FUAM 2026: The Friends of University Art and Music Graduate Art Prize

Celebrating its 14th year, the FUAM Graduate Art Prize exhibition showcases the artistic talent of students completing BA studies in Art and Design and Fine Art at the University of Leeds in 2026.

The 2026 finalists are:  

• Laura Gooch (BA Art & Design)
• Marcus Hills (BA Art & Design)
• Izzy Cheyne Jones (BA Fine Art)
• Melissa Nesbitt (BA Fine Art)  

This year’s selected artists each engage with how we relate to the world around us, through diverse practices which span sculpture, textiles, sound, installation and biomaterials.

Izzy Cheyne Jones’ work proposes how art can further our psychological and emotional relationship with our built environment, whilst Melissa Nesbitt explores the relationships between nature, memory, and family history.

Laura Gooch advocates for interspecies entanglement and the potential of human-fungal integration, whilst Marcus Hills’ humorous projects expose the absurdity in our treatment of the natural world.

All four demonstrate both technical excellence and artistic innovation.

The artworks featured in this exhibition have been selected from the artists’ final degree shows in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies and School of Design by an expert panel of judges. The 2026 judges are Claire Knowles (Acting Director of Library Services at the University of Leeds), Damon Jackson Waldock (Director of The Art House, Wakefield), and Khadijah Ibrahiim (poet, playwright, and Artistic Director of Leeds Young Authors).

The judges will return to choose the overall winner of the FUAM Graduate Art Prize 2026. Visitors are encouraged to vote for their favourite artist for the People’s Choice Award, either online or at the Gallery.

The FUAM Graduate Art Prize is generously supported by Friends of University Art and Music. 

See The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery website for further information including opening times.

Launch event

The exhibition launches at an evening opening event on Tuesday 15 September, 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Free event, all welcome.

Find out more and book your place.

Image

Left to right: Izzy Cheyne Jones, The louder the bark, The softer the bite, 2026 (detail). © The Artist. Photo: Jules Lister; Melissa Nesbitt, I hope you fall through, Call home to me, 2026 (detail). © The Artist. Photo: Jules Lister; Laura Gooch, MycoLiving: A visual exploration of the process of co-designing, 2026 (detail). © The Artist; Marcus Hills, New Ways of Listening, 2026 (detail). © The Artist.