A Glasgow School of Art (GSA) student is celebrating after overcoming serious illness to present his Postgraduate Degree show exhibition alongside his fellow students.
David Bridgeton is in his 60's and came into the MLitt Fine Art Practice course at the city institution as a mature student. After falling ill with influenza last year during his first semester, there were grave doubts he would survive let alone be able to rejoin his course.
Despite the difficulties with his health, Bridgeman, whose son graduated from GSA in 2020, has created a ‘brightly coloured and whimsical show’ for his exhibition based around fairgrounds and carnivals.
READ MORE: Work from Scottish artists to be showcased around the world
For his Postgraduate exhibition, Bridgeman built a traditional Aunt Sally game - a historical precursor of the coconut shy - where the Aunt Sally is knocked down by throwing sticks. Dating back as the 17th Century, it is the most popular pub game in and around Oxford but much less well-known elsewhere in the country.
Populated with antique faceless figures, Bridgeman weaves mischievous narratives that blur the lines of truth and fiction, and in the objects seeming chaotic senselessness, a playful and absurdist perspective through which to consider contemporary life.
Very much like his work, Bridgeman refused to be knocked down, and has found the value of art making and the community of other students at GSA a great support and inspiration.
He told The Herald: “One of the main reasons why completing the Masters this year was very special was the fact that I began the course last year but fell ill with influenza A after the first semester. I was in an induced coma and in respiratory for six weeks and it has taken a year to get well enough to be able to rejoin the course.
For his Postgraduate Degree show, David Bridgeman built a traditional Aunt Sally game (Image: GSA)
“GSA were very helpful and accommodating, especially their support services and made the return to the course seamless. I am very appreciative of that.”
The Glasgow School of Art’s Postgraduate Degree Show 2024 is one of Glasgow's largest public exhibitions of work from some of the world’s leading creative graduates.
This year’s MLitt Fine Art Practice cohort demonstrates a diverse set of student perspectives and experiences, with continuing students from the undergraduate degree, domestic and international students, as well as student from non-traditional routes who have come through widening participation’s portfolio preparation course.
The Fine Art Degree show finishes today (Friday), but the full Postgraduate Degree show continues, with the launch of exhibitions across The School of Design, School of Innovation & Technology and The Mackintosh School of Architecture, which will run till Sunday, September 8.
Each of the individual departments across the School provide an impressive glimpse into the innovation, creativity and energy that this new generation of talented artists will bring to the wider cultural economy and arts community.
Professor Penny Macbeth, Director of The Glasgow School of Art, said: "Every year our Masters’ students create inspiring and ground-breaking work.
“We are delighted to be welcoming visitors from across industry and our creative community to the campus for Postgraduate Degree Show to experience in person the remarkable outputs produced by this talented group of students.”
Bridgeman's works in the Fine Art postgraduate show are viewable along with all this years student work on the showcase on https://gsapostgradshowcase.net
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