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First Marks Exhibition

On Tuesday 18th January we were able to take students from Year 7 and Year 8 to Independent Arts in Newport to help curate an exciting new exhibition called ‘First Marks’.

The work displayed forms part of the Creative Biosphere Project, which aims to inspire creativity within young  people through the Island’s UNESCO Biosphere status. This year-long  project hopes to foster an appreciation of the young people’s local environment  and heritage, strengthen partnerships, increase awareness of the Island’s  Biosphere designation and increase engagement with the Island’s cultural  organisations.

As part of this partnership, “artist in residence” Island paleo artist and sculptor Trudie Wilson has been running workshops in  school with pupils from years 7, 8 and 9, VI form and Art Foundation students. This exhibition is the first in a series of displays and events that Independent Arts will be undertaking with pupils from the school to celebrate their  exploration and discovery of the Biosphere. 

“This first exhibition shares our initial marks and ideas as we explore the  Creative Biosphere together. All the works are inspired by Isle of Wight  environments, from current life and biodiversity to 125 million years of  prehistoric heritage. Using various media to explore these concepts we  present our early experiments and visual ideas. ” – Trudie Wilson.

We were so impressed with the maturity of all students involved. They managed to show superb creativity and great decision making.

We look forward to all the exciting opportunities that this project will be able to offer to all members of our Federation.

The project is supported using public funding by the National Lottery  through Arts Council England and The Isle of Wight Area of Outstanding  Beauty (IWAONB), and by the two High Street Heritage Action Zones  (Newport and Ryde) and Ventnor Exchange’s #IWILL project.

First Marks will be on display to the public from 18th January – 7th February, 10.00am – 4.30pm, Independent Arts, Newport.