Press

Anyone who visited this year’s degree show at Glasgow School of Art may have left feeling cheated. It was not that the quality of the work was not up to scratch – one could have gladly spent all week wandering the warren-like corridors of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building and its outlying department The problem was that the day was not long enough.

But there is another opportunity to see the best of the pieces now the art school has opened its degree show selection, featuring the work of 24 specially selected fine art students.

The show, at the Mackintosh Gallery, is an opportunity for the artists to have their work seen over a longer time by collectors, dealers and gallery owners, as well as the public. ‘The exhibition provides a more focused view of the degree show,’ Kathy Chambers, the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) exhibitions co-ordinator, says. ‘There is such a huge spread of work that it is difficult to absorb it all in a coherent way. All the students’ hard work and the level of professionalism merited an extended showing.’

Fine art painting graduate Blair Thomson sold all 20 of his paintings in the degree show. Consequently, he had to borrow back his largest pieces, The Grey Coast, which sold for ¬£1,900, from its new owner to feature in the selection. Thomson is busy creating new pieces for a solo exhibition in Glasgow’s Kelly Gallery in October and is working on a number of commissions as a result of the degree show.

‘I’ve made a lot of good contacts. A couple of other galleries are interested, including one in London, and I’ve got some commissions,’ says Thomson. ‘My main priority now is getting a big body of work together’.

Henry Coombes was awarded a first and won the Newbery Medal for his study of memory. Previous recipients of this, GSA’s most prestigious prize, include Ken Currie and Janice Kirkpatrick.

‘It’s good to be able to show the work in an art gallery after the degree show’, says Coombes, who graduated in fine art painting. ‘The more people who see it the better, form our point of view.’

This view is echoed by Will Holt, a graduate of the environmental art department, which has produced some of the biggest names in contemporary art today, including former Turner prize winner Douglas Gordon.

As a result of the degree show, Holt has received a ¬£3,000 commission for a series of photographs and has been invited to stage an exhibition in Leeds in September. He says: ‘The degree show was over so quickly. It is great to be given more of an opportunity to be seen. I have just moved into a studio in Glasgow with seven other people. It’s really important to be part of that strong support networks after college. I have made lots of interesting contacts already, the response has been great. I am incredibly optimistic.’

Environmental art graduate Michael Daniels’ humourous installation is about obsession with glamour and our desire to look like Hollywood stars. She hopes being included in the series will lead to more invitations to exhibit.

She Says: ‘My work is not that commercial. I do it because I enjoy it, but if someone else enjoys it enough to buy it, that would be great. ‘