University of Northampton students’ work will be displayed at Northampton’s new £14m arts space

The students' work from the last year will be in display.

Three students from the University of Northampton are set to be the first artists to display their work at the town’s newest cultural hub.

Postgraduate artists Georgia Watkins, Gillie Masters and Natasha Toms will have a year’s worth of work on show at Vulcan Works – a conversion that has just opened between Guildhall Road and Fetter Street in Northampton's Cultural Quarter.

“It's really exciting to be involved in one of the first few projects at Vulcan Works,” said Georgia.

NN Contemporary Art became the first tenant at Vulcan Works in July, while refurbishment work happens at its Guildhall Street base.

The students’ work will be on display for a week, from Thursday (September 23).

Georgia added: “The residency has given us the opportunity to share what we have been working on over the last year, and it’ll be great to get out there and make connections with the community of Northampton.

“Visitors will be able to see what we’ve been inspired by and how we’ve found a relationship between our practices.

“NN is a great resource for arts in Northampton and we would love to see the public getting involved.”

The event, called Beforetime, will feature a mix of print, paint, and photographic practices, which are based on the idea of a connection between what we conceive to be real and what is constructed.

“The images we deal with seem to form a visuality of time – ours, other people’s and other dimensions,” said Georgia.

“We feel this will inevitably invoke a sense of memory and imagination, of remembering the past, and other people’s time through their own reflection or imagination.

“At this point, the image becomes a vessel, or a portal to another dimension.”

Beforetime is open on Thursday 23, Friday 24, Saturday 25, Wednesday 29 and Thursday September 30, between 11am and 5pm.

The exhibition is located in St John’s Building, Vulcan Works, Fetter Street, Northampton, NN1 1EW.

Booking in advance is essential, which you can do through the event website.