In the distant pre pandemic past it was always with great excitment that we would visit the degree shows across Scotland and on occasion, south of the border, to see whats happening in the various schools our graduates are going to or will be applying to. Keeping up to date with what is happening in the art schools is an essential part of what we do on CAP as it keeps us up to date with contemporary thinking and practices at undergrad and Masters levels. However it also gives us a chance to catch up with some of our own amazing graduates who have gone on to degree study. This year was the first opportunity since 2019 for us to get out into Degree Show land, so excitment was high as we jumped at the chance to get away from the screen and out into the world.
This year the majority of exCAPers were graduating from Glasgow School of Art’s Sculpture & Environmental Art course and we begin there with Niamh Mairead Cullen Dunphy:





Niamh’s Links: GSA Degree Show Artist Page — Instagram
Next up Rachael Watson who responded directly to the restrictions encountered during the pandemic with a series of interventions into various public spaces using hand made posters to raise questions of authority and compliance.




Rachaels Links: Instagram
Coire Simpson‘s practice navigates a fear of the unknown, finding meaning through storytelling. She is interested in the ways in which we come in and out of being, drawing upon both personal and collective narratives of grief, loss, and healing. Recent work moves between physical and digital environments, using 3D animation and installation to explore the ambiguos nature of memory between virtal and real life spaces.








Coire’s Links: GSA Degree Show Artist page — Instagram
Nirver Kaur’s pots, clad in colourfully paterened knitted cosy’s conjour ideas of the domesticity and craft adopted and adapted by many during the pandemic.



Nirvers Links: Instagram
Heading beyond Scotland this year we had our first graduate from the University of the Arts London Camberwell School of Painting. Reueben Sian de Gourlay has produced impressive large scale allegorical works reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelites, however as Rohena West explains in their review of Reubens work they go beyond any direct comparrison.



Reubens Links: Website — Instagram
Unfortunately this year we were not able to get to all the degree shows we would have liked to for various reasons but here are some of the other works that caught our interest at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee:
DJCAD Dundee: Although there were no CAPalumni graduating this year Ben and I did catch up with wonderful exCAPers now living, working and studying in Dundee.
Edinburgh College of Art:
Glasgow School of Art: