Text by Frederic Anderson, MA Drawing, Wimbledon College of Arts.
Photographs by Natalia Queirolo, MA Media, Communication and Critical Practice, LCC
This year’s Postgraduate Community mixer event was held at Chelsea College of Arts during the MA degree shows. The event started with drinks and a welcome from Patricia Ellis, Course Leader for MA Fine Art at Chelsea, who introduced the degree shows. Head of CCW, Professor David Crow also shared a few words, before Maryssa Cook-Obregón, Postgraduate Community Student Ambassador for LCF spoke about her experience of working for the Postgraduate Community over the past year.
The event was well attended, with at least one representative from each UAL College. The vast majority of attendees, however, were new students about to start a course at Chelsea, looking to meet future classmates and gain insight into what to expect over the coming year. The buzz of excitement in the room was palpable, with both Patricia Ellis and David Crow underlining the fact that everyone present was there because of the high quality of their work and their potential to achieve great things.
Having recently graduated from the MFA Fine Art, I spoke to small group of students about to start at Wimbledon, keen for inside advice about the college and course leaders. My advice to them was to be clear about what they most want to gain from the course going into it and to hold onto those goals throughout. There is so much on offer that you have to pick and choose what you most want to gain from the experience. I also highlighted the importance of community and peer networks – course leaders are great but access to their advice is limited and cuts off abruptly at the end of the course. Peers have a deeper understanding of your practice gained from working alongside you in the studio day after day – and from seeing you with your guard down in the pub! Their support is potentially unlimited and can sustain you for the rest of your career.
Following the introductions we split into groups for guided tours of the shows given by the graduating students. My tour was led by Emmely Elgersma, a graduate of MA Fine Art whose work in the show consisted of a series of 8ft paper mache marbled monster pots based on traditional pottery but slightly off and wonky due to the nature of the materials used to make them. Emmely led a lively and engaging tour of the show, inviting exhibiting students to talk about their work and offering behind-the-scenes insights into the thinking behind many of the pieces in the show. She also had many tips for negotiating the course for incoming students, highlighting in particular the abrupt changes of pace that define different stages of the course.
I thought there was a high standard of work across the show, with some bright, intelligent and engaging pieces carefully curated to create a coherent show. My highlights were Li Fang-Yin’s precariously balanced sculptures, Isidora Amézaga Crorkan’s minimalist paintings, Alex Urie’s beautiful ‘dumping grounds for obsolete, itinerant forms’ and Emmely’s wonky pots.
Typical of Postgraduate Community events, this was a great informal occasion to meet other artists, enjoy some stimulating conversation and see some great work. It was lovely to feel the excitement and enthusiasm of those about to embark on a postgraduate degree course this year. Having just finished one, it’s hard to get a measure of exactly what happened and what has changed, the one certainty being that something has changed. It feels like I’ve been given a valuable new way of thinking that I haven’t yet been able to trace the boundaries of. Something that, together with the friends and colleagues I’ve made along the way, will hopefully continue to grow, supporting and nourishing my work for many years to come.
