Unemployment and burnout issues spotlighted by Arts University Plymouth students

Dezeen School Shows: an illustration project exploring issues with employment within the creative industries is among the projects from Arts University Plymouth.

Also featured is a toolkit for creatives when experiencing burnout, and a fashion project informed by the taboos of women experiencing anger.

Arts University Plymouth

Institution: Arts University Plymouth
School: Arts University Plymouth
Courses: BA (Hons) Game Arts and Animation, BA (Hons) Graphic Design, BA (Hons) Illustration, BA (Hons) Photography, BA (Hons) Interior Design and Styling, BA (Hons) Craft and Material Practices, BA (Hons) Textile Design and BA (Hons) Fashion Design
Tutors: Martial Bugliolo, Amy Pike, Ben Wright, Sam Rowe, Gabriel Van Ingen, Cathryn Bishop, Ally Turner, Gayle Matthias, Emma Gribble and Heather Martin

School statement:

“Arts University Plymouth is a specialist arts university in Plymouth, Britain’s Ocean City, delivering creative education for a changing world. Founded in 1856 as Plymouth Drawing School, the university celebrates 170 years of creative education in 2026.

“Across more than 13,000 square metres of studios, labs and workshops, students work between analogue and digital processes, from glass, textiles, fashion and print to photography, game design, animation, interiors, visual communication and emerging technologies.

“Facilities include Fab Lab South West, specialist material and fabric studios, print facilities, photography resources and digital production spaces, supporting students to test ideas through making.

“As an Adobe Creative Campus, Arts University Plymouth supports practical skills, critical thinking and professional confidence through studio-based learning, collaboration and real-world creative practice.

“The university is the top-scoring specialist arts university in the UK in the National Student Survey for four consecutive years, 2022 to 2025, and is ranked 5th in the UK for student satisfaction in the Complete University Guide 2026.”

Wolf Alice in Cardiff by Anna Leader

“Anna Leader is a music photographer and founder of Sound Magazine, an independent publication pairing live music photography with interviews and editorial storytelling.

“The magazine has featured artists including Wolf Alice, The Royston Club, The Last Dinner Party and Kaiser Chiefs, with Anna photographing and interviewing bands across the UK and Europe.

“Through the project, Anna examines how women are photographed, represented and discussed in music culture, responding to objectification, beauty standards and industry power dynamics.

“Sound Magazine has reached international readers, with copies sold in Texas and the Netherlands.”

Student: Anna Leader
Course: BA (Hons) Photography
Tutor: Gabriel Van Ingen
Email: annaaleader[at]gmail.com

Missing_Title by Alice Ann Kelly

“Alice Ann Kelly is a Devon-based illustrator and graphic designer whose work uses colour, clarity and play to make visual communication more accessible.

“Their featured illustration draws on local folklore surrounding UFO sightings, placing strange characters and hidden details within a pastoral night-time landscape.

“Set beneath a large moon and bands of pink cloud, the image invites viewers to search for visual clues across the fields and hills.

“Alice uses bright vector-based imagery, bold outlines and comic timing to turn the landscape into a playful puzzle, balancing immediate impact with slower narrative discovery.”

Student: Alice Ann Kelly
Course: BA (Hons) Illustration
Tutors: Ben Wright and Sam Rowe
Email: alkelabco[at]gmail.com

How’s, what’s and why’s? by Marriott Witney

“Marriott Witney’s graduate project is a monoscenic narrative illustration about entering the creative industries amid self-employment, uncertainty and AI-generated imagery.

“Created in response to a brief about students’ hopes for the future, the work turns Marriott’s post-graduation concerns into a dense, character-led scene.

“It considers starting a creative business as a young artist while questioning how computer-generated images affect contemporary illustration.

“Marriott uses humour, visual detail and sequential storytelling to create a scene that also acts as a checklist for staying connected to creative enjoyment, personal history and visual identity.”

Student: Marriott Witney
Course: BA (Hons) Illustration
Tutors: Ben Wright and Sam Rowe
Email: zigzagillustrator[at]gmail.com

167 Miles of Yarn by Tom Bennett

“Tom Bennett’s 167 Miles of Yarn translates the beginning of a long-distance relationship into glass, wool yarn and photography.

“The title refers to the 167 miles between two people, with the work reflecting how separate lives begin to interweave while remaining apart.

“The sculpture comprises two glass elements connected by yarn wound around a large cone, shown through a large-scale photograph.

“A cast glass fingertip, worn on the body, suggests touch and absence, while a woven glass element uses colour, translucency and repeated lines to hold delicacy and tension.”

Student: Tom Bennett
Course: BA (Hons) Craft and Material Practices
Tutor: Gayle Matthias
Email: info[at]tombennett.art

Future Archaeology by Ippei Takizawa

“Ippei Takizawa’s Future Archaeology encloses a mass-produced toy inside a hand-cut faceted glass vessel, turning a familiar object into a speculative relic.

“The cut surfaces distort, repeat and blur the toy, making it visible but unreachable. Using glass casting, blown glass, facet cutting, mould-making and digital fabrication, Ippei explores how commercial objects shift in meaning when removed from use and treated as artefacts.

“Drawing on kiddult culture, the project links toys and characters to memory, nostalgia and value, asking when an everyday object becomes something to observe, protect or revere.”

Student: Ippei Takizawa
Course: BA (Hons) Craft and Material Practices
Tutor: Gayle Matthias
Email: ippeitakizawa.art[at]gmail.com

La Casa Holganza: Greek Guest House by Emilie Belin-Bye

“Emilie Belin-Bye’s La Casa Holganza is a series of three East Devon guest houses designed around Mediterranean ideas of rest, health and shared living.

“Meaning ‘the house of idleness’ in Spanish, each house takes cues from Greece, Italy or Spain.

“Open-plan layouts encourage light, airflow and easy movement, while terracotta, timber and exposed stone reference Mediterranean material traditions.

“The Greek guest house uses handcrafted surfaces, warm textures and natural light to shape a calm, social guest experience.

“Emilie developed her CAD and BIM skills during a sandwich year at SHH Architecture and Interior Design in London.”

Student: Emilie Belin-Bye
Course: BA (Hons) Interior Design and Styling
Tutors: Cathryn Bishop and Ally Turner
Email: embelinteriors[at]gmail.com

Reset Deck by Jessika McCarron

“Jessika McCarron’s Reset Deck is a 40-card prompt system for creatives facing block, imposter syndrome or burnout.

“Designed as a toolkit rather than a game, it has no scoring, winning or fixed rules. Cards can be selected at random, chosen by mood or used with others.

“The designs use black grounds, saturated pink and orange and bold typographic prompts such as Colour and Disrupt, giving each card a direct, physical presence.

“Rather than promising a cure, Reset Deck offers a practical way to pause, shift direction and begin again.”

Student: Jessika McCarron
Course: Extended BA (Hons) Graphic Design
Tutor: Amy Pike
Email: jessie[at]jessiemakes.co.uk

Textile Botanica: The One Pot Colour System by Rachel Byrne

“Rachel Byrne’s Textile Botanica: The One Pot Colour System turns botanical dye baths into a circular colour library of fibres, pigments, inks, knits and printed surfaces.

“Arranged as columns of plant-derived colour, the work traces how sources including madder, weld, logwood, oak gall and daffodil can move from dyeing into residual pigment and ink making.

“Rachel’s material-led practice connects natural dye knowledge with contemporary textile research, using a one-pot process to reduce waste while showing the expressive range of colour from plant to surface.”

Student: Rachel Byrne
Course: BA (Hons) Textile Design
Tutor: Emma Gribble
Email: rachel.byrne[at]kaito-craft.co.uk

Gorgon Unbound – Gorgon Unbound We Bite Back by Evalynne Holloway

“Evalynne Holloway’s Gorgon Unbound – We Bite Back reimagines Medusa through female rage, punk and Greek armour.

“Made from reclaimed and second-hand materials, the collection turns discarded fabrics into sharp, sculptural garments.

“Stitching, silhouette and body-conscious design are used to challenge portrayals of women as fragile, passive or villainous, instead presenting the body as powerful and defiant.

“Combining mythology with sustainable fashion practice, Evalynne’s collection uses clothing as a form of resistance, giving shape to anger, agency and visibility.”

Student: Evalynne Holloway
Course: BA (Hons) Fashion Design
Tutors: Heather Martin
Email: figurafloraclothing[at]gmail.com

Missing_Title by Beth West

“Beth West’s Missing_Title is a 2D game demo about Anya, a girl mysteriously trapped inside her computer.

“As Anya moves through the game, the world glitches, revealing fragments of a reality beyond the screen.

“Beth uses this unstable digital space as a metaphor for loneliness, building a story through broken environments, visual distortion and small moments of player interaction.

“Combining simple movement mechanics with detailed digital scenes, the demo invites players to understand Anya’s experience through atmosphere, setting and character.

“A concept art book traces Beth’s process from visual development to playable prototype.”

Student: Beth West
Course: BA (Hons) Game Arts and Animation
Tutor: Martial Bugliolo
Email: bethcgwest[at]gmail.com

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Arts University Plymouth. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

The post Unemployment and burnout issues spotlighted by Arts University Plymouth students appeared first on Dezeen.