School of Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies

29/04/2026

Pitch: Fine Art Festival of Art 2026 launches today!

📅 29 April to 22 May

Our 2nd year Fine Art students are showcasing their work through a series of projects & exhibitions in a range of venues on campus & across Leeds.

Under the theme of ‘pitch’, the students have come together as thematic groups or as individuals to present their collective concerns, ideas or media in many different public contexts including restaurants, computer departments, pubs, churchyards & mobile sheds.

All spaces, indoors or out, are being considered as possible venues and the opportunity to pitch their work to a diverse range of audience.

pitch: Fine Art Festival of Art 2026 is part of Situation Leeds Festival, happening across May & June 2026, celebrating contemporary art in the public realm. Situation Leeds is supported by Yorkshire Visual Arts Network and Hyde Park Book Club.

Free, all welcome!

*Index of exhibitions*

Flea Circus
29 April to 6 May
7 to 16 May at North Bar, Leeds

Women and Identity
Tuesday 14 April, 10am to 5pm at grounded&co, Leeds

Memories of Meanwood: : A Response to the history of Pyramid of Arts
1 to 18 May at Pyramid of Arts

食飯 (s*k faan)
1 May, 5-11pm at Magic Wok, Bradford

The Shed
2 & 3 May, Dagmar Wood, Headingley
5 & 6 May at Left Bank. Leeds
9 & 10 May at St Michaels Church, Headingley

Beyond the Surface
4 May, 12-2pm at Hyde Park Book Club

Σ(in)+compass
4 to 8 May (online)

Bygones
5 to 8 May, Maurice Keyworth building, University of Leeds

Elsewhere
5 & 6 May, 10am-4pm at Slung Low, The Warehouse In Holbeck

Where Connection Moves Us
5 May, 11am-2.30pm at Hyde Park Book Club

I Eat Therefore I Am
5 to 22 May (online archive project)

Pinch Punch
5 to 22 May in Room 2.07, Sir William Henry Bragg Building, University of Leeds

DND: Interactive Conquest
6 May, 6-9pm at Common Ground, Leeds University Union

Movement
7 to 14 May at Northlight Arts Centre

Counterculture
8 May, 3pm-midnight at the Primrose Pub, Leeds

Leave Me Tender
8 May, 6-8pm at Chunk Bakery, Kirkstall

Life could be beautiful if you let it
9 May, 2-7.30pm at Headingley Enterprise and Arts Centre

RAW: The Visceral and Vulnerable
9 May, 1-6pm at ChapelFortyNine, Leeds

Traces of Form
9 May, 4-8pm at Assembly House

Artificial Ecologies
Invitation only

Find out more about each exhibition and project, and the artists taking part:

https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art/events/event/3712/pitch-fine-art-festival-of-art-2026

Image: Selection of works by artists taking part in pitch: Fine Art Festival of Art 2026: Molly Clarke and Georgia Warrington; Mia Somerville; Laura Green; Tony Carey; Elsa Guidon; Elizabeth Williams-Bulkeley; Emily Wadsworth.

21/04/2026

* Call for poetry and prose readings for Words Worth Reading: The Writers' Room launch on 27 April *

Contributions are welcome from students, staff and Postgraduate Researchers from the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (at the University of Leeds for an event organised as part of Words Worth Reading: The Writers' Room.

Words Worth Reading: The Writers’ Room is an upcoming exhibition curated by ChrisTaylor, Simon Lewandowski and Lu Rose Cunningham, opening next week in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies’ Project Space.

The exhibition and events programme bring together the Wild Pansy Press (celebrating its 30th year) and an array of London and Northern-based artists who have undertaken its London residency.

The opening event on Monday 27 April (5 to 8pm) will include readings from 6:30 to 7.15pm.

We invite you to give a reading of your original poetry or prose related to one of the following subjects:

• art
• publishing
• printing presses
• communal practices
• community
• experimental literature
• automatic writing
• other related suggestions welcome

If you would like to participate, please email [email protected] with your name, school, title of the reading, duration and sample of writing by 4pm on Friday 24 April.

Individual poetry and prose readings should be a maximum of 5-7 minutes long.

Find out more about the call for poetry and prose readings:

https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art/news/article/3074/call-for-poetry-and-prose-readings-for-words-worth-reading-the-writers-room

Details about the exhibition & wider events programme of workshops and panel discussion:

https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art/events/event/3702/words-worth-watching-the-writers-room

📷 Writing workshop at The Writers’ Room. Photo by Lu Rose Cunningham.

08/04/2026

Colleagues from the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies are participating in panels and receiving fellowships at this year’s Association for Art History Annual Conference.

Taking place this year from 8-10 April at the University of Cambridge, the conference brings together international research and critical debate about art, art history and visual cultures.

*How British is British Surrealism?*

In this panel session, Dr Anna Reid (Senior Lecturer in the History of Art) presents a paper on the political aesthetics of works by the Argentine-British artist and surrealist Eileen Agar (1899-1991) made in the Canary Islands (northern Tenerife) in the 1950s.

*Art History Warmed up?*

Convened by Dr Elspeth Mitchell (Lecturer in Feminism and Visual Culture) and Dr Gill Park (Associate Professor in Contemporary Art and Curating), this panel brings feminist, decolonial and materialist perspectives to bear on questions of climate, image-making and planetary survival.

*Archiving precarious histories of art*

Elspeth Mitchell and other team members behind the Feminist Art Making Histories oral history archive lead a workshop to discuss the challenges of working on precarious histories of modern and contemporary art, and to launch the Feminist Art Making Histories collection of fifty oral histories with artists, curators and writers (1970s to the 1990s).

*Association for Art History Fellowships*

Association for Art History Fellowships recognise individuals who have made outstanding contributions to art history and its wider public understanding.

This year’s new Fellows include campaigner for art education, Abigail Harrison Moore (Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at the University of Leeds), London-based artist, educationalist and University of Leeds alumna Sutapa Biswas, and independent curator and art consultant Adrian Locke.

Sutapa Biswas’ fellowship was conferred on Wednesday 8 April, presented by Gill Park and Elspeth Mitchell. Park and Mitchell nominated Biswas for her profound and sustained contribution to contemporary art and to the field of art history, which has reshaped how we understand imperialism, gender, knowledge and power in visual culture.

Through leading advocacy for and access to Art History for over 30 years, Abigail Harrison Moore’s work has generated significant, evidenced, impactful change. Abigail’s Fellowship will be presented on Friday 10 April by art historian Dr Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth, a curator and senior academic who gained her PhD from the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies in 2019.

Find out more in this news story:

https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art/news/article/3075/leeds-academics-to-take-part-in-association-for-art-history-annual-conference-in-cambridge

📷 Feminist Art Making Histories Workshop, Loughborough 2024 (photo Hilary Robinson); Professor Abigail Harrison Moore with teachers at Art Teachers Connect 2025 (photo Andy Lord).

24/03/2026

*PhD studentship available to research how museum collections help us understand domestic energy pasts and futures*

Applications are open for a fully funded studentship from October 2026 under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme.

The project is a unique collaboration between the University of Leeds' School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies & the School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability, and the Museum of the Home.

The PhD is titled ‘Intimate Energies: How do museum collections help us see the power of unrecognised actors (often women) in the history and future of energy demand?’.

Using historical research in the Museum of the Home, it explores a new perspective on energy history by focusing on intimate encounters with energy in the household – cleaning, feeding, health and comfort – and on the agency of women in negotiating energy decisions.

The Museum of the Home collections, documenting the expansion of London and new (commuter) lifestyles that instigated different patterns of energy use show that the promise was that new energies would make life easier – but for whom, under what conditions?

The project will be jointly supervised by Professors Abigail Harrison Moore and Alice Owen from the University of Leeds, and Ailsa Hendry (Collections Manager) and Aurelien Enjalbert (Assistant Curator) at the Museum of the Home.

The successful student will be expected to spend time at both the University of Leeds and the Museum of the Home, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK.

The closing date for applications is 2pm on 1 May 2026.

Interviews will take place on 1 June 2026.

Find out more about this opportunity in this article on our school website:

https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art/news/article/3064/phd-studentship-available-to-research-how-museum-collections-help-us-understand-domestic-energy-pasts-and-futures

Full details including how to apply can be found here:

https://phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/2467-ahrc-cdp-intimate-energies-how-do-museum-collections-help-us-see-unrecognised-actors-in-the-history-and-future-of-energy

The AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership consortium will host an online webinar for prospective applicants on 13 April 2026 at 11:00 to provide an overview of the CDP funding scheme. Info in our news story.

📷 A display of vacuum cleaners, Museum of the Home. Image © Museum of the Home.

10/03/2026

* Alumni Exhibition – Here, Elsewhere 慢漫曼幔 | Tien Hsin Solo Show *

Here, Elsewhere is an exhibition by MA Fine Art University of Leeds alumna Tien Hsin, curated by MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies graduate Poe Liu.

After completing her studies in Leeds last year, Tien Hsin travelled to Arraiolos, Portugal, for a month-long residency before returning to Taiwan.

With sketchbook in hand, she gathered the traces of each place. The grey skies of England, the warmth of southern Europe, and the humid heat of Taipei gradually formed a lens through which she began to understand her own way of seeing.

The exhibition runs from 7 March to 5 April 2026 at CirCurate Space, an art space in Keelung, Taiwan, founded by Poe.

Find out more at www.circurate.co 👇

https://www.circurate.co/event/here-elsewhere

📷 Artwork by Tien Hsin

06/03/2026

A Space Already Full at The Painted Church, Cambridge, opens this Saturday at 2pm.

This new exhibition showcases work by Working Spaces – a collective of five UK artists including Moyra Derby and Jo McGonigal from the University of Leeds

📅 Opens 7 March from 2pm
Exhibition continues 8 to 29 March

📍 All Saints’ Church
Jesus Lane
Cambridge
CB5 8BP

Working Spaces is an artist collective and research group set up by five UK artists (based in London, Yorkshire and Colchester) exploring the wider spatial contexts of painting in contemporary art practice:

Katrina Blannin
Moyra Derby
Catherine Ferguson
Della Gooden
Jo McGonigal

The installation of artworks in The Painted Church respond to the unique qualities of the intensely decorated church interior, generating new relationships in what is ‘A Space Already Full’.

The fullness of colour, shape and pattern decisions in this space are approached as compositional elements to be reactivated.

The works are positioned in response to incidental details, drawing attention to visual and spatial contingencies, patinas, motifs and repetitions as aspects of picture-making.

The Victorian Gothic context of architectural and design decisions at The Painted Church offers a layered narrative of complex social and aesthetic histories and resonance, which are put into dialogue with the concerns of contemporary painting and drawing.

Find out more:

https://www.thepaintedchurch.co.uk/events.html

📷 Jo McGonigal, work in progress, A Space Already Full, 2026.

06/03/2026

MA Fine Art student Bethany Wilson is taking part at a performance night this weekend at Sunny Bank Mills!

📅 Saturday 7 March, 18:30 – 21:00

📍 Sunny Bank Mills
83-85 Town Street
Farsley
Pudsey LS28 5UJ

Join Sunny Bank Mills in the Gallery during their annual Print Festival for performances and a drop-in workshop from this year’s Ones to Watch cohort!

Throughout the evening, three of the Ones to Watch 2026 artists will showcase other areas of their practices with live performances:

* Bethany Wilson *

GLORB invites you to question our relationship with celebrities and how fandom affects us in day-to-day life. GLORB is the first ever personalised idol they are whatever you want an idol to be, they are perfection incarnate. (Approx 10 minutes.)

* The Futures Past Coalition *

The Coalition will be performing a piece about power and politics and the idea that tolerance is one of the great paradoxes of our time (reference Philosopher Karl Popper). The work does not directly take political sides – it offers food for thought bringing together Lyndon’s poem and quotations from, for example, George Orwell. It seeks to raise thoughts about division and control. The audience will be encouraged to participate in a call and response manner. (Approx 20 minutes.)

* Jude Kershaw *

Join a character from Yorkshire’s past as she spills all, the past can be shocking: there may be tears, there might be laughter! This is an exciting opportunity to see new material and a new historical character by Jude Kershaw. (Approx 10 minutes.)

There will also be a drop-in zine-making workshop led by Ones to Watch artist Abbie Bruff.

*Book your place*

Entry is just £3.50 per person (free entry for carers)

Full info:

https://www.sunnybankmills.co.uk/arts/gallery/ones-to-watch-2026/

Images:

1. Poster shows artist Bethany Wilson leaning on a mannequin wearing a blue 'I love Michael Palin' t-shirt with light projections in the background.

2. Full Circle by artist Bethany Wilson in Ones To Watch 2026 at Sunny Bank Mills Gallery. Photo by Harry Meadley.

24/02/2026

Studying a Masters at Leeds is a great way to enhance your employability and gain industry experience at one of the top 10 most targeted universities by the UK’s top graduate employers 🎓

Discover your next steps to postgraduate study at our Masters Discovery Fair on Wednesday 11 March, where you can:
💬 Speak to academic staff
💰 Get funding advice
🏙️ Learn about life as a postgraduate student at Leeds

Find out more and book your spot 👇
https://www.leeds.ac.uk/masters-discovery-fair?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=uk_masters_26&utm_content=comms

14/02/2026

We’re excited to see so many of our students, alumni and staff are featured in the BIG LOVE SHOW – an exhibition and book curated by artist, writer, University of Leeds fine art alumni & Menace George Storm Fletcher, working with the team at Hyde Park Art Club.

📅 14 February to 14 April 2026

📍 Hyde Park Book Club
27-29 Headingley Lane
Leeds LS6 1BL

🥂 Launch event: Sunday 15 February from 5pm

BIG LOVE explores the meaning of love in an expanded form. An enquiry of this kind only makes sense when it’s shared with others - for this reason, the works were selected through an open call.

The artists in the show reflect on the theme and tickle a curious understanding of love and loving. The BIG LOVE Book expands the exhibition with a further 50 contributors into 226 pages full of art, prose and poetry in all imaginable forms.

Join the artists for the launch of BIG LOVE on 15 February from 5pm for an artist’s talk with George and the hydeparkartclub team, incl. Benedetta D'Ettorre, followed by readings from poets Tom Branfoot, Tallulah Howarth and Kurtis Brade. After this, DJ Subaru will be spinning records until 10pm.

Find out more about BIG LOVE and book your place for the launch event:

https://www.hydeparkbookclub.co.uk/the-big-love-show-14022026-14042026

Available for purchase at the launch, The BIG LOVE book is a beautiful forever publication, full of LOVE - yours for £25.

You can pre-order your copy by visiting the Hyde Park Book Club website:

https://www.hydeparkbookclub.co.uk/merch/big-love-book

14/02/2026