Masters students show work at Art and Design degree show

A weeklong celebration of work from graduating postgraduate students has opened at the School of Art and Design. Students studying on master of philosophy courses including Art in Science, Fashion Innovation and Realisation, Fine Art, Graphic Design and Illustration, and Urban Design collaborated on their exhibitions to display their final pieces for a public show.

Degree shows at the School of Art and Design provide great opportunities for students, friends and families to celebrate the completion of their studies, the highly creative and original work and skills shown by the students.

Work on show includes a Fine Artist, Angelo Madonna, titled Tide comes in, tide goes out, a sound installation that translates the continuous up and down movement of the tides around the docks in Liverpool into sound. A Fashion student, Megan Harvey, has taken over a whole room to show a public awareness campaign focusing on the human cost and environmental impact of the ‘fast fashion’ industry. A Graphic Design student, Melissa Goodrich, whose work is titled ‘In Recognition of’ has documented her grandfather’s war history with replicas of his original war documentation. While an Art in Science student, Helen Birnbaum has created a series of ceramic interpretations of serious diseases like the Black Plague. An Urban Design student, Palak Arora has presented Tactical Urbanism which takes on a hand-on, DIY vision of urban restructuring.

One project which caught visitor’s attention was a novel invention by Fashion student Mihaela Giuiu, who has designed a device which locks and secures backpacks for travellers with high-value possessions. Commenting on the product, Mihaela said: “I wanted to integrate technology in design, more specifically technology to improve security in accessories. I designed a biometric lock for zippers and the application for it, a backpack. They are both still work in progress and will continue to work on them after graduating because I think there's a lot of potential in this project and would like to see it on the market.”

During the opening night presentation given by Professor Caroline Wilkinson, Director of School and Professor Colin Fallows, Graphic Design student Gemma McGrillis was presented with an honorary fellowship award. Her work, The Worst Mother in the World, is a thoughtful piece, which reflected on her relationship with her son who has ADHD and specifically how she dealt with his behaviour as a young parent. The fellowship gives Gemma access to LJMU facilities to continue her practice and opportunities to undertake teaching.

Commenting on the award, Prof. Fallows said: "The award-winning work by Gemma successfully managed to synthesise learning from all aspects of the MA programme into a skilfully designed autoethnographic project with allied publications. This outstanding project exhibited evidence of strong research methods and skills together with excellent collaborative practice - all presented in the informative and creatively designed electronic publication and in the book publication. The Fellowship award of time and space will enable this valuable work to move forward."

The show is on until 30 August 2019 at the John Lennon Art and Design Building, and entrance is free. A new micro site has been launched which shows a selection of student work.

If you can’t make the exhibition, visit the online gallery and find out about some of the artists exhibiting at the show.