CRAVEN College has thrown open its doors and welcomed people in for the Creative Industries annual arts exhibition at its Aireville campus, Skipton.

The exhibition, called ‘Eat This’ brought together a multi-media mix celebrating a diversity of work created by college students across photography, graphic design, 3D-design, fashion and textiles, fine art, media, and media make-up.

It also included the work of students in IT and computing, performing arts, and exhibiting for the first time, hair, beauty and nails students.

Eat This! showcases the work of the art, design, style, creative and digital departments and represents the culmination of the students’ hard work and vision over the last year and it is the final time for students to display their work before entering employment or higher education.

The launch show opened with extracts from the musical ‘Footloose’ given by performing arts students, while creative media students showcased their genre film creations including comedy, action and drama. In addition, theatrical and media make-up students presented a unique visual feast of themed characters.

The exhibition featured the work of art, graphics, photography and fashion students, whose work was inspired following a visit to Leeds Art Museum and Liverpool Tate, as well as a gallery space dedicated to the college’s ongoing commitment to the environment and horticulture.

This year’s exhibition launch was attended by special guest, Virpi Kettu.

Virpi, an award-winning director, animator and digital artist, with a career spanning over two decades, has worked extensively in Europe and Canada.

Her catalogue of work includes animating for Aardman Animations on ‘Wallace and Gromit’, ‘Shaun the Sheep’, and ‘Creature Comforts’ and Virpi has worked for The National Film Board of Canada, DreamWorks and Universal Pictures.

Virpi’s experience goes beyond animation and she has created music videos for international artists such as RTJ, Father John Misty, Radiohead and Katy Perry.

Virpi founded Kettu Studios in 2012; an animation, film and immersive media production studio in collaboration with exceptional international artists.

Kettu Studios operates on the cutting edge of storytelling-based AR/VR research and development, aiming to change the future of our education.

Her most recent work includes the Augmented Reality (AR) and Transmedia Storytelling project ‘Dogs’ Dales’ and co-writing an academic research paper on information transfer with help of animation. 

At the event Virpi spoke to the exhibiting students, telling them: “You have the power. You have the power to affect things but most importantly you have the power to change things. Having the fire in your bellies and the passion to love what you’re doing, I wish you all well for your future.”

The launch event was also an opportunity to recognise students’ achievements in an award ceremony.

The creative industries awards celebrated students who have overcome adversity, made exceptional progression, demonstrated key specialist strengths and who have excellent attendance and punctuality.

This year also saw the inclusion of the style awards, which recognised the achievements of hair, beauty and nails students and was dedicated to honouring David Nisbet.

David was a successful hairdressing student of Craven College, working in salons around the world, but sadly passed away recently.

His brother, Richard Nisbet, spoke on behalf of the Nisbet family at the event and presented the ‘David Nisbet Style Awards’ on the night.

Jemma Crozier, head of department for art, design and style, said:“The last two years have had a significant impact on students, we wanted a theme that showed how much the students had overcome and that they were strong, resilient and could come back even stronger.

“The term Eat This! insinuates that a person has no choice but to accept something and we want people to accept that our students are made of strong stuff and will overcome adversity. Most of all, the show will be fun!”

Maddy Rothery, lecturer in digital and graphic design, added:“We could not be more proud of our students, how much they’ve achieved and their immense creativity and resilience especially when faced with the challenges of the past two years. We have been so pleased to welcome friends, family, and the wider community to feast their eyes on our students’ incredible work.”

Katie Higgings, an exhibiting student on the extended diploma creative practice: art, design and communication, said: “It’s exciting to see the work I’ve created being displayed after spending so long working on it.”

The End of Year Show ‘Eat This’ is housed within Craven College’s Ingleborough Building on the Aireville Campus in Skipton and is open to the public until the end of Thursday, June 30.

Applications for art, design, style, creative industries and digital technology are still open for this September.

For more information on how to apply visit www.craven-college.ac.uk