Seventy young people from schools and community organisations in Crawley, Seaford, Seahaven and Brighton have taken part in another successful series of workshops at the University of Brighton.
As well as working with local schools, this year the project was expanded to include bespoke workshops for young people from local homeless charity, the Clock Tower Sanctuary and the Young Carers Project.
The first stage of the project consisted of masterclass workshops that took place in schools where the students received specialist sessions on a range of printing processes. These sessions were led by lecturer and printmaker Mel Campbell and printmaking student Zoe Prichard supported by second year Fine Art Printmaking students.
For the final stage of the project, all participating schools were invited to visit the university to take part in a workshop. After a tour of the printing department and a demonstration of how to use the wood cutting equipment and printing presses, the students showed their confidence in applying the skills learned at school this year in creating original designs based on natural forms. Staff and students were very impressed with the pupils’ resilience and aptitude. Students were also given a guided tour of the Degree Show.
Head of Art at BACA and University of Brighton Fine Art Painting alumni Graham Miles said about his school’s visit: “It was exciting to see all the different outcomes from Fine Art Painting, Moving Image, Fashion, Sculpture and Photography. All the students picked favourites and we were even treated to some performance art by a couple of our bravest students. On the whole, the experience was a great success and the new knowledge should translate into some excellent outcomes in our GCSE work as they move on to year 11.”
Comments from the students included:
“This was the first time I’ve done wood cutting and I think it was a really good opportunity because I’ve unlocked / explored / another talent of mine”
“All sorts of art is creative in its own way and you can use your imagination alive many different ways”
