Nazarian’s mythic novel tells in traditional style (rather like The Arabian Nights) many stories about many magical characters all of which spiral out from the centre point that is the compass rose. They traverse very distinct terrains, experience unique encounters – all are divergent, yet all emanate from this shared central point. Fine Art is our ‘compass rose’, our students must build and captain their own ships, navigating unchartered waters, sailing alone (sometimes together), destination perceived but not fully known – until now.
We acknowledge with pride that this large cohort has also successfully coordinated its own strategies in order to accomplish tangible goals. The first is as a group – their Student Society, Up North Arts (UNA) is a Lancaster University society formed by Fine Art students. It creates opportunities for artists to exhibit work and develop their individual creative profiles in the public domain. Through many activities over three years, they have accumulated knowledge and experience in developing, organising and promoting art exhibitions across the North West and locally. The Degree Show capitalises on this expertise and experience and we are thankful to all of our Committee members for their supreme professionalism, precision, generosity and dedicated time investment for the overall good of the Degree Show event in its entirety.
The second achievement is as an individual – every student has followed their own trajectory in studio practice – no house style here – moreover, the results this year are impressive solo exhibitions: confident, compelling, challenging.
Embrace the coordinates of your being…