Students’ cutting-edge artwork to go on show to public

Artwork by final-year art students at Oxford University will go on show this weekend at the annual Ruskin Degree Show.

Taking place from 21–23 June at the Green Shed, Osney Mead, with a private view on 20 June, the public exhibition will feature a bold and diverse range of work in a variety of forms and on a number of themes.

The show, which will present the work of the 24 Ruskin School of Art students graduating this year, is always eagerly anticipated and generates lively debate among those who attend. Last year’s exhibition attracted more than 1,000 visitors from Oxford and further afield.

Jason Gaiger, Head of the Ruskin School of Art, said: 'The Ruskin Degree Show is one of the highlights of the year, attracting interest across the University and bringing a large number of visitors from beyond Oxford who want to experience at first hand cutting-edge contemporary art and to identify the next generation of leading artists.'

Melanie Gurney, one of the students organising and exhibiting at this year’s show, said: 'The quality of the artwork in this year's show is outstandingly high. The size of the Green Shed allowed many of us to be bold and ambitious. The Ruskin degree show 2014 will be bigger and better than ever before.'

Sponsors of this year’s event are HMG Law, Bonhams, and Joshua Horgan Print and Design.

Participants in last year's Degree Show have gone on to win awards for their art, including James Lomax, who secured a Sky Arts Scholarship, and Jack Stanton, who won the Saatchi/Channel 4 New Sensations Prize.

James said: 'Degree shows are a pivotal moment in an artist's career – they allow for both engagement in creative practice and curatorial exercise while preparing the artist for life past art school as they look to seek funding and venues from outside sources to allow them to showcase their work. My degree show gave me the necessary skills to build upon, and these skills have allowed me to successfully continue my career as an artist past art school.'

The Degree Show is open to the public and free to enter from Saturday 21 to Monday 23 June from 12pm-5pm.