WORK IN PROGRESS EXHIBITION_

I recently visited the 3rd years 'work in progress' exhibition situated in the hay gallery. This exhibition featured a selection of students pre collection work, and Roz Morrison from Paul Smith came to give feedback. Three students were then shortlisted, and would proceed to show their work and portfolios to Paul Smith. The winner would receive a mentoring scheme from Smith, an amazing opportunity..

The standard of work by all the students was high, and at first it was overwhelming as i was amazed by all the work. How it was narrowed down to three students baffles me. There was an array of different techniques, colours, motifs and inspiration that made every students work desirable. 

Of course it was nearly impossible to choose my favourites, however I gave it a go. My first choice was Beth Caney, who was actually shortlisted. Her architecture inspired prints from a trip to venice were soft and beautiful, and the use of careful foiling accentuated that. The way she had displayed her prints was something of an art from too, with shapes cascading down to work in unison with the  calming prints. Another favourite of mine was Rachel Hughe's collection. Almost a complete opposite to Beth's work, Rachel incorporated wonderfully dark colours, to build up a sinister print collection. I loved the way she layered dark colour on top of dark colour, it was very subtle but worked really well. My last choice was Lucy Day's collection. I was immediately drawn to this body of work due to  the variety of different fabrics, and the native theme. She had printed onto fleece and blanket, all heavy materials- a refreshing approach i  thought. The colours were somewhat nature themed, and this was very well reflected in the painted on a screen prints she included, featuring pine trees and animals.   

It was a wonderfully set out and inspiring exhibition, and made me think off different and exciting ways to display my work, as that gives a huge visual impact. After seeing the students rushing around the previous few days, it was nice to see it all come together and that their hard work had paid off.