On today's ArtyParti, join us to celebrate the work and craft of MA Visual Practice students and graduates at the University of Sunderland, as these artists of various disciplines guide you through their exhibitions at the MA Degree Show.

It's kicked off by a moving and evocative speech by Dr. Suzy O’Hara, Lecturer in Digital Arts and Enterprise: "In times of crisis, we must hope." Suzy reflects on this year's graduates; "I believe that artistic skills and competencies... play a fundamental role in realising disruptive, alternative worlds that help secure our futures... We need creativity, and a radical imagination."

We imagine glass as delicate and fragile, and Anna Rose Tremlett uses this sense of fragility to explore the relationship between the hearing world, and the deaf world, through her intricate ‘conches’ made of glass. Whereas another glass blower, Hannah Masi has embraced the discards of this fragile process through ‘The Goblet Bug’, and chose to amass the, quote, ‘failures’ into a single piece. And Jiayun Ding breaks down the glass process into different components, displayed in a collection of jars, as a way of exploring the cycle of human life and death.

Across the building, Melissa Duncan, created an immersive walk-through experience of a collection of paintings about learning life lessons while growing up, all dedicated to her grandma, Ada. And through a series of painted birds, whose feet are golden and becoming part of the frame itself, Jenni Hawkins documents the true stories of women and their experiences.

Downstairs, two photographers were sharing a gallery space, and both collections are united by the effects of humans on the natural environment. One of them is Colin Pickett, exploring waste sites on coastal landscapes. And in photographer Matthew Lewis’ collection ‘Cats of Greece’, he documents the lives of the four-legged island dwellers who live their lives on the streets of Greek islands.

Release Date: Sunday 16th February 2025

A Jay Sykes Media podcast