Home Local News West Lancashire College students and Concourse Shopping Centre celebrate their hard work

West Lancashire College students and Concourse Shopping Centre celebrate their hard work

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Aimee Smith, Art and Design Technician Demonstrator at West Lancashire College (far left) and Jennifer Burnett, Retail Marketing Manager of the Concourse Shopping Centre (third from right) with the Creative Arts students from West Lancashire College art department, who worked on the hanging banners project.

Following months of hard work and dedication, the staff and students of West Lancashire College Creative Arts department, together with the Concourse Shopping Centre marketing team, were celebrating in style last week.

Joined by members of the public, the celebrations took place in the Concourse Shopping Centre, to mark the end of their live art commission project, working as a team to design and create the banners, as part of their work placement and enrichment activities. The project culminated in the professional printing of four large-scale banners, now hanging in the front atrium of the Concourse Shopping Centre, over the escalator and lift area.

At the celebration, students and staff of the college creative arts department and the Concourse shopping centre were available to explain the project, with a special exhibition of the project timeline and what the banners represent. Many of the invited guests had taken part in a photoshoot, with the aim of representing the local community on the banners, for which we are very grateful for their involvement.

Aimee Smith, Art and Design Technician Demonstrator at West Lancashire College, said:

“During the project, students further developed their specialist skills, working individually on elements that were then combined digitally as part of the large final banners, celebrating Skelmersdale’s town.”

The banners theme was to showcase Skelmersdale. Two of them represent the community and nature side of Skelmersdale, highlighting how Skelmersdale was built for its community, with access to lots of green spaces, its road network and famous roundabouts. The other two banners characterise the urban and industrial side of Skelmersdale, presenting how Skelmersdale, as a purpose built new town, has a layout linking the public and residential areas. It takes inspiration from the shapes of the 1960’s design of the roads, underpasses and roundabouts within the town’s layout, as well as Skelmersdale’s iconic exposed concrete buildings, built during the Brutalist architecture movement.

All four banners take inspiration from various artists, such as Gustav Klimt and Hundertwasser, using vibrant colours and natural images. The students used a variation of techniques to create the banners including drawing, painting, collage, 3D ceramic, block printing, copper foil technique, textiles, photography and digital work.

Jennifer Burnett, Retail Marketing Manager of the Concourse Shopping Centre expressed her gratitude to the college and to the students and staff that had worked so hard on the banners:

“We were overwhelmed by the initial designs that the students came up with and presented to us. The ideas and the work behind the project were well thought through and incorporated so many different aspects from what they had learnt throughout their course, as well as fitting the brief of a project based on Skelmersdale. They should all be proud of their achievement; I hope it helps them develop for their future at University and/or in their career.”

Aimee added:

“This has been a fantastic opportunity for our students to work on a large collaborative commission, giving them real experience of working to a client’s requirements. It is a huge achievement and recognition of their skills to know their artwork will be prominently displayed for years to come.”

If you missed the event, a display of the Concourse Banners project will remain in the window of unit 144, close to where you can view all four banners, hanging proudly over the front atrium. Unit 144 is located on the first floor of the Concourse Shopping Centre, next to West Lancashire Borough Council’s Customer Service Point, at the top of the main escalators and stairs.

The display of the Concourse Banners project will temporarily move over to the West Lancashire College Skelmersdale Campus, as part of their end of year Art Exhibition. This takes place on Wednesday 14th June 4.30 – 7.00pm, until Monday 26th June, when the exhibition will return to the Concourse. The Art exhibition at the college also showcases more of the Creative Arts students’ work including, fine art, 3D, textiles, graphic design, photography, animation and much more. Within the show, there will be a pottery installation involving work from approximately 70 secondary school children. Entry is free.

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