ART
PREVIEW
Art in the First Degree
Where can you find sculpture and stuffed cats, short films and long dresses, glass, glaze and glitter? Beatrice Colin took a peek at the annual degree shows.
It‘s early June and in Edinburgh College of Art. this year‘s graduating students. exhausted and covered in paint. are finding it hard to focus. Four years of hard work have been condensed into a corner or stretch of wall. As well as painting, framing and labelling. last minute adaptations are being tnade and in one studio. a girl is pouring gallons ofglue around the floor of her installation. in another. a student is engrossed in stuffing a dead cat.
Although over 500 students from all disciplines will graduate in Glasgow and Edinburgh this year. in live
N
DOUGLAS ROBERTSO
Simple, sinuous lines, I
ewel-like colours and a iresh approach make Shuli iiumagi’s work In Glass and Architecle Glass highly desirable
years time only [en per cent of fine artists win still be which is divided into disciplines like sculpture. talent spotting or bargain art works. The annual
working in their chosen field, For n {cw artists the painting or environmental art. Now, all the graduates flinging open ofthe doors reveals the unique hot-
dcgrcc Show is a triumphant launching into the from the Fine Art department will show together. house environment, where creativity explodes and
commercial an world For others, it‘s the last safe regardless of medium. ‘There are basically three hours ofeifort are put into art works which are never
haven before years of poverty and difficult choices, reasons for this.‘ says Buchler. ‘lt means it‘s more intended to do anything but exist. Exhilarating, Ever since the Glasgow Boys Orthc mid 805. the appropriate to the context within which challenging and unpredictable. there is everything
Glasgow School of An has attracted dozens of contemporary art is shown. it creates a more even from the witty, the profound. the bizarre to the
cheque-book-clutching dealers from London on the and equal condition for students and gives them a disgusting. Love it or loath it. this is the time to
look out for the next Stephen Conroy or Alison wan, wider choice ofapproach, and it makes a better witness raw inspiration.
This led to a stampede to the painting department and ShOW.'
some felt it left the rest of the school in the shade. The degree shows remain immensely popular and Edinburgh College uf/lr! Annual Degree Slime Sat This year. under the direction of new Head of Fine each year the public trample in in their thousands to l9—Mmi 28 Jun.
Art, Pavel Buchlcr, pan of Glasgow School of An look. wonder, admire. outrage and occasionally buy. Glasgow Selma! uf/lr! Annual Degree Show Sat 26
has broken away from the traditional style of show But the shows should not only be seen as a haven for Jun-3 Jul.
MARGUERITE IMPEY - SCULPTURE
Based on the space inside a shoe box,
Impey’s sculptures are stacks oi M " “ ‘ s t plaster and oblong wall pieces which Q . g drip amber varnish. Using the inside ‘ S Q _
and the outside oi a shoe box as a ‘“ ,
cast, the works are imbalanced and , “' -‘
imperiect distortions oi a very iamiliar shape. “I come irom Zimbabwe,’ Impeys mentions. “Boxes, bottle tops, . _ ‘ . bottles, things like that are ~— ~
l considered to be very valuable and ; We collected boxes all my Iiie.’ ' __._.. j; Creating visually exciting pieces using ; very humble objects, lmpey’s show is
; both aesthetically pleasing and makes ; a statement about the nature oi
’ consumerism. «—
DOUGLAS ROBERTSON
“The List 18 June—I July I993