Shirebrook students on 'voyage of artistic discovery' during VIP gallery event at Worksop

Shirebrook students will be on their own artistic 'voyage of discovery' during a professional gallery event in Worksop.
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The teenagers from Shirebrook Academy will join friends and family for a VIP art event they created, at the Harley Gallery, on Monday, April 11.

There, they will finally see the results of a year-long project to devise their very own professional art exhibition.

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It comes after working together to painstakingly sift through 250 pieces of work to devise an art show based on the theme ‘A Voyage of Discovery.’

From left, Shirebrook Academy student Molly Holmes, 16, head of art Nick Freer and Freya Scott, 15, with the school’s print of artist Yinka Shonibare’s 2020 painting Mayflowers, All Flowers.From left, Shirebrook Academy student Molly Holmes, 16, head of art Nick Freer and Freya Scott, 15, with the school’s print of artist Yinka Shonibare’s 2020 painting Mayflowers, All Flowers.
From left, Shirebrook Academy student Molly Holmes, 16, head of art Nick Freer and Freya Scott, 15, with the school’s print of artist Yinka Shonibare’s 2020 painting Mayflowers, All Flowers.

They were given task along with pupils from Sparken Hill Academy and Sir Edmund Hillary Primary School, both in Worksop.

They have been working with curator Selina Skipwith and using paintings in the privately owned Jerwood Collection of British art from the 20th Century.

It includes valuable works by LS Lowry, Elisabeth Frink, David Hockney, Nicola Bealing and Yinka Shonibare, a replica print of 2020 painting Mayflower, All Flowers, which is now hanging in Shirebook Academy’s atrium.

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Initially working at home during lockdown, and in then in their classrooms, the students had to discuss which of the pieces of work they felt best reflected the theme, drawing on their own feelings and each artist’s inspiration behind the artwork.

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They started using small photographs of each piece of work, then visited the gallery over a number of months to see the originals and decide where to hang them.

The exhibition rounds off a year of events at the Harley Gallery showing off the Jerwood Collection, which officially opened in February.

One student, Molly Holmes, 16, said: “I’m looking forward to seeing the exhibition, which was designed to explore a theme through the eyes of young people. I really liked that, because it’s not something that happens very often.”

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Fellow student Freya Scott, 15, said: “We started off in lockdown and it was a really good thing to do because it took my mind off being home all the time and separated from my friends.”

Nick Freer, head of art at Shirebrook Academy, said: “This was an unprecedented opportunity for our students to help curate an entire art exhibition using valuable pieces of work from successful and respected British artists.

“It was a wonderful project to be involved in and they have done a fantastic job.”