Inspired art students hold exhibition

ALL our own work . . . students Alisha Holden, Kayleigh Buckley, Lina Rahman, Pagan Owens, Piers Hannibal, Angela Ferreira and Dani Griffiths

3 More Image(s) In Gallery

FINE art students who have been inspired by diverse pieces in Gallery Oldham's collection are now staging their own exhibition.

The eight Oldham College students took part in Object Project, a three-month project devised by their tutor Mark Rigby and EvaD Ould-Okojie, the gallery's access and interpretation officer.

They used four pieces of art as their inspiration: a silkscreen print by Richard Hamilton, Vipoo Srivilasa's intricate porcelain owl, a painting by Bangladeshi political cartoonist Shishir Bhattacharjee and an impressive Victorian parlour ornament made from crocheted flowers.

And the result was a range of pieces which included a dreamcatcher, a cushion adorned with flowers and a tea set made out of intricate, laser-cut card petals.

The work - both the originals and the students' interpretations - is on show at Gallery Oldham's community gallery until May 20. And the project has also been nominated for the inclusive partnership award in the first North West Cultural Education Awards which take place on April 28.

"We wanted to give the students first-hand experience of working in a gallery," explained Mark Rigby, who came up the the idea of linking with Gallery Oldham as part of his recent masters degree.

"They do so much work in college so this gave them the chance to get out and do a live project right in the middle of their course."

The students were based at the gallery for the project, which also gave them an insight into how an exhibition is curated, and EvaD said: "They hadn't seen the original pieces before their first visit so it was lovely working with them and seeing their work from start to finish."

Alisha Holen created Reverse Transcription - the laser-cut petal tea set which was inspired by Srivilasa's porecelain owl, in turn inspired by a German teapot from the 1800s.

She will study contemporary art at Huddersfield University and said: "I really enjoyed it. I have never made a 3D piece before and it has showed me what kind of path I want to take in art."

Angela Ferreira, who has been accepted on the same course, explores the theme of cultural identity in post-Brexit vote Britain in her piece Look. The stars of the European Union flag hang in a white box, representing the unknown outcome of the recent political events while people can view what is left through holes.

She was inspired by Bhattacharjee and explained: "He looked at political issues in his country and one of the political issues of the moment is Brexit and what is happening in Europe."