Bluecoat Aspley Academy celebrated students’ creativity and showcased their work with a 16 by 9 foot projection of artwork on the castle walls as part of Nottingham Light Night.
The exhibition highlighted the skills and artistic range developed in the art department whilst providing a platform for young people’s views about identity, the climate crisis, and sustainability, impact of the global pandemic, war and displaced people. There were some powerful commentaries on the impact of technology on our lives and how we all function in the world. Young people are very alert to the influences of societal expectations around gender, heritage and family and many pieces represented the challenges they can face.
The exhibition was highlighted in the Light Night publicity and drew huge crowds – we were amazed by how many people came to see it; past and current pupils, staff and lots of general public came and commented on the beauty and power of the artwork.
All academies in Archway Learning Trust are ‘Artsmark’ schools which means we:
- offer a broad and balanced curriculum where students experience the full range of arts subjects taught by qualified and well-resourced teachers
- see the arts as integral to their identity and offer a range of extra-curricular arts opportunities and an ongoing programme of performances and exhibitions
- support community arts festivals and opportunities
- build and sustain a wide range of partnerships with artists and cultural organisations
Thank you to Sinead Moynihan-Case (Head of Arts), Chris Seaman (Teacher of Art) and the team for curating the exhibition; Joe Rock (Teacher of Music) for producing a compelling sound track; and Martha Toogood (Trust Lead for Arts Enrichment) for co-ordinating the project and developing our academies’ Artsmark status.
