Students selected to showcase work at this year's Leeds Summer Group Show at Leeds Playhouse
Works by MA Fine Art student Rebecca O'Hooley and BA History of Art student Robin Stones have been selected for the Leeds Summer Group Show 2025.
Established in 2015, the Leeds Summer Group Show is an annual open-call exhibition celebrating visual arts talent from across the UK.
This year’s edition takes place at Leeds Playhouse from 3 to 23 July 2025. The exhibition is accompanied by an online catalogue.
Curated by Court Spencer in partnership with Leeds Playhouse, the show launched with a relaxed preview evening on Wednesday 2 July.
Rebecca O’Hooley and Robin Stones – both students in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies – are showing their work alongside a group of 53 other artists.
Rebecca O'Hooley, Go There Another Day (2025). Oil on cotton, 91.4x61cm.
Artist Rebecca O’Hooley is a part-time MA Fine Art student at the University of Leeds. Her work recently featured in two iterations of this year’s MA Fine Art Interim Show – I Never Agreed to Lend My Voice – in February (School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies) and May (Hyde Park Book Club).
Rebecca said:
“I am an oil painter, and my work is concerned with human relationships, intimacy, gestures and the strangeness of family interactions.
"The major theme of landscape as a metaphor for the unseen acts of caring features heavily in my paintings.
“Fundamentally, my work is autobiographical and layered with narratives and meanings.
Rebecca O'Hooley, Algorithm (2025). Oil on cotton, 40 x 40cm.
“Although my work is personal to me, it is also not necessarily intentional for my story to be obvious or understood by the viewer, only hoping that someone may identify with one small element of the picture in some way.
“I am so pleased that one of my paintings – Algorithm – has been selected for the Leeds Summer Group Show 2025.”
Rebecca O'Hooley, Threshold (2025). Oil on cotton, 40x40cm.
Robin Stones is between the second and third year of a BA History of Art degree at the University of Leeds.
Robin said:
“I am a self-taught artist from rural North Lincolnshire, now living in Leeds. Recently, I've been experimenting with found objects and photography, and my work often deals with contradictions found within nostalgia, heritage and worth.
“Keadby 1 is the result of a long-term project where I photograph the Keadby Power Station as I pass it weekly on the train to work. Keadby Village is where I grew up. I've taken what must be around 100 photos of Keadby 1.
“Central to the piece is a ticket to a cancelled train. It commemorates the day my journey to work was cancelled due to the death of another person. My piece attempts to keep a connection to moments which allow us to feel for another being in the face of often emotionally numbing, oversaturated effects of late-stage capitalism.”
Robin Stones, Keadby 1 (2025). Thermal print receipt paper, old wooden tabletop, metal tacks, 82.55 x 58.42cm.
Robin has also created a zine based on this piece. Robin said:
“Keadby 1 from a train is a short zine featuring photographs I take of the power-station Keadby 1 as I pass the site on the train each week to work. The photographs are then printed through a thermal receipt printer and scanned to create the focal point of each page.
“Representing many journeys, the zine ultimately ends with a printed ticket for a cancelled train.”
Robin Stones, Keadby 1 from a train (2025). Zine.
Dr Cesar Cornejo, programme lead for the MA Fine Art course at the University of Leeds, said:
“We are thrilled that Rebecca O’Hooley’s talent is recognized while still in her first year in the MA Fine Art programme at the University of Leeds.
“We look forward to many other opportunities that participating in this exhibition may bring.”
Dr Rebecca Starr, Lecturer in History of Art and Admissions Tutor, said:
“It’s great to see Robin Stones’ work included in the Leeds Summer Group Show exhibition.
“By developing his art practice and pursuing such wonderful opportunities alongside studying for his History of Art degree, Robin is truly making the most of the vibrancy of the Leeds arts scene.”
Robin Stones, Keadby 1 from a train (2025). Zine.
More information
The Leeds Summer Group Show 2025 runs from 3 to 23 July at Leeds Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7UP. The online catalogue is available here.
Find out more about Rebecca O’Hooley on Instagram @rebecca_ohooley
Find out more about Robin Stones on Instagram @deadrobinart
Feature image
From left:
Rebecca O’Hooley, Algorithm (2025). Oil on cotton, 40 x 40cm.
Robin Stones, Keadby 1 (2025). Thermal print receipt paper, old wooden tabletop, metal tacks, 82.55 x 58.42cm.
