MA Degree Show 2023

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Works of art on display at MA Degree Show 2023

Each year, truly unique works of art go on display as part of Bath Spa University’s MA Degree Show and the 2023 exhibition is sure to wow attendees when Locksbrook Campus opens its doors to the public from Saturday 23 September. 

The event is free to attend and open to all and gives this year’s talented graduates a platform to display their abilities as they prepare to embark on a new chapter in their lives.

The 2023 MA Degree Show will be a chance to celebrate this up-and-coming wave of artists and designers and will include work from the University's postgraduate students studying Fine Art, Photography, Ceramics, Design, Illustration, Graphics and Textiles at the University’s Bath School of Art, Film and Media, and its Bath School of Design. 

The Fine Art programme at Bath Spa promotes material-led, collaborative and cross disciplinary approaches to making, based on experimentation, risk-taking and personal innovation and this will be reflected in the work on show. Similarly, the MA Design graduates were encouraged to practice a healthy interplay of work and ideas between design, visual communication and visual arts disciplines.

Delving deeper 

Explaining the impact that her creatively led postgraduate degree at Bath Spa University had on her, Emily Lewin who studied MA Fine Art (Ceramics), said:

“This MA course, and Bath Spa as a whole has been instrumental in my creative development, having also studied for my BA in Creative Arts here, almost ten years ago. The university as a whole, tutors and technicians have created a container in which my practice and my identity as an artist has been rigorously challenged and pushed to the extremes - in the best possible way. Encouraging and nurturing the very best from us at every step, which has allowed my work to develop and expand in ways I could never have imagined.  

“Having been away from making for many years before coming back to study for my MA, reaching the point of the Degree Show feels like such an emotional achievement - a year ago I never thought I would get here! It's not only a culmination of what has been the most personally intense and rewarding year, but also a celebration of all the hard work the entire MA cohort and community has built over this time. It's a really communal point of reflection, achievement and pride of everything we have experienced over the past year.  

After graduating my next steps will be to secure a studio space for myself, and establish a sustainable, long term arts practice through exhibiting work, writing and speaking engagements and working with existing establishments through residencies and responsive projects.”

Jelena Dietrich also studied MA (Ceramics), she said:

“It feels like a dream come true to have my work displayed at the degree show at Bath Spa. I came from Austria in search of a more creative direction for my primarily functional approach to porcelain. I'm glad I can now call myself a ceramic artist.” 

Elliot Coffin studied MA Fine Art, he said:

“This degree show represents the culmination of a years work. A year of failing, breaking, playing, making, laughing, questioning and crying. It's a moment to check in with the development of what I do, and look forward to the next step." 

Explaining the inspiration behind her work, Amy Gale who studied MA Design (Textiles) said:

“This project started with my nan. She has been a big inspiration to me throughout my life, and she continues to be so... Over the years women have fought for fundamental rights. This got me thinking about what equal rights women have achieved through the generations. 
 
“My project consists of a collection of three outfits and a banner that records a timeline of women’s rights, starting in the 1900s and ending in this decade. The collection has elements of practicality, masculine and feminine style.”

Vidita Shevade studied MA Design (Illustration), she said:

“My work is an exploration of Indian food and its culture in the form of a physical publication. As an illustrator, I aim to use my skills to best visually represent my passion and interest for my food and culture in a way that invites others to be curious and want to know more.” 

The 2023 MA Degree show will be open from 10:00am until 6:00pm from Saturday 23 to Wednesday 27 September. 

You can visit the MA Degree Show website to see work from past and present MA graduates.