Varndean College’s annual Art Exhibition celebration showcases the stunning and diverse work of more than 200 Varndean College A Level students completing their courses in Art, Graphic Design, Photography, Textiles and 3D Design. Head of Visual Arts, Rob Macdonald said “This exhibition is the culmination of two years of creativity, passion and lots of hard work. It’s a wonderful celebration of the stunning work from these artists, designers, photographers at the beginning of their career paths. Many are now heading off to Art foundation or degree courses after Varndean College.”
Graphic design
The Graphic Design course at Varndean College is renowned for celebrating alternative approaches to design. Students relish the opportunity to explore handmade techniques as well as digital. This leads to a diverse range of final outcomes as seen in the summer exhibition.
Jamie Jones received a recognition award for the use of his handmade font. He took inspiration from environmental graphics which led him to the challenge of moulding clay into each letter of the alphabet. Jamie then photographed and digitally manipulated his clay letters and used them in the design of a logo for his final outcomes.
Dara Ings also won an award for her meaningful and expressive final outcomes that focused on mental health, which instantly caught the attention of Dave Stephens who previously taught graphics at Varndean. Dara’s work utilises a range of handmade textures from found objects, torn paper and crumpled-up foil, which she scanned and creatively manipulated using Photoshop, allowing her to establish a unique personal style.
Textiles
Nell Dean-Gant was awarded a Textiles award for ‘exceptional exploration of a powerful narrative’. Nell has produced consistently exceptional work during her time at Varndean. Her personal investigation project centred around period poverty “An investigation into utilising consumerism products, fabricating them into conceptual visual and/or personal art forms.” Future destination: Art Foundation at Brighton Met.
Josh Blackwell and Maria Thomas.
Coffee Pardoux was award a Textiles award for ‘exceptional creativity’. Their personal investigation project was inspired by the inspiration of natural forms to create abstracted textiles art and fashion. Future Destination: Art Foundation at Brighton MET. Jylle Navarro Vanessa Barragao
Madeline Archer was awarded a Textiles award for ‘exceptional of a personal narrative. Her project took inspiration from her childhood investigating personal development through stitch and collage in documentary textiles. Erin Endicott and Ali Ferguson
Molly Aberdour was awarded a Textiles award for ‘exceptional creativity’ for her intricate machine embroidery work. Illustration in Stitch – Exploring the work of Rosie James and Danielle McIntyre Future Destination: London College of Fashion
Lucy Scourfield was awarded a Textiles award for ‘exceptional exploration of a theme’, exciting dent making and fabric manipulation techniques. Future Destination: Art Foundation at Brighton Met. Marian Jazmik Sue Hotchkis
Nicole Field was awarded a Textiles Award for ‘exceptional exploration and originality’ for her original and exciting project Boro textiles and experimenting with bleaching, slashing and manipulating denim. An investigation into the use of embroidery and patchwork through the work of Louise Baldwin and looking into Japanese Boro textiles artist, Keiko Futatsuya. Future Destination: Brighton MET Art Foundation
Photography
The Anne Howard Memorial Golden Shutter Award 2023 is given to students each year for excellence in Photography. Anne was a tutor at Varndean College for over 30 years and established photography as an A level and helped it to be the thriving course that it is today. Anne passed away in 2016 and with support from her family we present prizes to students in each of the Year 2 A level Photography groups to recognise the amazing work that they have achieved.
This year, the Anne Howard Memorial Golden Shutter Award was awarded to: Aidan Gumbrell, Reece Dawson, Tabitha Ashton-Prevett, Nell Dean-Gant, Isabelle Harris-Crisp, Marla Gangkofer and Anya Breslaw.
Aidan Gumbrell brings the contemporary style, the bling and colour to his eccentric fashion shots. Reece Dawson bought out the humour in his work and created wonderfully candid shots. Tabitha Ashton-Prevett’s work is incredibly well observed, thorough, detailed and focusing on natural elements. Nell Dean Grant’s work is fully rounded in all aspects of ‘art and design’ and incredibly perceptive. Isabelle Harris-Crisp brings out the joy and happiness in everyone through her ethereal portraits. Marla Gangkofer brings style and substance to all her portraits capturing the essence of her subjects. Anya Breslaw enjoyed street photography and consistently produced striking results in her gentle manner.
3D design
Nell Dean-Gant won the product Design prize. She created two incredible projects, her coursework project concept was sustainable design, she created a vessel made of wax which can be melted down and reformed. Nell’s exam unit was based on the exam theme ‘Group of Objects’ she created a group of pots inspired by three key places that were important to her, she used maps, collected objects from the site which she cast in resin, the pieces also included stitch and woven rafter lids.
Felix Growney won the Architecture prize for his exam piece. Felix created an organic sculptural piece of architecture set for part of the college site, he developed his ideas by recording students movements around the space and levels of noise and activity which created the form for his incredible final outcome piece.
Esme Moore won the Design prize for both her chair and lighting piece she created, Esme’s exceptional exploration and investigation of materials coupled with her determination to push her projects as far as she can made her a worthy winner of the design prize.
All awards were chosen and given out by artist and former Varndean 3D tutor Bill Coyne.
Art
The winner of the Seawhite Prize was Rebecca Holden. Seawhite chose this student for her amazing level of detail and creative use of surfaces to produce powerful figurative paintings.
The winner of the Draw Brighton prize was Coffee Pardoux. Coffee’s work stood out as visceral and inventive, rendered with energetic, painterly marks.
The second winner of the Draw Brighton prize was Flossie Battersby-Irvine. Flossie’s work presented something completely different, considered narrative paintings with well-designed colour schemes and an engaging use of pattern.
The winner of the Narwhal Prize was Sammy Gibbs for their incredible use of materials and 3D installation work
The winner of the Owen Harding Prize was Izzy Orr for her hard work and tenacity
