An inspirational and varied art exhibition

A variety of inspirational works filled the main hall at Ark William Parker in the last week of term. The exhibition was a true celebration of what students at our school are capable of.

During the open evening where students, parents and other guests attended, prizes were awarded to students who demonstrated a high level of dedication throughout their arts and design courses.

Beth Hayward was chosen for being thoroughly hard working and driven across the whole two years of both her Art and Design A Level and Photography A Level. Beth’s art exam included whole dresses with ruching and corset style tops.

Izzy Cattrell was chosen from amongst a class of enthusiastic Year 12 Art and Design students. Izzy takes risks and pushes herself to work outside of her comfort zone. This has led to her exploring some interesting and mature concepts within her artwork. An oil painting of her grandmother was very touching, exploring the journey each of us takes in life.

From Year 11 Art and Design GCSE: Arturs Ivbuls became passionate about his exam project which was responding to the theme of ‘Clothing’. He chose to look at armour and was set on creating something with a ‘Steampunk’ twist. He created some extraordinary sculptural pieces that could be worn to cover the chest, arm and hand. He was very experimental with the surface design, using cut out cog shapes, bottle tops, string and metallic paint finishes.

Within Graphics A-Level, Allyssia Marchant-Hall was chosen for her commitment to trying out new ideas.

The Year 12 Graphics award went to Jack Marchant-Hall, who has shown he knows what it takes to be successful at A Level Design. Jack has a very flexible attitude towards his work. He is intuitive and never lets a set-back stop him from achieving what he set out to do.

Allyssia Marchant-Hall has developed into the most complete designer in her Year 13 class. The journey she has been on throughout the last 2 years has transformed her. We are all proud to see her go to study Graphic Design at Plymouth.

GCSE Product Design was included for the first time in the exhibition this year, which added an extra element of variety. Pieces of furniture were dotted around the show, which all appeared to be completely contrasting in appearance, function and creative inspiration. Michael Caetano won the prize from this course for working hard to create his cylindrical coffee table which featured a ‘Captain America’ table top shield. Creating something like this was challenging as he had to learn how to curve wood into shape.

Lewis Clarke received the prize for Graphic Products in Year 11, not just for his attainment but because of the consistent effort he put in after parents’ evening.

Bradley Earwaker won the Product Design award for his outstanding work throughout Year 10 and 11. Bradley beat a lot of other very talented Product Design students to this prize.

Sarah Matthews, Art and Design teacher, said “This year it is apparent that students have attempted work which takes them out of their comfort zones, experimenting with new ideas that we haven’t seen in the show before. This is what makes being an art teacher such a rewarding experience.”

“I am personally very excited about the promise that Year 10 art students are showing at this early stage. We included quite a lot of work from them in the show, as their work is of such a high standard.”

James Kenny, Graphics teacher said, “This year was the first year as a faculty we have showcased our departments work together and highlighted what talented students we have and celebrated what we are good at.”

Click on the thumbnails to view slideshow.