ARU exhibition celebrates 1,800 hours of creativity
MA Fine Art graduates showcase work ranging from dolls’ houses to quantum theory
Man Box, by Owen Price
The culmination of 1,800 hours of individual artistic endeavour and experimentation will go on public display this week at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge.
A standard UK Master's degree requires 1,800 hours of study, which for each of ARU’s MA in Fine Art graduates equates to 108,000 minutes – or 6.48 million seconds – of dedication and creative risk-taking.
From Thursday, 24 July visitors will be able to experience the results firsthand in a free public exhibition showcasing the work of the 2026 MA Fine Art cohort at ARU’s Cambridge School of Art.
This year’s graduates include those with established professional practices seeking to push their work into new territory, emerging artists embarking on the next chapter of their careers, as well as individuals who have made dramatic career changes in pursuit of artistic expression.
The 2026 Fine Art Graduate Exhibition features a truly diverse range of work, including uncanny printed dolls’ houses, a life-sized action figure and body parts, 'Frankenstein' paintings, visualisations of quantum theory, biomorphic tufted textiles, hundreds of corn dolly fragments, monumental hand-woven nests and rusted steel forms.
“When I started the MA, it was a big career change for me, and I knew I wanted to leave the rulebook at home. In the ceramics studio at ARU, I have had both the physical and mental space to let my imagination run wild. My work in the MA exhibition is a creative investigation into historical folk objects and what they might mean to us today.”
MA Fine Art graduate Francesca Tomlinson“As a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and 2026 MA Fine Art graduate, balancing my studies alongside multiple jobs was one of the biggest challenges I faced.
“The experience has helped me refine my ideas, strengthen my conceptual approach, and gain a much clearer understanding of my artistic practice, which explores impermanence, uncertainty and human emotion through painting.”
Fellow graduate Jon WongFor art teacher Owen Price, studying the MA in Fine Art has helped to strengthen his artistic identity.
“As a teacher of art for many years, I felt I had neglected my own practice for too long. The course has been instrumental in helping me clarify my identity as an artist.
“It has brought a greater awareness of my purpose, vision and professionalism and guided me to be authentically me. I have ultimately used the course to move out of my comfort zone and to take risks experimenting with a wide range of materials, techniques and processes.”
Owen Price“The Degree Show is the best part of my job, where I can see just how far these artists have progressed from my first meeting with them.
“It is always a joy to see this, and it makes me very proud, not just of them as individuals, but of how we on the MA Fine Art course have been able to support them on this transformative journey. I wish them every success in the continuation of their artistic endeavours.”
Dr Véronique Chance, Course Director of ARU’s MA in Fine ArtThe public exhibition runs from 24-31 July in the Ruskin Gallery and adjoining studios at ARU’s East Road campus. The exhibition is open daily from 11am-4pm and entry is free.