Gradwatch 2026: Grace Moran, University of Brighton

Grace Moran takes great inspiration from nature in the creation of her art. This includes everyday experiences of the trees and plants she sees in the tree nursery in Brighton where she volunteers, but also other “unconventional and experimental techniques”, including mudlarking, metal detecting and underwater photography.

These experiences, and her daily walk to university, culminated in her Urban Trees project, a series of paintings documenting how trees integrate with city life. “On my walk to university through suburbia, I started to notice the city trees more,” Moran explains. “I liked how they interacted with the urban world around them.

“I liked the silhouette of them against the angular symmetrical shape of the tower blocks and houses and how in some places they were touched by their human neighbours. Bunting was hung from them; posters were stuck onto them and streetlights shone through their branches. These are the trees most people know and these I found were the trees that we so often needed.”

Moran has recently graduated from the illustration course at the University of Brighton, where she was encouraged by her course leaders to be playful. “There is a lovely sense of community in the course which I have heard has been lost over the years at other unis and courses,” she says of her time at Brighton.

“I think that the course leader’s stubbornness to keep old traditions that encourage playfulness and interaction between the year groups is at the heart of this. At times my playfulness has been hard to encourage out for me as I am a person of habit. However, my course and tutors have shown me how this can benefit my work.

Playfulness can be about finding new and interesting ways to document and research. Experimenting has really broadened my practice

“Playfulness doesn’t always have to mean loose expressive work; it can also be about finding new and interesting ways to document and research. This is what I began to discover in my final year – experimenting with different research techniques has really broadened my practice.”

While at university and before Moran has undertaken commissions and sold prints of her work. “In first year, I had an amazing opportunity to design the poster for the Raymond Briggs exhibition in Ditchling,” she says. “It was such an honour to be chosen as I have always been a big fan since I was a child. I have also worked alongside author Lizzie Pepper illustrating her book series.”

Despite all the talk of AI at the moment, Moran has no interest in the tech, and instead hopes the art world “can become more analogue again”. “I have never seen it create something which the human hand could not do better, including natural mistakes and quirks,” she continues. “I feel like art is a very human thing and it cannot be programmed.”

On a personal level, she finds art a great “outlet”. “It lets me be in my own world away from worries and general life,” she explains. “Usually whilst painting I listen to an audiobook or video and enter an almost meditative state. This is great for me as I can often be an anxious person. I haven’t found anything else in the world quite like it.”

She continues to take commissions and hopes that her paintings may result in an exhibition in time, plus is also open to new opportunities too. “My challenge ahead is to continue my art and hopefully create a career from it,” she says. “Hopefully all the challenges and side quests along the way will fuel my practice.”