Summer Show Exhibits the Inspirational Creativity from College's Art & Design School

30 June 2016

The Art & Design School Summer Show saw the culmination of a year’s hard work by some of the most creative students at The Sixth Form College being aired to the public.

Visitors had the opportunity to soak in Graphic Design, Fine Art, Textiles and Product Design within the specialist modern facilities afforded to them by the Art & Design School building, established in 2013.

A Level, Foundation Diploma and Cambridge Technical Diploma all had their work displayed in celebration of their achievements, in the same manner as a professional exhibition.

Head of Art & Design, Angela Watson, said: “The excellent work that’s been produced this year is typical of our high standards at the college, although this year’s examiners said that the practice that goes on in this institution is exemplary.

“We’ve had students in Graphics that have worked with external professionals in graphics companies, and they thought that some of the output from our students was better than they’d seen in higher education.”

From the unscrupulous attention to detail of the Graphics work to the vivid Textiles and bold, expressive Fine Art on display, each division within the School has its own personal charm, as Angela explained:

“What I particularly enjoy is that, in each separate area, you can see an individual approach. They all have their own character and that’s something that we’re very proud of. In Graphics, there’s a particularly professional edge in terms of presentation; in Fine Art, the focus on drawing and painting has really seen some exceptional skills develop; in Textiles, the work has been singled out for commendation by examiners due to its originality and for being so personal.”

Some 27 students from the Class of 2015 went on to study Fine Art, Graphics or Textiles at university upon leaving the college last year, and this year’s cohort looks set for similar if not greater numbers. Product Design students are also going on to degree programmes at some Russell Group Universities, including a fascinating course choice of Yacht and Powercraft Design.

Angela concluded: “We have some great success stories from the department, and a lot of that is down to an extremely high quality of teaching. We have staff who are designers and working artists in their own rights, plus we have exceptional facilities. The Art & Design School creates a feeling of the students having their own little enclave, and they respond very well to that.”

To find out more about studying Art & Design at The Sixth Form College, click here and scroll through the gallery below to see some of this year’s spectacular displayed work.