Chesterfield College

Chesterfield College exhibited many pieces of work from creative courses such as Graphic Design, Fine art, Art and Design, Photography, Media, Fashion and Hair and Beauty. The displays of work were shown around college and some pieces were given more depth into their display and appearance as one memorable exhibit was put in a small room with eerie lighting and a peculiar setting. There was a lot to explore at the exhibition and every display had a lot of paintings and sketchbooks to look through and enjoy. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of work being shown and the quality of their pieces as some was produced to a very high standard.

A particular artist caught my eye as I was looking around, her display showed some very interesting mixed media pieces with materials such as pen, ink, paper, thread and watercolour being used. Emily Cox showed a very distinct style that I hadn’t seen in the exhibition, which excited me as she explored a lot with watercolour and her sketchbook was presented in a very appealing and interactive way. Each page was individual to its own and she explored with a lot of different ways of creating an image, such as drawing on acetate and simply holding it over brown paper and sewing onto a photograph. I felt her sketchbook inspired me the most, she showed many ways of creating an interesting sketchbook page which can be simply copied, such as using patterned paper on the background, putting artist research in a envelope and using space well so there isn’t much negative space on any pages.

Her sketchbook had an entire theme of the circus, which allowed her to create vibrant and interesting images. This image above was taken from her sketchbook where she had many pages full of paintings. What I like about this particular painting is the use of fabric and thread for the text as it adds another layer to the image and highlights the text. I also really like the rough use of watercolours which haven’t been used neatly nor has the pen but the image is still very bold and striking.

Whilst exploring one small exhibition room I came across another striking display with some fascinating pieces of work. Jessica Clark’s display had a lot of thought put into it as she had given the display a scene, which was a bed with a bedside table. On the bed sheets she had wrote many secrets as this was her theme throughout her sketchbook and work. Similar to Emily Cox, Clark’s sketchbook was very well presented as each page included a lot of work, annotation and a distinct theme. She explored a lot with typography so her sketchbook was filled with different styles of type which inspired me as she had clearly researched a lot into this project. Whilst scanning through her sketchbook I came across a small visual that I felt worked very well on such a small scale. The image of a couple kissing is very obvious when you first look although it can be quite difficult as she has only drawn the faces and a minimal amount of shapes, but she cleverly used watercolour to make the image flow. The secret that she unveils flows nicely around the picture and using a thick handwritten text gives the image a youthful feel to it.

Her work on display was also very captivating. The image above is very simple yet I was instantly drawn to it, the hands in the background are drawn with lots of vibrant inks and the way that the ink as run down the paper adds a lot more interest to the image. What I like is how the inks have blended together creating more interesting colours to the image. The text is handwritten and she has added brown paper so that the text is legible. I feel that although this image is simple it has a lot of appeal to it as the inked hands make the image very bold.