NEWS IN DETAIL...
Art students showcase creative talents
ART and Design students from Cornwall College St Austell launched their week long end of year exhibition last week (22nd June) with a private view of their artistic talents.
More than 150 budding artists, family, friends and the Mayor of St Austell, John Keast, came to support the students and view their creative pieces, which are housed in a contemporary art gallery in the town centre’s White River Place.
The group of 50 exhibiting young artists, designers and photographers used the innovative, temporary art space; a-gallery, to showcase their work, which included wire work, glass work, sculptures, film production, skateboard art, photography, media production and fashion textiles.
Amy Solomon, 23 from St Austell, who is studying Art and Design Extended Diploma at the College, said: “I was previously at Duchy College studying floristry which I loved and where I practiced my creativity. I have always enjoyed working with objects and liked the idea of 3D art. The course was great in finding out what materials I liked working with. I seemed to be drawn to the fashion side of art, with wire work. In the future I’m hoping to study fashion and textiles at Falmouth.”
Hattie Cornelius, 18 from Bodmin, explained: “Before I came to college I enjoyed working on our farm and painting commissioned pictures for people of their pets. My family told me I had a skill and I wanted to expand on this and see how much I could do with it. I focused my final piece on a bull as I feel I have always had a connection with animals working with them every day. This was the first time I had painted a bull and it took me 10 days to do all the layers. I wanted it to be quite dark so that it looked like he was coming into the light.
“I have considered more education but I know what I like now from experimenting with different types of art and I don’t think that I would benefit from more studying. I am going into the real world and will still be working on the farm whilst working on bigger pieces of art; hopefully I will have my own exhibition one of these days!”
Maddie Ridout, 17 from Duloe, who is studying Art and Design Extended Diploma at the College, said: “I have a place at Plymouth Art College studying BA Contemporary Arts. I never knew before starting college which area of art or materials I would enjoy working with. During the 2nd year I focussed on working in 3D; I had tried ceramics, wire work and glass. The BA at Plymouth will allow me to delve further into the 3D world.
“My glass work is based on nature. I researched and took lots of pictures of flowers and then would take the more simplistic lines from them and create my own design. In the future I would love to run my own business; I have even sold a few items tonight which is amazing!”
The thought provoking pieces and installations on display have all been produced by students studying A-level, vocational and part-courses in a wide range of disciplines, including Film, Fine Art, Graphic Design, Media, Photography and Textiles.
Members of the public are invited to drop in to the free exhibition, which runs until Thursday 28th June, at any time between 10am – 4pm and see the fantastic efforts for themselves.
The Mayor of St Austell, John Keast, explained “This is such an inspiring event it is very uplifting and encouraging to see the creativity of these students. We need something like this at the moment with the economy to show people that we are still an amazing society. Also by making the most of this empty space in town is a great idea, it will be a surprise for shoppers in the town centre this week and a great way for the students to showcase their work.”
