Fine Art

Kirsty has just finished her foundation year for her fine art degree.  Last night we went to her end of year exhibition at UCLAN.  This was a chance for everyone to see the final pieces for those on the foundation year and also for those who have just finished their third year.  The exhibition started at 6pm and we had to get there early doors because Robert and I had a choir practice back in Burnley at 7:30 that evening.

We walked into the university building and my first impression was that they were doing their best to make it look like a proper exhibition.  There was a table with wine and nibbles in the entrance and some of the students had made an effort to dress up for the occasion.  Kirsty and I were fairly dressed down - although her version of dressed down was a little more dressed up than mine, but then she is much younger and has nicer legs.

We found the rooms where the foundation year students' work was being exhibited and started to look round.  I'll be honest, some of it was clearly art, and some of it was less so.  There were some pieces I liked and some that I thought were badly put together and lacking in attention to detail.

While we were there we bumped into one of the tutors who was asking Kirsty if she had made her mind up what to do next year.  Her original intention was to do the foundation year in art and design and then go on to do her degree in photography.  After talking to some of her tutors she is now seriously thinking about doing fine art next year, and this particular tutor was one of those encouraging her to do so.  He seemed genuinely interested in Kirsty's work which is encouraging for her.

Kirsty with her final piece.  Just a little shame that she only found out about non reflective glass after she'd put it together.

After looking at the foundation year's work we went on to look at the third year's work.  As soon as you walked in you could see the difference in standard.  Some of the pieces were impressive and showed a lot of talent.  However, some of them had clearly wasted the last three years if they thought what they were exhibiting as a final piece was fine art.  Now, I'm not being a traditionalist here in anyway.  I can appreciate contemporary and modern art if it's done well, but some of these pieces were not done well.

On the whole I enjoyed it and it was nice to see Kirsty in the environment where she will be spending the next three years.  She certainly seems to have enjoyed it and it has been nice to see her enthusiasm and growth over the last year.