Activities: Art in the Library 2025

This is the second year we have had an art exhibition in the Library created for us by the Level 3 Art and Design in College and following the success of last years exhibition we were keen to see what we would get this time.

 

The prologue to the exhibition was October 2024 when the students received a brief on the theme of the artwork they needed to create and where it was to be displayed.  The students were asked to explore their favourite novel in an artwork. It didn't have to be an illustration of a scene from a book but could evoke how they felt how about the work or that was inspired by the world of the novel. One of the challenges for them was they had to consider sustainability and the environment in the creation of their artwork. (You can see the full brief here)

 

At the start of December the students came over in several groups to explore the Library, see how where they could show their work to its best advantage also ensuring it would be secure whilst on display and didn'tt interfere with anyone’s use of the library.

 

Then in February 2025, all the artwork was bought to the Library ready to be hung. This process took nealry a wee, with students and staff working out the best place for everything, so all the artwork would look its best. The new artwork was enjoyed with much guessing about the novel that was being represented. There was even an offer to buy one of the pieces.

 

As part of the brief for the project the students were asked to consider the sustainability of their work and to encourage this a prize was award to the artist who did this the best.

 

This prize was awarded by the College’s Sustainability Lead, Chelsie Naylor who judged the works on the following criteria:

 

Environmental Impact	Social Responsibility	Economic Benefits	Innovation and Creativity	Long Term Viability
Resource Conservation	Raising Awareness	Cost Efficiency	Material Exploration	Future Generations
Pollution Reduction	Cultural Influence	Supporting Green Industries	Problem-Solving	Resilience

 

The winner was Harry Rackley for his worked based on The Maze Runner, who met nearly all these crtieria.

Chelsie said it was the standout winner and that

 

“This is a really well considered, researched and developed project, which demonstrates that sustainability has been considered throughout each stage. It’s an excellent example of how to creatively incorporate sustainability principles!

 

SDG12 (Responsible consumption and production) is a particular strength: the use of ‘litter’ being considered as a medium, a specific mention of ‘sustainable materials’ and wanting the work to be sustainable was a theme throughout the project development.

 

There is evidence that all of these strands have been considered:

 

Harry has considered sustainable, materials and themes throughout this project and has spent time researching and exploring various materials to find the most suitable outcomes – many of these posed challenges, including in his final piece, to which he needed to apply problem solving skills to overcome.”