The Manchester Connexion exhibition, New School House Gallery, Peasholme Green, York, until July 19

Cutting-edge work across a range of media – paintings, ceramics, metal work, sculpture and jewellery – by established and emerging artists will be on show until July 19.

"The ‘connexion’ is that all the artists studied at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and some are still based in the city," says New School House co-director Robert Teed.

"The show welcomes back three artists who have previously exhibited here, painter David Hancock, potter Joseph Hartley and sculptor Lucy Harvey, and it also introduces ceramics by C J O’Neill, metal work by Imogen Clarkstone and jewellery by Jane Dzisiewski and Megan Ocheduszko."

For the past few years, David Hancock's art has focused on the Cosplay subculture.

"Cosplayers are usually young people who dress up and role-play characters from computer games and Japanese Manga comics," he explains.

"They interact with each other face to face, on social media and websites centred on cosplay activities. They meticulously recreate every detail of a character's appearance, constructing fantastical costumes and even taking on personality traits."

Hancock is interested in the gap between the real and imagined world experienced by those who engage in this form of escapism.

"Taking their characters into the urban landscape, they use their imagination to transform their surroundings," he says.

"The presentation of the figures, largely on a plain white background, reinforces the fact that as viewers we're not party to their individual fantasies. We inhabit the same landscape but we're unable to penetrate the cosplayers' private world, only envisaging small aspects of it.

"In the cosplayers' world, the everyday objects can be shifted into something full of meaning and significance, and certain landmarks can fluctuate between the real and the imagined. As with the constructed digital universe, the imagination of the individual has the ability to transform the mundane into the sublime.

"In effect my hyper-realist paintings are double portraits of the sitter and their alter ego, with two personalities being represented simultaneously."

CJ O'Neill is a graduate of Manchester Metropolitan University and a senior lecturer there. She is interested in the building of memories through objects and surface pattern, working in ceramics and lighting across craft and design, ranging from one-off objects to large-scale installations.

"My fascination with pattern and surface texture has been important from an early age with repetition in surface and form being an overriding focus throughout my artistic life," she says.

"This interest in hidden meanings, layers, secrets and treasures allows me to explore various trains of thought in my work. What's most important is that the pieces work on different levels.

"Aesthetically, the work appeals to the beholder with simple, geometric forms and organic patterns overlaid, but beyond the aesthetics lies the references to my influences, and often in commissioned pieces there are more layers of hidden meanings for the person involved.

"A feeling of calm, quiet nostalgia, a sense of belonging, contemplation and thoughtfulness; these are all important to my work."

The work by artist and designer Joseph Hartley spans ceramics, wood and textiles.

"He exhibited at the New School House in 2011 as part of our 53 Degrees North, where he was awarded the artist’s residency at the gallery," says Robert.

"Since graduating with flying colours in 2012, he has been awarded overall Best New Designer at the New Designers 2012 in London and his work has been featured in Crafts magazine."

Lucy Harvey creates objects and installations that respond to our relationship with the idea of collection, while Imogen Clarkstone, who studied 3D contemporary design at Manchester and now lives in Sheffield, uses traditional metalsmith techniques to create juxtapositions in objects that combine beauty and utility.

Her School House pieces explore alternative construction techniques in vessel forms using non-traditional components, such as plumbers’ copper tubing, in conjunction with more conventional silversmith processes.

"I took inspiration from Vladimir Arkhipov’s collection of Russian folk artefacts, which evidence ideas that are not pre-meditated, but are objects created out of necessity," she says.

Jane Dzisiewski, a mixed-media designer of contemporary jewellery, trained in textile design and applied arts and likes to blur the lines between artist, designer and maker, particularly in her innovative approach to the development of resin as an alternative to the usual stones used in jewellery.

Megan Ocheduszko, who is completing her BA in 3D contemporary design at MMU, has created inventive jewellery that makes use of tropical Sapele wood and fine brushes. The notion of touch is all important to her making.

"Touch is our most diverse sense, our most social, our most personal and irreplaceable," she says. "Through exploring touch, tactility, and the way we hold everyday objects, particularly brushes, in our hands, I aim to create playful, hand-held multi-sensory objects and 'wearables' that stimulate our senses to create a relaxing sensory experience for the user."

What a contrast to pieces of art that warn "Don't Touch".