News / 21 Oct 2025
MA Illustration student exhibits at Leeds City Museum
MA Illustration
Work by MA Illustration with Graphic Novel (now MA Illustration) student Claire O’Brien is being shown as part of a new exhibition at Leeds City Museum; 'Music Leeds Us'.
Curated in collaboration with community partners and supported by local volunteers, 'Music Leeds Us' celebrates the people, places and moments that have shaped the city’s musical identity across the past six decades.
Claire was first contacted about the exhibition after the Community Engagement Manager, Esther Amis-Hughes, was shown a copy of her zine ‘Music Venues of Leeds’. The team were keen to include Claire’s illustrations of music venues and invited her in to hear more about the exhibition.
After meeting with Esther, Claire decided to join the team of volunteers working on 'Music Leeds Us'. She joined weekly meetings and worked on selecting artefacts, promotional images, and playlists, writing copy for the panels and putting a timeline display together.
Claire was also tasked with designing a map to showcase her music venue illustrations, which is now on display as part of the exhibition. She also created children's activity sheet and is currently working on a music zine workshop proposal. Claire's zine ‘Music Venues of Leeds’ is available to purchase in the Leeds City Museum shop.
“It's been immensely rewarding working with the museum team and the passionate, hardworking volunteers who brought this exhibition together. It feels quite surreal (but exciting!) to have my work seen by the public. I'm very grateful to Leeds Museums and Galleries for giving me the chance to be involved. This opportunity came up just as we were exploring pathways into working with museums and galleries as part of our illustration module so it feels timely that so many exciting opportunities have opened up since joining the project.”
Claire O'Brien, MA Illustration with Graphic Novel student