Art is subjective at best, but no matter what your tastes you'll be guaranteed to find something to stimulate, question, challenge or simply enjoy at the Norwich School Of Art and Design (NSAD). Every year the school opens it's doors to the public for the end of year exhibition - an opportunity for the students to showcase their work. David Girling, Marketing Manager at NSAD said it's an important time for the students: "Members of the public, the business community and art buyers come to the exhibition from all over the UK. "The exhibitors get job offers, commissions and they get their work bought. It's a fantastic opportunity for them and incredibly important for their future," he added. The end of year exhibition not only acts as a public showcase for the students work, it also marks the culmination of three years work. The students are awarded their final degree mark based on the assessment of the exhibition piece. With the work of more than 400 students on show, it is probably one of the largest art exhibitions in the East of England. There are a wide variety of works on display, including sculptures, paintings, photo media, graphic design, animations, installations, creative writing, poetry, digital imagery, photography, fashion and textiles. Debbie Southerland, course leader in contemporary textile practises at NSAD said textiles are a growing phenomenon at the school:  Mel Rye and Hannah Turner-Voakes as the Mena Twins. |
"The course is developing to cover contemporary textiles and is moving forward quite rapidly as a field of study in Norwich," she said. "We allow students to explore textiles from a design angle, but also from a fine art perspective as we feel that reflects what happens in the real world. "A lot of students this year have really taken risks in their final pieces. "We've got an animation for the first time, lots of sculptural works and a performance piece from the Mena Twins that has evolved from thinking about textile history, but is heavily related to fashion." "One of the things we're keen to establish in the students is that an idea shouldn't be confined by being media specific. "If an idea goes beyond the textile that's fine, we don't want students to be confined by a material if it goes beyond that," she added. The NSAD is one of the few remaining independent Art Schools providing Higher Education in the UK. Each year the students present fresh and invigorating ideas. David Girling feels that visitors to the exhibition won't be disappointed. "This is the public's opportunity to see for themselves what they think. "I think they'll be surprised at just how good the quality is. I'm sure everyone will find something for them and they'll go away amazed rather than disappointed," he said. All the work exhibited during the end of year show includes work from the following courses at the NSAD:
BA(Hons) Cultural Studies BA(Hons) Fine Art: Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking and Photo media BA(Hons) Graphic Design: Animation, Graphic Design, Illustration, Photography, Publishing BA(Hons) Textiles BA(Hons) Visual Studies Higher National Diploma Design (Graphic Design) |