Degree Shows 2021

By Susan Mansfield, 15.06.2021

Alternative Degree Show Festival. GSA.

For Scotland’s art schools, June sees a new cohort of graduating students stepping out into the world to begin their careers. Traditionally, the moment is marked by the annual Degree Show, a week-long celebration and a public showcase bursting with new talent.

Last year’s degree shows were casualties of lockdown, with art schools pulling out the stops to create online alternatives at the last minute. While much was accomplished digitally, the disappointment at the lack of physical shows was palpable, and some students chose to withhold their work from online showcases as part of a nationwide ‘Pause or Pay’ protest.

This year, hopes of physical degree shows dwindled as the second lockdown stretched into spring. With social distancing measures and visitor restrictions making it unlikely that large-scale shows would be viable, art schools had to make tough decisions, once more opting for digital showcases for graduates.

“Before Christmas, I was hopeful of a physical degree show, and the students were as well,” says Libby Curtis, head of Grays School of Art in Aberdeen. “The second lockdown was devastating. It was with a heavy heart I realised that we were going to have to make this another purely digital show. But in a volatile, complex and uncertain environment, we needed to make a decision and stick to it. Once we had made that decision, we could deal with the students’ unhappiness and they could focus on their work.”

She praised students for being “fantastically understanding and adaptable” and says the school worked in partnership with them to create a new and improved digital model for this year’s show. At the same time, she admits the lack of a physical show is “a loss to their student learning experience” and says there are plans to stage an exhibition next year for those who had to graduate without one.

At Glasgow School of Art, the college will reprise last year’s model of a year-long digital showcase which allows students to update their portfolios as they make new work. As Alan Attlee, deputy director (academic), explains, it has been a college year unlike any other, in which students have had only limited access to studios and equipment, and some have been forced to work remotely from outside Glasgow or even outside the UK.

“In these circumstances [the digital showcase was] the most secure, reliable, resilient model which could enable all our students to participate, whether they were in the country or not,” he says. “With a long lead-in time, we were able to do much more work with the students in terms of digital curation and event organising.” 

And there is no denying that the digital show has advantages: GSA recorded between two and three thousand visits a week to the showcase throughout the year from all over the world. They hope to expand the reach even further this year with online events featuring the likes of comedian Jayde Adams and performer Travis Alabanza. While Attlee hopes for a return to the large-scale degree show exhibition in Garnethill - “and the sooner the better!” - the digital showcase is also here to stay.

Meanwhile, GSA students have been working to organise their own covid-safe physical shows as part of an Alternative Degree Show Festival, supported by the art school. One show, featuring Sculpture and Environmental Art students, took place in early June, with a larger show planned in July in venues around the city for students from Painting & Printmaking and Fine Art Photography. Organisers estimate that 90 per cent of graduating students will take part, alongside a number of 2020 graduates. Glasgow’s MFA students also plan a physical show later this year.

One of the festival organisers, fourth year student Susan Torrance, said: “I do think a lot of people feel quite lost. It’s a studio-based degree and the studios have been out of bounds most of the time for the last year. It’s not about blaming the art school. Covid is something nobody asked for, and we have to do everything we can to protect people’s health. It’s good for the school to get involved and support a student-led project, it’s brought us all together. It’s not a degree show, but it’s near as dammit!

“Degree shows usually invite people to come to the art school and see the work, but this is about going into the community, into the city, at a time when covid restrictions are lifting. There is huge enthusiasm and excitement about it.”

At Edinburgh College of Art, a smaller-than-usual official exhibition is planned alongside an enhanced online showcase which will feature the portfolios of 414 graduating students. ECA principal Juan Cruz described the physical show as a “taster” for the “comprehensive” online show - visitor numbers will be limited, with priority given to students and their families - but it has symbolic value.

“We always said that if there was even an inkling of a possibility that we could do a physical show on campus, we would do it. At the same time, we didn’t want to lose the momentum that we had built up through the last digital show.

“It’s important to signal ECA very much invested in its spaces, opening and welcoming people in is really important. It’s important for us, for the university, for Edinburgh as a whole. It feels like a very positive thing to do.”

 

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, June 11-21

Glasgow School of Art Showcase, from June 11 & The Alternative Degree Show Festival, from May 27th and July 5th

University of the Highlands and Islands, June 11-July 9

Edinburgh College of Art, June 18-August 27

Grays School of Art, July 9-21