Audiences Content Fund.
It is taking place in UCLan’s Media Factory and Victoria and Hanover buildings and is open weekdays 10.00am to 5.00pm until 5 October.