Spike Island is delighted to announce the four recipients of this year’s Graduate Fellowships: three graduates from UWE Bristol’s Fine Art, Writing, and Photography programmes and one from Bath Spa University’s Fine Art programme.
Each year, Spike Island offers fellowships to promising emerging artists selected through an open call to graduating students. Fellows are awarded a studio at Spike Island for one year, giving them space and support to develop their professional practices within Bristol’s vibrant artistic community.
The 2026–27 Graduate Fellows are:
Tess Foley (b. 2002) graduated with a degree in Photography from UWE Bristol in 2026 and was awarded a Graduate Fellowship at Spike Island from 2026–27.
Foley is a fine-art photographer based in Bristol. Her practice is situated between the darkroom and out in the elements, where she allows the metallic plates that frame her photographs to develop unique patinas, reflecting the core concerns of her work: sensitivity and strength.
Foley is currently developing her graduate project: Crystal Garden (2025-) into an expanded installation. Crystal Garden is an investigation into the aperiodic experience of continuing to live in the company of sadness. The first iteration of this work was acquired in its entirety during a group exhibition at Copeland Gallery, London in 2026. Previous exhibitions of her work include group shows in Bristol at The Island, F-Block Gallery, and the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft.
Martha Fox graduated with a degree in Fine Art and Writing from UWE Bristol in 2026 and was awarded a Graduate Fellowship at Spike Island from 2026–27.
Fox is a conceptually driven artist who investigates societal structures, metaphors and what it means to be human. Her work presents as installations, happenings, socially engaged practice and performance. Community and audiences are an integral element of her practice and process.
Fox’s practice evolves through writing, conversation and the dynamics of life, as a way to make sense of the world around her. She is particularly interested in accessibility within the arts and enjoys using a multitude of mediums, often experimenting with found objects. She explores themes of existentialism, neurodiversity and the structures we exist in and next to. Fox’s work has been described as “an unfunny joke”.
Charli-Ann Padilla graduated with a degree in Fine Art from UWE Bristol in 2026 and was awarded a Graduate Fellowship at Spike Island from 2026–27.
Padilla’s practice is possible because of paint. In her experience, paint has been a medium that has taught her, while also allowing her to grow and make mistakes. The medium is forgiving but strict; it leaves room for growth but is equally as stubborn. It mentors you and learns alongside you. It’s like becoming familiar with one another’s habits – you eventually hit this point of synchronisation found in dance and movement – from one form to the other, moving energy throughout your body into the paint as if you were one.
Padilla’s practice is about understanding and learning, expanding the mind and exploring the depths of her imagination. Now entering the edge of the never-ending void of her imagination, she is experimenting with other materials and methods, searching for a new perspective.
I am constantly inspired by how paint moves, how it reacts to the slightest things, like a runny nose or a sore eye. I love how it shapeshifts like food, and how half the time you think that you’re in control but by the end of the painting the medium has made its own decisions.
– Charli-Ann Padilla
George Morgan graduated with a degree in Creative Arts Practice from Bath Spa University in 2026 and was awarded a Graduate Fellowship at Spike Island from 2026–27.
Morgan works responsively across sculpture, drawing and collage. He leans into physical processes of accumulating, deconstructing, organising, and reconfiguring material. Fragments of studio debris – tape, offcuts, and other overlooked material – accumulate over time and are repurposed into new arrangements. Morgan works with what appears to him, rather than seeking material out.
Morgan is drawn to unexpected combinations of found objects, embracing chance encounters with materials and people. Projects develop through play, collecting and re-arranging, while an awareness of what is kept or discarded remain central.
www.georgemorganartist.com
www.instagram.com/georgesprojectlog
Donate