Arts and Media Students Celebrate Success at CREATE23 Showcase

It’s been just over a week since we celebrated our Arts and Media department’s first ever CREATE event, and what a week it was! With a busy schedule of exhibitions, shows and performances it was a wonderful showcase of some of the best creative pieces from artists across a whole range of arts and media.

Suzy Brown, Head of School Arts and Media, explained:
“A key factor in achieving success within the creative industries is finding an audience, and that is the inspiration behind CREATE, our yearly Arts and Media festival held in the historic Llanthony Secunda Priory grounds adjacent to our Gloucester campus.

Launched in 2023 this event provides our arts and media learners from across the sites with an opportunity to share their work with the public.  From open air music concerts to catwalks to art exhibitions CREATE brings the College community together in a celebration of music, dance, drama, art and fashion.”

The week saw exhibitions from Art, Graphic Design and Photography students, as well as performances from Music and Performing Arts, a spectacular fashion show, and even a silent disco!

For many students the highlight of the week was the opening night’s ‘Private View’, where they were proud to show friends and family their work on display.

Kiera Beckerleg, Level 3 Art and Design student, said:
"It makes me really proud to see my work in the exhibition. It was great to see people's reactions to the art. My family came for the opening and they were so impressed with everyone’s work.

“The whole experience has helped me with organisation, time management and learning to trust the process! Things can change and it's a good learning experience. Everyone on my course helped make sure the work looked good on display, thinking about how we used the space. I want to do more similar things now!"

During the opening night we were also incredibly proud when Karen Morris, VP Curriculum and Quality, presented the Katie Mullinger Excellence in the Arts Award to Jack Houghton. She said:

"It was a great honour to be asked to present this award. Katie was an amazing artist and fantastic art lecturer. Her portfolio at interview was remarkable, utilising a range of media. She encouraged learners to be creative and try a range of techniques and use a range of materials to create their work. She is greatly missed.

"This was a really difficult task as all 6 portfolios were excellent and showed exceptional talent and creativity. In each case I could see why these were nominated by their course leaders."

Heidi Hoskins and Amelia Ward were thrilled to receive the runner-up awards. The overall winner was Jack Houghton. Karen said:

"When I opened this portfolio, I knew I had seen the winning entry. It captured the essence of Katie's approach where the learner had explored a range of different print techniques. The outdoor scenes, the abstraction and imagery made him a worthy winner - congratulations Jack!"

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