Art and education combine for innovative new exhibition

An innovative exhibition showcasing the work of Fine Art / Contemporary Arts and Education Masters students from Northumbria University, Newcastle opens next week.

The VERGE exhibition takes place at BALTIC 39 in High Bridge Street, Newcastle from Thursday 31 August until Sunday 3 September.

The event celebrates the creative development of MA Fine Art / Contemporary Arts and Education students across the academic year as artists, teachers and educators. It features work by final year students Colette Davies, Helen Fox, Martyn Jones, William Pym and Karen Sikora, as well as work by MA Contemporary Arts and Education first-year students Peter Corkish, Ali Holden, Daniel Hughes, Michaela Noble, and Leo Underwood.

Dr Judy Thomas, Programme Leader MA Fine Art / Contemporary Arts and Education, said: “The students have worked hard challenging their preconceived ideas surrounding individual practice; this has resulted in a diverse and exciting exhibition, demonstrating a diversity of creative activity and innovative development achieved through a sense of critical enquiry and material investigation.

“The course has enabled them to collaborate and experiment allowing them to take risks, challenge previous presumptions of tradition, medium and practice. They have achieved this by inviting audience interaction, utilising the potential of photography, film, performance and installation as tools of communication.

“This indicates a broadening awareness and consideration to how their work is received within a social context. This also reflects their roles as Artist Educators and the generosity with which they share their enthusiasm and knowledge within their learning environments. It has also resulted in a highly professional and thought provoking show.”

The MA Contemporary Arts and Education course is a unique collaboration between BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Northumbria University. This distinctive postgraduate experience, delivered in partnership, supports working teachers and educationalists to establish or enhance their combined practices as artist and facilitator at masters’ level.

Students make and talk about art through a dynamic, student-led process framed within the context of contemporary art alongside learning and teaching enquiry. The crucial relationship between a personal creative practice and the methods of teaching art are extended through artist-led projects and gallery learning as well as the more individual traditions of a studio practice.

The VERGE exhibition will follow a series of presentations made by the Year 2 students, taking place at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art today. For more information, please click here.

VERGE launches at BALTIC 39 with a private viewing from 6pm-8pm on Wednesday 30 August. The exhibition, which is free to enter, is part of this year’s REVEAL 2017 end of year degree shows, which included work by graduates from the University’s creative courses, such as Architecture, Art, Design, and Media.

To find out more about VERGE visit https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/news-events/events/2017/08/verge-art-show/

For more information about studying at Northumbria University come along to one of our upcoming Open Days or visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/coming-to-northumbria/northumbria-undergraduate-open-days/