Matters Arising

Master’s summer show 2022. Graduating master’s students from Arts University Plymouth, recently voted the top arts university in the UK for overall student satisfaction in the National Student Survey (NSS), will showcase a variety of exciting and dynamic postgraduate projects at Matters Arising, the master’s summer show 2022, exhibiting work that has been created across specialisms that include painting, illustration, sculptural installation, moving image, environmentally-conscious fashion design, glass and ceramics, all undertaken within a specialist postgraduate community of practice.

Some highlights from this year’s graduates that will feature in the exhibition include:

MA Photography graduate Mouli Paul’s “Textures in Belonging” series, which uses familial experiences of migration to explore diaspora and ideas of home, memory and culture from the UK and beyond. 

MA Fine Art graduate and weaver Kate Williams’ Death of the Combustion Engine (The Red Thing), which uses rya knots and coloured wool to express data sets created through the pandemic. 

MA Painting graduate Eloise Schoeman’s The Night Moves imposes the idea of a South African women’s hypervigilance onto her immediate environs and experience. 

MA Drawing graduate William Luz’s A GHOST SUBJECT (or The Principle of Mutual Enhancement) explores drawing in an expanded sense, through video and associated works on paper. He questions whether the act of playing with materials, touching, looking, feeling, or moving can be considered drawing.

MA Fine Arts graduate and socially-engaged practitioner Jamila Haman investigates whether art can bridge empathy gaps between the most privileged and the most persecuted. She draws on a decade of experience in the field of human rights activism, inviting discussion on the global crisis of mass human displacement to create an equally moving and challenging painted work. 

MA Ceramics graduate, designer and maker Owen Rees’ Extrude explores narratives of form, structure and lighting through 3D printed porcelain, questioning the role of the craftsperson in a digital making process. His work challenges traditional methods of making within ceramics, showcasing forms that are not possible to physically mould, yet are perfectly repeatable through 3D printing.

MA Textiles graduate Imogen Prestidge’s Pretty Ugly creates a new form for hoarded textiles with sentimental value, donated by people with fond memories of loved ones who enjoyed crochet and knitting.

The master’s ‘22 show will feature work from over 40 postgraduate students across programmes including MA Ceramics, MA Creative Education, MA Textile Design, MA Printmaking, MA Disruptive Design, MA Jewellery, MA Fine Art, MA Visual Communication, MA Entrepreneurship for Creative Practice, MA Illustration, MA Painting, MA Drawing, MA Photography, and Master of Fine Art (MFA).

The Matters Arising exhibition will take place at Art University Plymouth’s Studio 11 building on Regent Street, which will be open to members of the public daily from 10am to 5pm, Friday September 2 until Thursday September 8, 2022 (closed on Sunday September 4). A preview evening will be held from 5pm to 8pm on Thursday September 1, beginning with speeches and student awards at 5pm. Spaces at the preview are limited and booking in advance on Eventbrite is advisable.

For anybody considering MA study, academics will be on site on Saturday September 3 for a Postgraduate Open Day from 10am to 12:30pm, with opportunities for an exclusive review of graduating MA students’ work, some of whom will be available to discuss their research and experience of the MA programmes. This is an ideal opportunity to explore a community of makers and thinkers, ask questions and visualise what it’s like to study at Arts University Plymouth.

Earlier this year Arts University Plymouth (formerly Plymouth College of Art) secured University Title and in the same month also won Best Small or Specialist University at the 2022 WhatUni Student Choice Awards in May 2022. The WUSCA Small or Specialist category celebrates the overall experience of students, with a focus on lecturers and teaching quality, the Students’ Union experience, facilities and student life, and is determined based on the reviews of  currently enrolled students.