The Graduate Show commences at the Fine Art School in Somerset street and takes the form of a walkabout through the Rhodes BFA students’ final exhibitions. In exhibiting all the students’ works in their various venues, the integrity and individualism of the original submissions is maintained and the public is invited to view this in a number of exhibition sites and exciting installation spaces in Grahamstown.
Each year, the graduate exhibitions represent the culmination of four years of focused study in the visual arts and reflect the art students’ growth of individual vision and often rigorous self-reflexive interrogation. Students have sought and found appropriate contemporary creative means to express diverse concepts and ideas, often in a strong and unique personal vocabulary.
Submissions cover a variety of artistic mediums including photography, painting, sculpture, installation, video, performance and printmaking. Thematic interests and conceptual approaches are equally diverse but common threads this year include investigations of family and cultural ties; architecture, perspective and perception and investigation of local history and geography.
The 4th year students and their exhibition titles for 2013 are (in the order in which the work can be viewed):
Caitlyn Long ‘Goodbye Horses’, Daniel Nel ‘Blind Spot’, Michelle Nel ‘Affect’, Mandy Middleton ‘Labour of Love’, Dee Ellis ‘Rule Number One’,Chiro Nott ‘The Tjak of Washkibat’, Madeleine du Toit ‘Kokkewiet’, Charis Futcher ‘Contagion’, Aimee-Jade Smith ‘Outside’ Gemma Marion Garman ‘33°18'53.11"S, 26°31'46.65"E’, Phiwokuhle Khumalo ‘Zukiswa, Noluvuyo, Zandile’, Jana Toman ‘Ztraceno v p?ekladu’, Kelsey Leigh Aspeling ‘Anomie’, Inge Heide ‘Mein Pass‘, Joseph Coetzee ‘The Invaders’ and Dudley Marc Thirkell Hibbert ‘The Orchards’
The event begins at 5pm at the Art School Gallery in Somerset Street where the winner of the Art History and Visual Culture medal will be announced as well as a prize awarded for the most outstanding essay. The event will then move on to visit various exhibition venues nearby.
