Creative work which makes connections between art and some of the most challenging issues currently facing our world is on display now at the University of Lancashire’s MA Degree Show 2025.
The University of Lancashire Master of Arts (MA) Degree Show exhibition can be found throughout its campus. The exhibition features work from students on courses including Animation, Children’s Book Illustration, Ceramics, Fashion Design, Fashion and Lifestyle Promotion, Fine Art, Games Design, Graphic Design and Interior Design.
Ted Howell, a lecturer in Graphic Design at the University of Lancashire, completed his own MA in the subject, creating a piece of work miniaturising the PR1 Gallery to a scale of 1:20 – one of the buildings the Degree Show 2025 exhibition takes place within.
“I wanted to show off the high standard of work our academics can produce. There is research to show people smile when they see something familiar in miniature. My work is also a model kit, so anyone can reproduce it if they so wish. At the University of Lancashire if you can imagine something you can produce it. By miniaturising the gallery, it is understandable as a whole at once.”
At the University of Lancashire if you can imagine something you can produce it.– Ted Howell, a lecturer in Graphic Design at the University of Lancashire, completed his own MA in the subject
Sally Edmundson Bird wanted to show her love for the town of Blackpool via her ceramic work Blackpool Unrivalled Health and Pleasure.
“In my opinion if you don’t get Blackpool, you don’t get life. It’s kitsch, camp and over the top exuberant,” explained Sally from Preston who has completed a MA in Ceramics.
“However, within this setting is a town with the lowest health expectancy in the country and a whole host of social problems. I started making urns expressing my joy of seaside towns through colour. My work exposes the contradictions of life in Blackpool, the joys and indulgence afforded to visitors versus the harsh reality facing its residents.
“Hopefully my urns reflect the current exaggerated sense of bliss and fun we associate with Blackpool, originally as a Victorian destination promising restorative health, pleasure and bright lights.”
Hopefully my urns reflect the current exaggerated sense of bliss and fun we associate with Blackpool, originally as a Victorian destination promising restorative health, pleasure and bright lights.– MA Ceramics student Sally Edmundson Bird
MA Fine Art student Francesca Aikman from Fulwood in Preston wanted to evoke an appreciation of decay and the passing of time via her painting.
Francesca, who works as a café manager in the Harris Museum, said: “Marks of decay are evidence of time that has past and what better way of recording this than through celebrating its beauty via a painting. It aims to cultivate an appreciation of the present and an acceptance of the impermanent.”
The free exhibition will be open for visits in the University’s Victoria Building and Hanover Buildings on weekdays from Monday 8 September to Friday 3 October (weekdays only) between 10am and 4pm. If you’re unable to attend, you can access our degree show website which hosts all our students’ work.
