University Of Cumbria Student Exhibition Opens In Carlisle

​A new student exhibition exploring different perspectives and creative responses to contemporary life has opened at the University of Cumbria in Carlisle.

The exhibition, titled Unseen, is being held at the Vallum Gallery on the university’s Brampton Road campus. It brings together work created by six students completing the MA Creative Practice course.

The showcase marks the conclusion of a year of intensive study for the students, who are due to graduate in November. Their work covers a broad range of creative disciplines and approaches.

The exhibition also examines ideas surrounding algorithm driven narratives and artificial intelligence. Through different forms of artistic expression, the students explore subjects that can be overlooked or interpreted differently depending on individual experiences.

The six exhibitors have developed distinct bodies of work during their studies. Their projects demonstrate the range of approaches being used within the university’s creative practice programme.

Ailsa Brock is presenting paintings that focus on portraits and examine differing perceptions, memory and conflicting identities. Her work considers how people and their identities can be understood from different perspectives.

Sarah Maxwell is exhibiting prints that explore the psychology of space and the relationship between identity and contemporary experiences. Her work uses printmaking to examine how environments can influence perceptions and personal experience.

Graphic novelist Kirsty McSkeane is showcasing a narrative centred on late diagnosis and the difficulties created by misunderstanding. Her work uses sequential storytelling to explore experiences that can be difficult to communicate through more conventional forms.

Wildlife filmmaker and sound recordist Bill Mumford has created work examining how nature can be allowed to communicate its own story. His approach focuses on the relationship between visual imagery, sound and the natural environment.

Analogue photographer William Niven is presenting photographs exploring place through both its past and present. His work considers how locations can carry different meanings and how those meanings can change over time.

Concept artist Molly Tinsley is showing game design work that explores symbolism and transactional behaviour. Her project demonstrates how interactive and digital forms can be used to examine wider ideas about human behaviour and communication.

Together, the six projects create an exhibition with a wide variety of media and subject matter. Although each student has developed an individual creative direction, the collection provides a shared insight into the research and experimentation undertaken during the MA course.

The exhibition provides visitors with an opportunity to see work produced at the end of an important stage in the students’ creative development. It also gives the university’s postgraduate artists a public setting in which to present their ideas and completed projects.

Student Ailsa Brock said seeing the work displayed in the gallery was particularly rewarding after the many months of effort involved. She also praised the dedication shown by the other members of the master’s cohort.

The exhibition offers an insight into the different ways emerging artists can respond to subjects such as identity, memory, technology, nature and place. The range of disciplines also highlights the variety of creative practice being developed by students at the university.

Visitors can view Unseen on weekdays between 10am and 4pm. The exhibition will remain open at the Vallum Gallery until Wednesday, October 7, giving members of the public several weeks to visit the showcase.

The event provides an opportunity for audiences in Carlisle to engage with contemporary creative work while also seeing the results of a year of postgraduate study. It brings together painting, printmaking, graphic storytelling, film, sound, photography and game design in one exhibition.

For the six students involved, the showcase represents the culmination of their current course of study before they graduate later in the year. It also provides a public platform for work developed through their individual research, experimentation and creative practice.

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