Local Students showcase their skills at Washington Gallery
By Effective Communication
Penarth’s Washington Gallery will be the scene of a special exhibition starting this Thursday (19th May), as students from Beechwood College in Sully showcase their creative skills.
The public exhibition will feature work created by students during the College’s recent ‘artist in residency’ programme, which came about through a unique partnership with the University of Glamorgan.
The University’s Strategic Insight Programme provides funding for staff from the university to share skills by taking up placements within outside organisations.
Renowned Welsh artist Brendan Burns, a lecturer at the University and friend of Beechwood College Principal, Darren Jackson applied for a grant to allow him and other members of his Foundation Art programme to take up an ‘artist in residency’ programme at the College.
At the start of this year, the University granted the funding and the during February and March, Brendan – who has twice been named Welsh Artist of the Year (2000 & 2003) joined forces with his colleagues, lecturers from various disciplines on the Foundation Art programme – including fine art, ceramics, glassworks and photography – to share their knowledge and experience with students, in a project called ‘At the beach’. This culminated in an exhibition of the Beechwood College students’ work at the University of Glamorgan’s Treforest campus in April.
The ‘artist in residency’ programme has proved hugely successful with the students and further underlines the ethos that governs Beechwood College that everyone can achieve when offered inspirational education.
Creative expression is a key part of the curriculum at the College and is much more than therapy, offering students with an ASD to communicate in ways they would otherwise not be able to. The College actively seeks to dispel the myth that people with ASD cannot express themselves or play imaginatively.
Principal Darren Jackson said:
“The art that has been created through this particular project is pure and rich in energy and emotion, and full of the passion of those we teach. It really has enriched the lives of all involved and has undoubtedly motivated our students to unleash their inner creativity – it’s so pleasing for me to see them appreciate that in art, all things are equal and we’re delighted that we can share this with the general public at our Washington Gallery exhibition.”
Work on show will include ceramics, painting, print making and 3D sculpture – all of which help to demonstrate the unique skills and creative talents of the students at Beechwood College, many of whom are also keen animators and musicians.
The benefits of this unique partnership have been such that even though the official Strategic Insight Programme has ended, Beechwood College students will continue to benefit from their own artist in residence as University of Glamorgan lecturer Cath Brown has volunteered to work in her own time alongside the College’s Head of Art, continuing the excellent progress that had been made with students through this focus on creative disciplines.
The exhibition will be hosted at the Washington Gallery in Penarth from 19-25th May.
For more information, visit www.washingtongallery.co.uk/
For further information on Beechwood College, visit www.beechwoodcollege .co.uk.
Tags: Beechwood College, Brendan Burns, Darren Jackson, Penarth’s Washington Gallery, Strategic Insight Programme
