"One of the objects I chose was a framed butterfly, and I ended up making kaleidoscopic wallpaper, though other people’s outcomes included photography, sculpture and miniature paintings. At the same time, we were signing up for workshops in a whole range of techniques from screen-printing to analogue photography and the darkroom, to metal, textile and plaster work. The workshops really helped open things up for me.
"Alongside these projects and workshops, we had weekly theory sessions which introduced us to different practices and theories of art and throughout, we had visiting lecturers and artists such as Mark Farid. Some of them offered us tutorials, which was a great opportunity, as you can share your ideas with someone outside the University. In the first year, we went on a field trip to Berlin, which coincided with a collaborative project based on the trip, and later, in Year 2, we went on a field trip to Barcelona, where we created work and exhibited it at a small gallery."
Exchange opportunity in The Netherlands
"In the second year, I also went on a five-month exchange to the Netherlands. It was great to experience another culture and another school’s way of working. It also felt more independent, like a taste of the artist’s life after university. The second year was much more about developing our own identities as artists and pursuing the practices that interested us."
The final year
"In our final year, we were encouraged to be more independent still, and initiated our own projects. At the same time, we were writing our dissertations, which meant we had to balance our studio practice with our writing tasks. I’m starting to work on my end of degree show now. I’m still deciding what it will consist of, but I know I’m interested in people and how art can be a platform for communication so it’s likely to be a live piece of art."
