Over the course of the past week, Photography, Graphics, Fine Art and DT students have been assembling displays of their work at St John’s Church in preparation for the upcoming Visual Arts Exhibition.
Every individual display has been put up by Year 12 and (ex) Year 13 Visual Arts students and staff. The students were assigned a board each and it was up to them to prepare and mount their work ready for deciding upon the composition and items they wanted displayed.
An abundance of teamwork and strength was required in all aspects of the process and considering the heat and sheer volume of the people involved, it ran extremely smoothly.
This exhibition is especially important in the school calendar as it is celebrating these students and giving them some rightfully deserved praise for the many hours, creativity and innovation they have put into their pieces.
Art is the universal language with which all humans use to communicate the likes of emotion, politics, memories and a variety of subjects, all of which are prevalent throughout the exhibition. Too often educational institutions brush past the Visual Arts department as an ‘easy’ and ‘relaxed’ subject that primarily attracts under-achievers or those who seek an easy grade. They overlook the achievements with outdated stereotypes without knowing the amount of effort and skill required to succeed in one.
Yet speak to any Visual Arts student and they will tell you it is not for the faint hearted and is actually in many ways offers some of the most challenging and demanding subjects to study.
The exhibition was open to the public on Wednesday and Thursday night and received a great turnout. As a Visual Arts student studying Graphics, it was beneficial to take a look at the other students’ work as we very rarely cross paths. Seeing it all and walking around was really inspiring as they all took a unique approach to the same topic, producing exceptional outcomes which helped me to see fresh approaches. Similarly, having the Year 13s work displayed was useful for our upcoming projects, highlighting the standard required and giving examples and ideas for current students.
Overall, the exhibition was extremely successful in its duty to showcase students’ talents and give the local community an insight into what goes on within the Visual Arts community at Langley Park School for Boys.
By Lindsay Cain