Photography and Art students at Guildford College welcomed friends, families and members of the public to their end of year Art and Photography Exhibition.
This was the first time since 2019 that the college has been able to host a gallery collection, due to the pandemic, and students have produced some outstanding work reflecting the past couple of years with all its challenges. 
The photography studio at the campus on Stoke Road was transformed into a fantastic art gallery by students on our Visual Arts and Design programmes, showcasing the very best of their creative work across the year.
The gallery enjoyed a busy couple of hours hosting a huge number of visitors who were all delighted to be able to see the collection face to face at last!
Open for viewing to staff and students until Thursday 30 June, the exhibition features work from students across Levels 1,2 and 3 and features a range of art styles including fashion, photography, mixed media, painting and sculpture as well as some stunning interactive art installations.
Lots of inspiration has been taken from a wide range of topics such as nature, current affairs, the environment and identity.
A diverse collection of creative work
One of the most striking pieces is a huge oil painting depicting an underwater scene, created by second year, Level 3 student, Daniel Channon. Daniel won the award for best Final Major Project and said about his work:
“I recently started scuba diving as a hobby and have become even more fascinated by the underwater world. I decided to express my passion for being under water through art. During the easter holidays, I went diving in Cornwall and saw so much marine life that I decided to focus my final piece on that particular experience.
“The painting was done in water mixable oils on a large canvas, which is 159 x 106cm – the biggest canvas I have ever worked on!
“I decided to combine abstract and realism together and applied layers of blue and green to make the look of British waters and then added details to the rays of light, the whale skeleton and shipwreck as well as the fish featured in this scene.
“I am very happy with how it turned out and I now hope to go on and start on the Art Foundation programme here at Guildford College as I love it here and everyone has been so supportive and friendly.”
The darker side of creativity shone through
Adam Anscombe was awarded the Student of the Year prize for his outstanding work throughout the year. His sinister end of year installation piece was titled ‘Saw’ and took its inspiration from the film of the same name.
He said: “The installation elaborates the darker side of myself as an artist. I wanted to emphasise the trauma and suspense seen in the horror ‘Saw’. I used the process of repeated patterns to create an overwhelming number of images, to highlight the upset and panic you might go through when experiencing this installation.”
Adam is now set to continue his path in Art by starting a degree programme in Illustration at UCA Farnham in September.
Celebrating happiness
Year 2, Level 3 student Gloria Stanovnik was awarded both Student of the Year and Best Final Major Project accolades for her outstanding study of Happiness as an emotion.
Gloria said of her mixed media installation: “My main focus was exploring emotions and facial expression, more specifically at the feeling of happiness seen in family photography.
“I decided to interview family members whilst recording them as they viewed their own personally selected image from the past, capturing their true emotions for my subsequent pencil illustrations inspired by Chuck Close and his style of realism.” 
Gloria is coming back to Guildford College in September to complete her second year and we cannot wait to see what she delivers for next year’s exhibition!
An extra special event
Guildford College Visual Arts Tutor, Chris Saunders, added: “I am so proud of our students who have shown resilience and commitment to achieve despite the challenges of the past couple of years. The fact that we have been able to invite the public in to view our outstanding collection of creative talent is also extra special.”
“Our students have, once again, managed to produce a high standard body of work which perfectly showcases the level of talent we are always proud to nurture at the college.
“We wish all our finishing year two students well in their next endeavours and look forward to welcoming new learners to Guildford College in September.”
Find out more about Visual Arts programmes at Guildford College or contact us on 0800 612 6008.