News | Friday, 15th June 2012
Manchester's largest free art show
Degree Shows June 15 - 20
A POP-UP “personal space protector” will be just one of the creative ideas on show at Manchester Metropolitan University’s art and design degree shows, which start today Friday, June 15 and run until Wednesday 20.
22 year-old Lauren Taylor, from Bolton, said she intended the piece as a “silly, witty invention” which would also look at the uses of visual language for humour and the unwritten code of bus stop interaction.
More than 1,000 students will exhibit work in photogrpahy, graphic art, fine art, fashion, textiles, illustration, animation, architecture, three-dimensional design, film, landscape arhcitecture, media, interior design and interactive arts.
For the first time, some of the shows will take place off campus at Spinningfields.
Watching paint dry - literally!
Other works on display include Fine Art student Alice Smith’s paintings made from grease that never dries, which won her a £6,000 bursary awarded by the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts.
The abstract works are created directly on to the wall using a mould and there is even the possibility that they will have slid off the walls by the time her show opens.
“It will be interesting to see if they stay in place or fall off,” said Alice. “I quite like the fact that I have no control over them once I have taken away the mould.”
Joanne Keogh, from Monton, who will also be graduating with a BA (Hons) in Interactive Arts, has been mapping lichen growth around Manchester to investigate what level of pollution there is in the environment.
She is encouraging everyone who lives and works in the city to look for lichens on trees and submit their findings to her website, lovelichen.org.
Illustrious artists
Talent scouts roam the rooms of the event and past students have gone on to illustrious careers. Alumni from the Manchester School of Art include designers Thomas Heatherwick and Peter Saville. All exhibitions are open to the public. Admission is free.
Opening times for all exhibitions are: Saturday 16 June, 10am – 4pm; Sunday 17 June, 10am – 4pm; Monday 18 June, 10am – 6pm; Tuesday 19 June, 10am – 6pm; Wednesday 20 June, 10am – 4pm
To find out which Show is at which of the four venues, please go to http://www.artdes.mmu.ac.uk/degreeshow/venues.php
