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Sight and sound:Students offer a feast for the senses at Masters Degree Show 2011

Postgraduate students at Gray's School of Art have been hard at work over the summer months preparing for the Masters Degree Show exhibition which launches tonight (Friday 2 September).

Sean Ambrose (25) from Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, has created a series of large- scale, colourful paintings that explore the beauty in industrial architecture, highlighting 'man-made fingerprints' left on the modern landscape.

He explains: "Industry has developed all around us to sustain our lifestyles yet these accomplishments of engineering are not typically viewed as attractive, more as eyesores or blots on the landscape."

The former Aberdeen Grammar School pupil, who embarked on a Royal Scottish Academy Scholarship to Italy in 2008 and was also featured in their prestigious New Contemporaries Exhibition in Edinburgh, has injected colour and shape into traditionally grey landscapes.

He continues: "Inspired by the industrial revolution and recent events including the Fukoshima nuclear disaster in Japan, I have created my own visual response and interpretation, highlighting how the constructed and natural environments can both co-exist and be aesthetically-pleasing."

Susan Hepburn (65) from Milltimber has created an installation featuring photographs, film and 'concrete poetry', exploring her experiences in dealing with deafness by posing the question: 'What does deaf look like?'

At the age of 28, after battling tonsillitis and meningitis, Susan was left partially deaf. The condition has deteriorated over the past thirty years, meaning Susan is now severely deaf and uses a hearing aid.

She explains: "I hope to encourage visitors at the exhibition to experience my reality of sound by engaging with and understanding how I hear, and in return, regaining an appreciation of their senses and the value of hearing."

Susan's installation includes a series of photographs featuring images of shells and other objects in the shape of the inner and outer ear, and her hearing aid.

Her concrete forms of various words, including 'Hush' and 'Murmur', act as visual representations of sounds.

She continues: "Hearing is a vital sense, and its synergy with visual images enhances an individual's overall communication and understanding of the world. I want visitors to gain an awareness of how I communicate in life and in my work, with only vestiges of that sense."

Susan, who previously achieved a first class honours degree in Humanities with Art History from the Open University, worked as Project Secretary for the On the Edge Research Project at Gray's where she also also undertook a series of short courses before embarking on her Masters.

She adds: "The support and guidance I have received from the team at Gray's and the Disability and Dyslexia Service, has allowed me to take a meaningful part in tutorials and seminars. Meeting and exchanging ideas with other students, as well as learning about new methodologies, has really opened up and enhanced my practice."

Iain Irving, Course Leader for the Masters Course, said: "The Masters Degree Show is the culmination of an intense full year of development and study by the students. Our 2011 Masters students have demonstrated a wide range of contemporary practice, whether their work is rooted in design, fine art or in innovative, cross-disciplinary contexts, ensuring the ongoing relevance of their work as they move forward as professional practitioners."

The Masters Degree Show is an opportunity for the cohort of 12 Master of Fine Art and Master of Design students, including students from Greece, Slovenia and Hungary, to publicly exhibit their stimulating new work. The exhibition will showcase a diverse range of socially and critically engaged work using time- based media, painting, installation, performance and photography from tomorrow's talented conceptual thinkers, artists and designers.

After its launch tonight (Friday 2 September), the exhibition will continue at Gray's School of Art, Garthdee Road, Aberdeen until Saturday 10 September. It is open to the public from 10am-8pm Monday to Friday, and 10am-5pm on Saturdays.

Please visit www.rgu.ac.uk/mastersdegreeshow <http://www.rgu.ac.uk/mastersdegreeshow> for more information.

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