Yorkshire show for graduates of Europe’s first distance learning MA Fine Art

The degree show of graduates of Europe’s first online MA Fine Art is taking place in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, between 16 and 25 June. The eleven artists, exhibiting as X1, are from Asia, England, Mauritius, Oman, Scotland, Spain and the USA. The exhibition will show works created by the students over the last three years, in media including painting and three-dimensional painting, drawing, print-making, sculpture and photography. All the work is being exhibited for the first time.

The postgraduate programme was launched in 2010 by Barnsley-based education charity The Open College of the Arts. After three years of studying and creating as members of an international virtual community, the students are coming together for the first time to show their work in the real world. They have studied for their Masters degree on a part-time basis through online seminars, virtual tutorials and lectures.

The Civic: Hanson St, Barnsley S70 2HZ

Private view: Wednesday 15 June, 18.30 to 20.30

Exhibition dates: Thursday 16 June to Saturday 25 June,

Gallery hours: 10.00 to 18.00 (closed Sunday and Monday), admission free

The Eleven

Jennifer Ault – exploring the ambiguous boundaries between inside and outside the human body.

Debjani Bhardwaj – a visual storyteller, inspired by the realm of dreams and dreams within dreams, using delicate paper drawings and cutouts.

Jennifer Boldt – works in the place between science and art.

Mark Daniels – depicting the beauty of decay and transformation of Cold War objects and materials using emerging digital and traditional photographic processes.

Jane Dudley – the impact of institutionalisation through the language of sculpture and spontaneous mark-marking.

Judith Farr – exuberant and even child-like work that skips between the use of diverse low-brow materials, found objects, craft foam and glitter to create three-dimensional non-objective paintings.

Roshni Goonraj Beeharry – an evolutionary perspective on the familiar locale of her home island of Mauritius

Iain Holman – looking at how emotions can be conveyed by body language through the social masks we wear.

Alex Kershaw - takes the viewer on a journey into the depths of Birnam Wood to explore the sublime aspects of the landscape as seen through a scientific lens - the darker side of nature which is terrifying yet fascinating all at once.

Rosi Robinson – the merging of mental and physical spaces by making reference to, digitally tracing over or expanding found areas within images of derelict allotment huts.

Jilliene Sellner – responding to the gap between words and mark-making using text, drawing, sculpture, film, video and audio.

OCA MA, Fine Art course leader Caroline Wright said: ‘The students graduating from the Open College of the Arts’ MA in Fine Art are a highly motivated international group of professional artists making work that is exciting, innovative and engages with the contemporary art world. Their exhibition, XI, brings together three years of dedicated study and collaboration.’

The OCA MA Fine Art teaching team was named Best Postgraduate Teaching Team in the Prospects Postgraduate Awards 2014.

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