13 June 2001

photo/media opportunity 6.30- 9.30pm, Friday 15 June, Duncan of Jordanstone, Perth Road, Dundee.

The annual exhibtion at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee opens this Friday 15 June with a stunning display of fine art, design, animation, textiles, metalwork, sculpture and ceramics - the culmination of four years of study and creative energies.

Professor Georgina Follett, Dean of the Faculty of Duncan of Jordanstone said: ""Creative Industry is what at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design is all about. You only have to enter the building to feel the energy of the graduating students' work."

A hermit inspired to sculpt sitting yellow bath tubs, an operating/ dining table with a chandelier of surgical drips and a 22 year old student painting intimate portraits of the elderly and the ageing body. These are some of the highlights of this year's show.

Justine Young has installed an elegant dining/ operating table lit by a chandelier of surgical drips, decorated with napkins spattered in blood with a silver salver of heart as a centrepiece. The artist believes that medical advances have allowed us to alienate intellect from physicality. In dining we reserve the body from the act of eating, digestion and excretion through an array of elaborate disguises. The act of surgery can be elegant and exquisite: dining can be grotesque and ridiculous.

Not the most common holiday job for a student - Graeme Roger signed a contract with His Lordship Lachlan Alexander Gordon-Duff to be his hermit and spent three weeks on his estate thinking about society and its structures. His sculptures of common washing facilities and a sitting bath are a result of his thoughts in the wilderness...

Laurie Ledingham took 168 hours to paint 168 images of the same old woman on a pane of glass. This repetition suggests that society treats all elderly people in the same way. Laurie who graduates in fine art, would like to see the time she spent painting each woman to be devoted to elderly people's individual needs and wishes.

Sally Parkes wants her work to be kept in the dark. Her stunning jewellery is inspired by scuba-diving. Made from flexible resin, fishing wire and fishtank tubing, the jewellery is designed to glow in ultra-violet light just like the bodies of tropical fish. Sally who has secured a work placement in New York with a science-fiction film company after she graduates says: "I wanted to make pieces that complement the female form and have an organic feel."

Joseph Andrew Haughey's textile portrays his classmates in a colourful collage. He took digital pictures of the students and manipulated the colours to produce this stunning and striking design. Joseph hopes to pursue interior design after graduation in Italy or Germany.

Private View: Friday 15 June, 6.30 - 9.30pm
Saturday 16 June 9.30am - 4.30pm, Sunday 17 June 9.30am - 4.30pm,
Monday to Friday 9.30am - 8.30pm and Saturday 23 June 9.30am - 2.00pm
Phone 01382 345330 and visit www.dundee.ac.uk/pressoffice/degreeshow01