Pandemic artists go online to showcase their work

Early career artists halfway through their courses at the University of Northampton will be exhibiting their work online.

Around 30 second year students from the Fine Art, Fine Art Painting and Drawing courses will launch their Midpoint exhibition on Thursday 6 May.

The group, known as Cohort 1922, because they began their studies in 2019 and will graduate in 2022, chose the name Midpoint as it consists of work that’s midway through their degrees.

Lucy Gow is one of the students exhibiting her work.

She said: “The pandemic meant we needed to host an exhibition online, rather than as a physical event, which is a shame, but it’s also giving more people the opportunity to view our work, so that’s a nice upside.

“The past year has been frustrating for many of us, and has sometimes stymied our creativity, when we’ve had to work remotely. But luckily, we have been able to return to our studios at University where the buzz about the department has been tangible, you can really feel the energy when we are all together. This has made an enormous difference to our work over the past few weeks, and we hope it will continue.”

Midpoint will showcase the diverse practices of early career artists from the University with the body of work drawn from the disciplines of photography, printing, sculpture, painting and installation. The work explores a variety of today’s human and social concepts, while examining human form, attitude, space, movement, and science.

The exhibition will open online on Thursday 6 May. In the run up to the launch, selected images from Midpoint are being regularly uploaded to Cohort 1922’s Instagram account.

Midpoint is presented in partnership with NN Contemporary Art, with guest curator Julia Greenway and UON Fine Art Professional Practice Module leader Dr Andrew Hewitt.