AUB Summer Shows 2023
Verity Babbs 30/06/2023
I’m generally wary of graduate shows - especially pre-masters level. There is always going to be a gulf in quality between those students for whom this is the first step in a long career dedicated to their craft, and those for whom opting for art school was done in a “why not” flurry and this will be their first, and last exhibition. AUB’s Summer Shows promised to present “the largest free exhibition on the south coast” and - to my surprise - that gulf was nowhere to be seen. The quantity of gallery-ready work on display was astounding.
What Arts University Bournemouth did so well was to present all departments in one event, demonstrating the artistry of each discipline. Each display was thoroughly curated, with deep thought evidently given as to which work would hang next to which, meaning that even in the architecture department it was easy to imagine that you had stumbled into a gallery. AUB’s Summer Shows are what all universities should aspire to gift to their students.
There was a real sense of the importance of craftsmanship in each course. This year’s Summer Shows also mark the opening of AUB’s new School of Arts, Media, and Creative Industries Management, and the university’s dedication to developing young people’s practical skills shines through in this extravaganza. No one student’s work was thematically alike, underlining that far from being prescriptive about what its students should create, AUB has invested their time in teaching the skills needed for the students to execute their own ideas well.
Unusually for me, I found some of the most beautiful, gallery-ready works outside of the Fine Art department. I felt that Commercial Photography was the stand-out winner in terms of professionalism, creativity, and quality. Particular highlights from that department (and perhaps my favourites from the entire show) were José Pedro Paixão’s futuristic ‘Waking Up From the Dream’, Jannell Adufo’s double portrait ‘Ghana Must Go’ which was so beautiful I audibly gasped, and Emily Stokes’ shrine to Tottenham Hotspur ‘Hand Me Downs’. Other photographic highlights were installations by Chelsea Jacques, Casey O’Brien, and Yitong Xie.
As would be expected, the largest variety in terms of quality was seen in the Fine Art department, where sadly some works with good concepts were sloppily executed. Perhaps other students were well-advised to study in other, more practical departments like Commercial Photography, Model-Making, and Textiles, ahead of their careers in creative art. However, three students whose work could easily be transferred directly into the gallery world were Leah Rackham (whose rug-punch designs were hugely pleasing) and Roxy Hoza (whose neon-sign inspired designs glimmered with a tongue-in-cheek appeal) of the Textiles department, and Miriam Vojtechovská of Fashion Design whose two mannequins ‘Where is the line between masculine and feminine?’ trod the line between visual beauty and structural expertise.
A small handful of dips in quality aside, there were some staggeringly well-executed works in the Fine Art department which did mean that the less-well presented works were merely a drop in the ocean. Special mentions in the Fine Art department must go to Polly Goody for the nostalgic hanging installation ‘Mein Opa und Ich’, Millie Gifford for the large-scale abstract duo ‘Shrinking Violets’, and Charlie Ottaway for his ‘Tower of Babel’ sculpture made from resin and rucksacks - one of my top picks from the whole show.
AUB’s Summer Shows are open to the public from today (June 30th) to July 7th, and far from just being the “largest free exhibition” in the area, I would also say that it is hands-down one of the most accomplished.
