Degrees of creativity

The arts graduates of the University of Sussex are showing their degree work at the Uni’s Grand Parade building at the moment, and it’s well worth a look.

On show are textiles, 3-D design, fine and graphic art, architecture, film, photography and sculpture, and it’s a brilliant opportunity to seek out, purchase or commission work from future leading lights in the arts world, or to just browse and see how fecund the department that counts Julien Macdonald and Rachel Whiteread as alumni is.

I was particularly taken with Hannah Rose Whittle’s squishy and tactile ceramics, based on the Japanese concept of ‘mujo’ (impermanence), and Finola Maynard’s beautiful powder blue pots inspired by industrial bobbins.

Also noteworthy is Joshua Barnes interactive sundial bench which lets you record a story while sitting on it and which will then only play that particular story back to the person who sits on it at exactly the same time a year hence.

Isobel Goodacre’s work plays with boundaries using paper and acrylic, mapping all sorts of odd things including social interactions, while Louise Pettersson’s leather bags and pouches have the feel of the stone age about them.

The exhibition continues at both Grand Parade Faculty of Arts Building, University of Brighton, 58-67 Grand Parade, Brighton BN2 OJY and History of Art and Design Building, University of Brighton, 10-11 Pavilion Parade, Brighton BN2 1RA until June 12.

Opening times are Monday-Wednesday 10am-6pm, Thursday and Friday 10am-8pm, and Saturday and Sunday noon-5pm.