Fine Art

MA Art & Design by Research & MA Fine Art

The graduating students of 2019 know who they are. As individual practitioners and as a group of artists they have created something very special together and they understand a little more of the place they are making for themselves in the world.

What is community? What does community mean to contemporary artists? Our responsibility as a school of art is to facilitate a fertile space, a space where shared experiences and cross-disciplinary approaches can develop, where ideas and material experiments as well as artists can grow. In our school…students, artists, theorists and practitioners work together as a creative force to improve their own understanding of what it is to be an artist, what artists can do and why they might do it. But providing the space and environment is just one piece of the jigsaw…everyone has to engage and submit to the communal process, support each other in their endeavours, contribute and produce…work hard together.

The students here from the MA Fine Art and MA Art & Design by Research gathered their collective approaches in January as part of an offsite exhibition at the Light House Gallery in Wolverhampton. The historic building in the city centre housed a group exhibition that gathered diverse concerns together and enabled the group to test ideas and strategies. Risks were taken, chance embraced and lessons were learned. Afterwards, in their studio spaces they gathered and talked the exhibition through, and then they moved forward.

Visiting lecturers came and the students listened, questioned and participated. Gilbert & George walked the studios in their made to measure suits and talked with our students about their work. The brilliant staff from the Ikon Gallery supported exhibition tours and challenged our students to contribute on study days. Henry Ward and the Freelands Foundation gave us exclusive access to their exhibitions and were tremendously supportive in the work of the students. The 2019 Dirty Practice Conference and Residencies at the School of Art challenged the students to propose and become part of the conference and they grasped the opportunity to develop their ideas further. Every step of the way they convened as a group, in the 6^th floor studio kitchen during a morning tea break, in their studio spaces and lecture theatres late at night. The common aim to keep the momentum going and support the work as it formed.

This is the second year that the New Art Gallery Walsall has played a crucial and pivotal role in the careers of the artists that graduate from our MA courses. The level of support and opportunity that they have opened up to the students goes beyond anything I’ve encountered before by an international contemporary gallery. The Director, Curators, Front of House Staff and Technical Support remain committed to giving the students a professional and critical experience of life as a contemporary artist, they welcome our students and offer them the upmost respect and importantly they treat them as professional artists. As a platform for future development we cannot thank them enough for their hard work and dedication to the cause.

As Course Leader I am enormously proud to have shared in the experiences of this group of artists, they have been a pleasure to work with and I am sure that all of the staff who have taught, talked with, and worked alongside them with me will join in that sentiment. What is clear from this exhibition is that community is alive and thriving in our School and this particular community of graduates is proof that in today’s world there is a place for collective creative experiences. Well done and to all the graduating students I say…

Go somewhere and be brilliant!

Dr Dean Kelland

Course Leader, MA Art & Design by Research and MA Fine Art