Students’ Inspirational Art and Media Exhibition
Week commencing 20th June saw a three-day Art and Media exhibition at Stanmore College.
Students at all levels effectively used the power of art to connect with the viewer, and the students’ creative originality, technical skill, and artist’s statements revealed the high-quality teaching and learning that has taken place this year.
Parents, staff, governors, and applicants were invited along to view the excellent collection giving the students well-deserved exposure, publicity, and promotion.
Our Art and Media students displayed a diverse spectrum of artistic expressions in the College’s Art and Media suites, some of which would not look out of place in the Tate Modern.
Level 3 Art student, Zara’s piece (above) shows a series of paintings that all relate to places she has been. These include landmarks in Dubai and Pakistan, and they all connect by a single trail, making it a continuous journey. Zara intends to study fine art at university.
The level 2 Art students’ final project was based on producing a product that could be sold in gallery or museum shop. The students’ ideas for their products stemmed from brainstorming the theme ‘Layers of London’. All students were encouraged to work to their strengths and use techniques they had learnt through the year.
Level 3 1st year students addressed the project theme of ‘Journey’ which was assigned to them by the exam board UAL. Each student had to research artists and designers relating to this brief and develop their own personal creative responses. Again, all students were encouraged to work to their strengths and use techniques they had learnt through the year resulting in many different outcomes.
Level 3 2nd year students had an open brief which they had to independently develop. The common criteria were that they had to communicate, and problem solve for a particular audience and cultural group.
Most of the students’ ideas stemmed from class debates that they had led in earlier projects.
Level 3 Art student, Aline Ribeiro’s work (above right) was in response to the ‘journey’ project. Her personal sub theme was ‘On our way to Freedom’ and Aline emphasised the evolution of black culture focusing on showing different aspects of it.
Aline used techniques such as lino printing, painting, silhoutee making, using stencils and block printing. Aline is progressing to complete the Extended Diploma in Art and Design (Fine Art) at Stanmore.
UAL level 3 Art & Design student, Omar, based his work on life reflection and created the above piece to showcase his identity.
His work contains pictures of him and his family/friends and symbolises death and loss.
It was split in two aesthetics – a positive and a negative, the pictures being positive and the symbols negative. Omar is progressing to the second year of his level 3 course with a focus on fashion.
The above ‘journey’ art piece, by year 1 level 3 student Zuzanna, was based on design deforestation and how old-growth trees are cut down and logged for human use, which has an environmental consequence.
Zuzanna will also complete year 2 of level 3 at the College next year.
Level 3 student, Christina’s work (above) entails photography and mixed media. Christina took inspiration from Cindy Sherman ‘Untitled Film Stills’ series of photography and her photographs resemble the mystery of women indicating daily activities and memories.
The paintings are about past and present self. Christina used the technique of concealing some parts of artworks to show part of her subconscious fading away.
A further selection of Art and Media from the Exhibition is below:
Rishi, level 3 student, entitled her work ‘An innovation for saving space’ and it also looks at supporting people with hand disorders. The furniture saves space by changing the way it opens and closes.
Rishi’s final outcome stemmed from a spinning cabinet design. Rishi has secured a place to study interior design at London Metropolitan University.
Level 3 student, Mehdi is progressing to study Architecture at the University of Westminster this September.
His work involved an architectural project themed on mental health. The intention was to create a user friendly space at college that alleviates the teacher-student ecosystem.
The model is 1/50 scale and constructed using acetate, tracing paper, plywood and modelling paper.
And it was not just Art and Design students impressing viewers. the College’s Media students also presents a diverse spectrum of excellent artistic expressions in Mixed Media.
The Media students’ exhibition was all about Media Production and Technology. They produced a variety of mixed media for their final project. These included magazines, App prototypes, websites, films, animations, games, posters and advertisements.
A selection of the students’ work is show below:
Media students who are not yet at level 3 will progress at Stanmore College next year and the College looks forward to receiving new students also.
Having thoroughly enjoyed their time at Stanmore College, the majority of those who have just completed level 3 are progressing to a variety of universities nationwide, with the remainder securing employment.
Stanmore’s students who are embarking on Higher education have chosen a wide range of media associated degree courses; this year our students are going on to study graphic design; fashion communication; marketing; digital communication; film editing; film production; animation; digital environmental design and communication.
Level 3 Media student, Yusuf Rasool will be studying a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design at Middlesex University. Yusuf told us:
“The exhibition was a great experience. It was nice to show off our work to students, parents, and other years. I hope Stanmore College continues to have exhibitions in future years.”
On being asked how his course had been, he added:
“It was a great course, I really enjoyed studying here. The teachers are great at Stanmore, and I had a great time.”
