Graduation Season

I've mentioned the Creative Expressive Therapies department at Derby University on this blog before, and for good reason. Each student chooses their own path of art, drama, dance or music and through the course they learn to use those skills to help others explore their own abilities and creativity. They have spent three years not only learning practical fine art skills and techniques but also how to apply them to learning and healing environments and after months of planning and fund-raising, their end of year exhibition is finally here. "Statement as Image" promises to be a truly inspiring event.
The show itself is running from the May 23rd to June 1st at the Britannia Mill in Derby. Entry is totally free and you can catch up on all the details at their facebook group or their website. Please go if you can. And if you're a student from the course, then we hope to see your work up on Magnus very soon!

Meanwhile, here in London we are looking forward to Free Range, Europe's largest showcase of graduate art and design. If you haven't heard of it then where have you been? Now in it's 8th glorious year it starts on the 30th of May at the Old Truman Brewery, and showcases some of the best graduate work from all over the country, including Brighton, Bournemouth, Nottingham, Manchester, Reading and London. It's a vast and exciting treat of an exhibition and it really gives you a chance to see the up and coming names of the future, not to mention some of the most cutting edge creative work to be seen anywhere. I honestly can't wait to go.

Katherine Whitehouse
Creative Director

Solo Exhibitions in London

First of all, thanks for everyone's submissions to the events blog here on Magnus. Not only is it great to read about everything that's going on out there in the big wide world, but I also can't wait to visit some of these events and see your work for myself.

Luke Kendall, (whose work you can find right here on Magnus) has a solo exhibition on at the Beach Blanket Babylon Gallery in Shoreditch this week. Titled "The Great Sparrow Campaign", it is named after the huge humanitarian crisis and famine that hit China in the late 1950's and Kendall has used this together with his personal distrust of institutions to inspire quite a dark collection. He has taken the strong visual influences of Communist propaganda posters and spun them into images that represent the sinister nature of their effects.
It is well worth going to and will only be on until 4th May, so get there quickly.

From the 9th - 18th May at the Old Truman Brewery, you can see Rupert Shrive's rather exciting re-workings of famous paintings and his own portraits. The exhibition is called "Post Painting" as Shrive attempts to bridge the gap between painting and sculpture by ripping, crushing and screwing up his almost completed work until he achieves what he considers to be it's vital essence. The press release tells me that "The resulting reliefs erupt from a trinity of creation, destruction and recreation - a process that is fraught with risk since it can end in either triumphant success or miserable failure. The window of time in which Shrive can work is so short that some paintings do not survive the treatment."
The resulting effect is surprisingly effective and definitely compelling. Admission is free, and the exhibition is open 11am-7pm Tuesday to Sunday.

Keep a close eye on the Magnus Blog in the coming weeks, because we have some fantastic events for you coming up - it is graduate season after all.

Katherine Whitehouse
Creative Director