The first MA Fine Art Show at LICA
Dozens of visitors have attended the first MA Fine Art Show at the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts.
The “Working Space” exhibition was at the Peter Scott Gallery on campus where the work of four students - Sarah Cleaver, Shelley Hughes, Hannah Jauncey and Vicki Lawson – was showcased.Their work encompasses installation art, portraiture, drawing and abstract painting.
Sarah Cleaver said: “We all shared the same studio yet we’ve come up with different work in different media and using different techniques. It’s been great to discuss ideas and processes and gain from other people’s experience – it’s been a real sounding board.
“Coming to Lancaster has been a real education and a steep learning curve but really enjoyable.”
Art tutor Gerry Davies said the exhibition was one of the best attended shows so far.
“We’re really pleased because one of the things that we look for in a show is the difference between the types of work that students do.
“They have to be fully fledged independent artists and these four have achieved this hugely because there isn’t a house style, they’re all individualists.”
Some of the artwork has already been sold and all four aim to become professional artists.
Vicki Lawson says her abstract paintings are like journeys.“The colour flows, drips, runs and takes the viewer with it, on a trip through an imagined place.”
Sarah’s work focuses on installation art using surveillance and monitoring as a theme.She spent time studying the network of city centre CCTV cameras operated from Lancaster police station before devising an installation featuring a security camera.
Shelley Hughes’ paintings and drawings are based on the theme of the individual.“What is the value of a portrait today in light of new and ever more accessible technologies? Why is this art type still present? And is it still necessary?”
Hannah Jauncey’s work experiments with different media and techniques.
“I seek to explore the fragility and limits of drawing as a medium, looking at the boundary between mark and support, where one merges into the other. What is created is a trace of a mark, appearing and disappearing.”