Chichester fine art students embark on their degree show

He is one of the final-year University of Chichester fine-art students offering their degree show 2022.

The preview is on Thursday, May 26; the exhibition opens the following day and runs through until June 1; weekdays 11am-6pm; weekend 11am-4pm.

The venue is St Michaels, Bognor Regis Campus, University of Chichester, off Felpham Way.

As he says, a big part of the course in the final year has been about preparing for the big world outside in terms of creating gallery and exhibition opportunities.

“I would like to think that I am well prepared.

"I will go back to Essex but when I've saved up enough money I would definitely like to come back and be in Chichester. It is much quieter than where I'm from and I look at lots of the old buildings around Chichester, the cathedral and other buildings, and I just really like it. There's a lot in Chichester that makes me want to come back.

“I have just found it to be really nice little university to study at. I got on with the tutors when I met them when I came to an open day here.

"I was considering South Essex College but I also liked the fact that Chichester was away from home!”

Inevitably, his time in the city has been challenging. In fact, with the pandemic, it wasn’t long before he had to head back home.

“I started in September 2019 and with pandemic it has been really difficult. It has slowed a lot of things down. But it was just about trying to push my practice in other ways, just as a way of getting through it all. I had to go back to Essex and I was bored but I didn't mind it too much because I could concentrate on art and I would say that's definitely what helped me cope. It was just about being creative and actually doing something.

“I'm a printer. I had not done it until I got to college and I saw people doing monoprints.

"I thought it looked really interesting and I wanted to start doing it myself. I started using cut-outs to create masks and I found that really good. It does not involve lots of drawing and does not involve lots of painting, and I just kept pushing it and learning different techniques until I got to university when I started doing photographic printing.

“I did a workshop that introduced me to the photographic process, and really my time here has been like a 180 turn around. I used to do abstract work at college and now my printing is all about photo realism.

“I'm just hoping to be able to do exhibitions and galleries and I am just hoping to be able to sell my work. I would like to be able to do this full time.”

He’s certainly ready for the challenges that will come with moving on from university.

"It's a lot to take on but if you just keep going out to then I hope I can make it my living.”