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The annual exhibition showcasing the work of Art and Design students from Bath Spa University will open next month

Monday, 22 May, 2023

An exhibition showcasing the work of Art and Design students from Bath Spa University will open next month

The annual Degree show for the students takes place from 10-17 June at Locksbrook Campus, and members of the public are invited to go along to see the work.

Dr Natasha Kidd, Subject Leader: Art at Bath School of Art, Film and Media said:
“For students from the schools of Art Film and Media and the School of Design the Degree show that happens at the end of the final year offers an important opportunity to showcase their work to a wider audience, to parents, friends and the creative community of Bath and beyond.

 
"It’s the most wonderful time of year when we celebrate the graduate’s hard work and see the culmination of their years of study . For one wonderful week we see the Locksbrook campus and our wonderful studios change from a site of making to an exhibition space open to the public. No one year is ever the same and I always feel so proud to witness an audience engage with and enjoy our graduating student’s work."  

The Degree show is curated from the collections by Final year students across a wide range of disciplines including BA (Hons) Fine Art, BA (Hons) Creative Arts Practice and the other courses in the Bath School of Art Film and Media and the Bath School of Design.

Here we find out more about six of the students who will be exhibiting their work.

Milly Aburrow (BA (Hons) Fine Art)

Student Milly Aburrow with some of her art

Milly's uncanny sculptures and installations of the everyday encapsulates the correlation between connotations of food and its language. Exploring foods social commentary, her current work ‘Fill Me In Sandwich Counter’ explores the freedom of choice and personal expression in the constructs of Western Society. Through a playful colour palette and a comical stylisation, she characterises the parameters of commercialisation and our consumerist society that defines a part of everyone’s life. 

Bo Neville (BA (Hons) Furniture and Product Design)

Student Bo Neville working on a design

Bo is not only exhibiting at the End of Year show, they also designed the physical award for the Creative Bath Awards. Inspired by an aerial view of The Circus designed by John Wood, the design of the award is a nod to the shape of The Circus, taking the form of a sculptural disc. 

Beth Archard (BA (Hons) Creative Arts Practice)

Art by student Beth Archard

Beth is a self-described stuff artist who sits on the fence of the analogue and digital worlds with a preoccupying nostalgia. The tales she tells are tenuous and in her sculptural mishmash of found things, blended with a swirling craft ripple, she invites you to share her secrets. Beth acknowledges the potential of the tasteless, and refusing to find the aesthetic in trash, she gives stuff the beauty treatment.

Olivia Rees, (BA (Hons) Creative Arts Practice)

A piece of art by Olivia Rees

Olivia is a ceramic artist, whose practice focuses on exploring the vibrant materiality of clay. Her works suggest the movement and transience of elements caught in the process of transformation, reminding us that all matter is ultimately moving, seething and active and that nothing is really static.

Xanthi Konstantinou (BA (Hons) Fine Art)

A piece of art by Xanthi Konstantinou

Xanthi's Greek Cypriot background inspires her work as a multidisciplinary artist, and her current focus is sculpture using clay. Her collection emerged from research in Tamata which are a form of votive offering used in the Greek Orthodox Church. Xanthi has created a number of pieces with traditional techniques, ceremonial in nature such as raku and pit firing but also trying to see how traditional glazes can be incorporated into her work.

Nick Joyce (BA (Hons) Fine Art

Art by student Nick Joyce

Nick describes his work as "Exploration, experimentation, miscalculation, improvisation, procrastination and parentalisation." “I look to make interventions which play with perceptions and reactions. I am continually exploring how text and language can be used to do this. My practice is very much about materiality, I make work across a variety of disciplines including sculpture, installation, video, painting, spray painting, and digital.”

The Bath Spa University Degree Show is taking place at the Locksbrook Campus, Locksbrook Road, Bath BA1 3EL from 10-17 June. The exhibition is free and is open from 10am to 6pm.