Ipswich graduate thanks tutors with crocheted caricatures

An Ipswich artist has marked the end of her degree with a thank-you made of yarn. Gemma Upson, who has just graduated in Fine Art from the University of Suffolk, crocheted a caricature of every one of her tutors and technicians. She then posed for photos with the team and their woollen alter egos at her graduation ceremony on Tuesday 20 October 2026.

A thank-you in wool

Gemma, who is 45, made some of the caricatures between her first and second years. She finished the rest over the summer after the course ended. The idea began when she came back from the summer break in her second year. She had enjoyed the first year so much that she wanted to celebrate the people who made it special.

“I had returned from the summer break in second year and made a caricature of each of them because I had enjoyed the first year so much, I just wanted to celebrate them because they are all amazing characters.”

By the time the Arts Degree Show was installed in June, Gemma was working more with the technicians. She didn’t want to leave anyone out. She says no amount of time is too much for the team to give, and that they are always there if you have questions or problems.

Album covers with a B-side

Gemma’s final-year work was a striking centrepiece at the Arts Degree Show this summer. Autoethnography: Cover of Colours was made up of 30 crocheted album covers. She made them all freehand with no pattern, and they were displayed in one of the gallery’s central avenues. Each album stood for an important part of the soundtrack to her life. They included The Bends by Radiohead, Ten by Pearl Jam and Velvet Revolver’s Contraband.

Visitors could leave their comments in a book beside the work. Many shared memories of the records and how they fitted into their own lives.

The work grew out of a module called Evocative Objects. For it, Gemma crocheted a picture of Caister lifeboat, which took her back to childhood family holidays in the Norfolk coastal village. She worked from a photograph, building the image line by line, rather like a printer. Because crochet means turning the work, she spent half her time working from the back. She ended up inventing her own unusual way of working, and she fell in love with the idea of showing both sides.

For the album covers she deliberately left the backs unstitched. That gave each one a “B-side” and encouraged people to interact with the work. Gemma enjoyed watching it happen.

“When they walked past the backs, I kept seeing people, they would walk, do a double take, take steps back and walk around the work. I loved that interaction, watching people smile and talk about the albums.”

Gemma first picked up crochet at primary school, and caricatures are nothing new to her. She has previously crocheted Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Grohl, David Bowie and the former Top Gear trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. Her caricature of Radio X presenter Chris Moyles led the DJ to share her work on air. That brought thousands of new followers to her artwork Instagram page almost overnight.

Looking back, and what it could mean for you

Gemma says the three years have gone very quickly. She calls the course “hand-on-heart one of the best things I have ever done”. She says she expected to experiment with different mediums and learn about art history. She also found it was a time when she learned a lot about herself, and she found the tutorials very insightful.

Her story may be encouraging if you’ve thought about studying art locally. Gemma is from Ipswich, and the University of Suffolk is on the Ipswich waterfront. It became an independent university in 2016. Her story also suggests that a hobby from childhood can grow into something that shapes your work.

To see more of Gemma’s work, visit her Instagram page, @gemwithallmyart. To find out more about studying Fine Art at the University of Suffolk, see the BA (Hons) Fine Art course page at uos.ac.uk/study/ba-fine-art. The university also lists its open days at uos.ac.uk/opendays.

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