Young Arts Exhibition October 2008

The 5th Biennial Schools Art Exhibition, organised by The Young Arts Group of Farnham DFAS, was held in the James Hockey & Foyer Galleries of the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham from 26th September until the 12th  October.    It was a significant year in which to hold the Exhibition, as we celebrated not only the 40th Anniversary of our parent Society NADFAS but also our own Society's  25th Anniversary.   We would  also like to take this opportunity of thanking our Sponsors yet again for their generous funding and support of this Exhibition.

Mr Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Minister for Culture, very kindly opened the Exhibition for us and the awards were presented to the Exhibitors by Mrs Denise Topolski, the West Surrey Young Arts Area Chairman.   We were delighted too to welcome Mr David Bell, the Chief Executive of NADFAS, Mrs Paige Earlam, the NADFAS Head of Volunteering, the Mayor of Farnham Councillor Gillian Beel and other distinguished guests.   Images of the Award Ceremony are followed by a selection of the actual exhibits on display, then images and information re the two Workshops organised by The Young Arts Group and finally a few words plus images of the School Visits to the Exhibition – an important part of this exciting and rewarding project.

Choose an album from the drop-down list below to view pictures of:
Award Ceremony, Exhibition, Workshop 3 October, Workshop 9 October, and School Visits.

 

Workshop 3 October 2008

Of the two Workshops presented during the Exhibition, the first one was held on the 3rd October in the James Hockey Gallery of UCA for 18 of the Award Holders and Runners Up, aged 16 to 18 years.   Madeleine Allison, a Hampshire Community Artist introduced the students to FELT MAKING using natural processes.   She provided all the materials for this Session which included some card-making machines to be used by the students.

Her outline for the class consisted of:

a)  Looking at preserved specimens in glass cases loaned by a Museum, sketching the beetles, spiders and butterflies and discussing ideas.

b)  Examining the process of making felt and carding natural fleece

c)  Designing their chosen piece having carded wools and chosen colours for their design

d)  Involving them in the felting process itself, using hot water and plenty of elbow grease – taking place outside on trestle tables for this purpose

They produced an original piece of work, unique and complete from start to finish and certainly experienced a very kinaesthetic technique, something they could achieve again quite easily if they were inspired to do so.   They certainly found that they had learned a new skill and had gained tremendous enjoyment in so doing.

Workshop 9 October 2008

The second Workshop was held on the 9th October, again in the James Hockey Gallery for the Award Holders and Runners Up aged 10 – 14 years.   Amaryllis May, a Surrey based artist presented this Workshop, her subject being "Expressive Faces".   Again all the material needed for the Session was provided by the artist herself.

The session was highly interactive, with the minimum of formal instruction.    The students were encouraged to experiment and exercise both their creative and observational skills.   They sketched each other's faces paying particular attention to how emotion can change the shape of the features.  

They were also encouraged to look at reproductions from a variety of artists e.g Picasso, Matisse, Arcimboldo plus some African masks.   These of course were amongst the actual exhibits in the Galleries and they drew inspiration and ideas for their own art work that was to follow.   By the end of the Session there was no doubt that they had mastered a new skill and at the same time had had fun,   The 'buzz' of excitement was evident to all the observers.

School Visits

The Young Arts Group of FDFAS were delighted that out of 4026 visitors to the Farnham Schools Art Exhibition, 797 were pupils from the local schools.   We are particularly grateful for the sponsorship we received from Surrey County Council.   This enabled us to pay for Coach trips to the Galleries from outlying schools.   The Exhibition has always proved to be a valuable learning resource and the Teachers welcomed this yet again.   The ages of the visiting pupils ranged from 5 years to 17 years.    We were very encouraged to see the lengths to which the schools went, providing their pupils with ideas on which to focus their attention and encouraging free-hand sketches of the exhibits.   All in all, a very rewarding outcome.

Story by Beth MacCulloch
Pictures by Beth MacCulloch, Roger Bagnall, Lee Broughall, Denise Tolpolski, Pat Nicholson, David Jackson