UWE Bristol art students showcase work at Spike Island Open Studios
Spike Island – the home to UWE Bristol’s BA and MA Fine Art courses - opens its doors for the annual Open Studios event next month, offering a unique opportunity to explore an expansive network of artists, galleries, and creative businesses.
The Open Studios begins with a preview evening on Friday 2 May and runs until Sunday 4 May; visitors will be able to explore the working environments of the hundreds of artists, designers and creative businesses based there, including the UWE Bristol studio space on the ground floor of the building. They can meet the students and artists and see their working practices, enjoy family-friendly activities and browse unique art works for sale.
The BA Fine Art students will present new work, with group exhibitions Steganography and Shadows of Tomorrow, alongside a curated quiet space: THE LOWN FRAGMENT and student-designed bar. Events include fortune telling, screen-printing and fantastical costumed dance performances in honour of Beltane celebrations.
The MA Fine Art students present their work across two interlinking spaces adjacent to the BA Fine Art studios. The work circles the students’ preoccupations and research around materiality, time, and current challenging contexts, through video, performance, installation, painting, drawing, sculpture, and sound.
In addition, for people interested in studying MA in Fine Art or Curating, Dr Steven Paige, Programme Leader MA Fine Art, or Dr Marianne Mulvey, Programme Leader MA Fine Art: Curating, will be available to discuss UWE Bristol’s postgraduate arts courses, between 2pm – 4pm on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 May.
Megan Broadmeadow, lecturer in Fine Art, said: “Spike Open provides a unique opportunity for our UWE Fine Art students to create ambitious, playful and powerful statements about what art means to them; and in turn that encapsulates the spirit of Bristol’s cultural landscape at that moment in time. It’s an annual highlight of Bristol’s artistic community, and an event that is not to be missed.”
Spike Island Open Studios takes place on Friday 2 May between 6pm and 9pm (preview evening), and on Saturday 3 May and Sunday 4 May between 11am and 5pm.
More information, including how to book the preview evening, is available on the Spike Island website.
Related news
16 April 2025
More than 80 UK projects receive nearly £1.2 million in first Immersive Arts funding round
Almost £1.2 million has been allocated to 83 artist-led projects across the UK.
09 April 2025
UWE Bristol academics shaping the future of design across disciplines
Three senior leaders from the College of Arts, Technology and Environment have been appointed to prominent national roles in architecture, art and design.
04 April 2025
New partnership between UWE Bristol and Bristol Creative Industries will develop student talent network
UWE Bristol and Bristol Creative Industries (BCI) have formed a new partnership to support Bristol’s thriving creative businesses and provide enhanced careers opportunities to students entering the industry.
03 April 2025
Interdisciplinary studio bridging the gap between creative industries and technology opens at UWE Bristol
A new £3.6m laboratory has opened at UWE Bristol which will provide a unique arts, humanities and technologies multi-disciplinary space for researchers, entrepreneurs and businesses across the West of England.
07 March 2025
UWE Bristol and Ashton Park School transform urban landscape near university campus
Students bring creativity and a splash of colour to a well-used city underpass by painting a new mural celebrating diversity and inclusivity.
07 March 2025
UWE Bristol students triumph at regional RTS Awards
UWE Bristol filmmaking and animation students won three categories of the RTS West of England Student Awards, held at Watershed in Bristol on 3 March 2025.
03 February 2025
Exhibition celebrates inaugural year of students’ creative agency
Students from UWE Bristol’s New Wave Creative Agency will showcase their work at an exhibition at Arnolfini from 8 February.
22 January 2025
Talent collaboration programme UWE Futures expands to support diversity in Bristol's legal and creative sectors
UWE Bristol's talent programme, UWE Futures, which offers paid work experience to global majority students, has expanded in its second year to include more legal firms and a leading organisation in Bristol’s creative sector.
07 January 2025
Assistant Vice-Chancellor selected to join Creative Industries Taskforce
Assistant Vice-Chancellor Lynn Barlow has become part of a new taskforce to help deliver a plan to grow the UK’s creative industries.
10 December 2024
UWE Bristol wins TIGA Games Industry Award
UWE Bristol has won an award for Best Education Initiative at the 2024 TIGA Games Industry Awards.
09 December 2024
UWE Bristol architecture students return from ‘once in a lifetime’ bamboo pavilion build in Ethiopia
UWE Bristol architecture students travelled to Ethiopia where they designed and constructed a large-scale bamboo pavilion in a park close to the capital city.
27 November 2024
Carol Vorderman receives honorary doctorate from UWE Bristol
Broadcaster and writer Carol Vorderman MBE has been awarded an honorary degree by UWE Bristol.
You may also be interested in
Media enquiries
Enquiries related to news releases and press and contacts for the media team.
Find an expert
Media contacts are invited to check out the vast range of subjects where UWE Bristol can offer up expert commentary.