As a first year Photography student, this was the first time I’ve ever seen a graduate art degree show at any university, and I was blown away by the diverse talent on show!

Work on show came from all corners of art and design on offer at University Campus Suffolk, from Fine Art, Photography and Film to Graphic Design, Interior Design and Computer Games Design, there was something for all artistic tastes.

Being an art photographer myself, I was glad to see the photographic medium was also being used among Fine Art students, from the likes of Emma Phillips. One of her pieces showed 50 portrait postcard-sized photographs of inanimate objects that wouldn’t exist in her family without her own existence. I loved that thought, of cause and effect, that if the artist wasn’t born, these seemingly everyday and banal objects, including ceramic ornaments, a hairbrush and a typewrite, would exist elsewhere.

But the star of the show for me was Fine Art student Craig Hudson and his many contemporary carved wax sculptures of abstract figures. Their bold colours, surprisingly enormous trainers, humanistic postures and pearlescent textures makes walking around the room feel like a psychedelic dream; among the saturated oranges, pinks, blues and greens were contemplative and calming figures as well as menacing and aggressive ones. Hudson’s sculptures are thoroughly considered and they scream ‘contemporary art’; look out for his name in the future!

The UCS Art and Degree Show was open from 9th - 19th July at the Art Building of UCS. Well done to all students for a creative and innovative exhibition.

Photograph, Tom Rose.