We are the class of 2021, having just finished a BA in glass, ceramics, metalwork and jewellery at UCA in Farnham. Our show WE MADE IT, not only relates to the energy, skill, passion and determination we have put into our studies over the past three years but also refers to the extra strain that covid-19 has put on us all.

- Kate Courtney - Taylor

We are a collection of artists, designers and makers that cover many ways of working. We have students using blacksmithing techniques in a contemporary way; incorporating gold leaf into Rococo inspired pieces, altering farming equipment into new non-functional work through to conceptual sculptures.

The ceramics students are also just as varied, using thrown vessel forms as a canvas for expressive drawings and experiments with glaze, through to deeply evocative sculptures and functional ceramic furniture. There is also some highly intricate and detailed jewellery work that is extremely elegant in its construction and design.

Then there is me, the only glass student. Inspired by the links between the grotesque and the sublime, I create sculptures that explore my interchanging feelings of neglect, obsession, conflict and beauty, emotions that consume but are hard to fully describe.

The BA is structured so that in first year we get to try all elements; glass, ceramics, metal and jewellery, we then specialise in second year. By the third year most people are working in one medium to produce a final piece or series. Covid has meant that all this structure was turned upside down. We have had to adapt our working practices during lockdown in many ways. Using household elements to develop our ideas, we've had so much time to think (sometimes too much) and then when university opened we had to jump back into delivering a final show. It's been tough, people have considered dropping out, some people have had to, but WE MADE IT.

WE MADE IT is an ending we never dreamed we could have... tears were shed when I told people The Crafts Study Centre had agreed to help with an exhibition. The physicality of making is so important to us but also to people experiencing work. To move around the work, to see how the light plays on its surfaces, talk with the artists and understand more of the DNA of the piece. As humans we are all interconnected, covid has shown us this.

Moving back into normality we cannot lose sight of how important it is to make connections, to talk, to listen and to understand. Craft and making is a fantastic way to do this. When one human makes something, they embed a part of themselves into that piece. Only so much of this can be communicated virtually. We will be forever grateful that we can meet and talk about our work. If you are in Farnham please come to see our show and to chat with us.