Art inspired by HSDC students’ work will be viewed by thousands of people as part of a free festival showcasing stunning art and light installations.
Doodles and patterns put together by HSDC students have been transformed into large, brightly coloured characters which will be on display at Paulsgrove Chalk Cliffs from 17 to 19 November as part of We Shine Portsmouth.
A Level Fine Art teacher Mark Kellett, who is one of the featured artists at the festival this year, asked his students and members of the community to channel their creativity into initial drawings to be made into the final figures.
Ukrainian student Illia Lytvynenko is one of the designers who helped Mark with his project. Illia created a design featuring the colours of the Ukraine flag, as well as the word ‘courage’ in her native language.
On her design idea, Illia said:
“Since I came here from Ukraine, I felt it necessary to make this design somehow related to my home country. The idea to show why the flag of Ukraine is exactly the way it is turned out to be quite interesting for me. Namely, that it consists of two colours, blue and yellow, where the sky is blue, and wheat is yellow. This is quite symbolic given our main export product.
“I am very pleased that this installation will be seen by a fairly large number of people who, perhaps, or maybe not, will remember that somewhere everything is not so good, and I’m not talking about myself right now, but about a huge number of people from Ukraine whose houses were destroyed, about people who sat on the streets for months, and drank rainwater, in the hope that this will all end soon.
“But the people of Ukraine will not be brought down, and everyone will continue to perform stand-ups in bunkers during air attacks, and sing songs in the subway, just to keep their spirits up.”
Mark’s project, entitled We The People, aims to reflect and create awareness of our surroundings and will transform the exhibition space into another world.
Liv Ditchburn is another student who will see her drawing on display at the event. Liv, whose design is on the right of the above image, said:
“I think it’s really exciting that my drawing is being used on a figure, especially since the neon colours work so well with the eyes from my design!”
Classmate Jemima Fernandes created the design on the left, and said:
“This piece is meant to link to the genre of psychedelic art including an indie-style theme. I picked pink and blue for the overall background as bright and highly contrasting colours.
“I felt that this piece could highlight the subject of capricious weariness. I’m delighted my idea will be displayed as I see it as an opportunity to express my theme of art.”
For more information about the festival and Mark’s exhibition, visit weshineportsmouth.co.uk/artists/mark-kellett.