BSU graduate and mature student shares wisdom

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BSU graduate Stephen Spicer shares wisdom on obtaining new skills later in life.

Thursday, 13 February, 2025

It is never too late to try something new, something mature student and recent BSU graduate Stephen Spicer knows all about. After leaving secondary school with just one GCSE qualification, he ended up getting accepted into the Chelsea School of Art and progressed from there into a 40-year extensive career in the graphic design industry, gaining invaluable life experience which landed him a teaching position at Bath College.

He freelanced in and out of teaching for the next ten years, before his lightbulb moment of deciding on obtaining a degree. Having only one ‘paper qualification' despite plenty of life experience, Stephen was limited in his academic and financial opportunities, therefore seeking out accreditation from higher education. 

Steering away from graphic design, he began on the Undergraduate Fine Art course for a bit of a challenge, to which he said:   

‘Fair to say it was [a challenge] in some ways but not how I’d expected.’

He continued the course until year 2, where a bad assessment result led him to believe he should just give up. But a second wind pushed him to switch to the Contemporary Arts Practice course, and he found his groove.

It was here that he discovered a passion for illustration, particularly in creating his own comics, while also building his own arcade machines on the side. These machines ended up on display in the Locksbrook degree show, where he received tremendous praise from his tutors, and they have consequently been taken on by The Pound Arts Centre in Corsham for a display starting in May. As Stephen stated:

‘If I demonstrated skills the lecturers got very excited.’

In spite of his arcade machine success, it was the illustrations that struck a chord in his degree journey, deciding for the creative equivalent to his dissertation, he would create a comic that almost mimicked dissertation format. He believes for him, this has so much more impact with people seeing what he can do. Over one hundred people have now read the comic, even reaching as far as the US, with the final print nearly going into an American publication. 

Since graduating this summer, Stephen has been toying with the idea of a PhD, but he is still undecided if that route will be pursued. There has been interest from the Royal United Hospital in Bath in printing one of his medical-based comics about diabetic feet, of course his arcade machine exhibition and then potentially making prints of the machines to go around as well. But for now, asking Stephen happily described himself as a ‘jack of all trades, master of none.’

‘There are so many opportunities – you just need to realise them. Just do it rather than hoping it will happen at some point.’ 

Are you interested in following in Stephens footsteps? Find out more on the Contemporary Arts Practice course page.