Student sculptors turn trash to treasure!
25/05/2010
Judges spent time looking at each sculpture
Three talented young sculptors from the College's Sixth Form Haywards Heath campus have reached the final of a prestigious regional sculpture competition, run by West Sussex-based organisation Better Tomorrows, the not-for-profit community interest company that is spearheading a range of initiatives to encourage sustainable living in the county.
The annual Sculpture Challenge requires aspiring young artists from Central Sussex College in Haywards Heath, Northbrook, Chichester and Worthing Colleges to create their sculptures from 100% re-cycled or re-used materials, reflecting the company's aim to support behavioural and cultural changes within the community in order to live a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. After appealing to staff and fellow students for interesting re-usable materials since Christmas, the thirty four students from Central Sussex College who took part in the challenge certainly had a lot to work with!
Eight students' work was short-listed, ahead of the final judging process on the 19th May, which determined the College's three finalists. Sophie Fowles, Cameron Williams-Hill, Mollie Bullock, Robin Dickie, Alice Weatherell-Toms, Sam Wrigley, Emily Parker and Harriet Ede all received a prize of an A1 portfolio after their sculptures were displayed outside the new building at the Sixth Form campus. The panel of judges who had the difficult task of selecting the final three included acclaimed British sculptor Hamish Black, representatives from the West Sussex County Times and from Better Tomorrows, and the Curator from the Cass Sculpture Foundation at Goodwood where the winning sculpture will be exhibited for up to six months.
Sixteen-year old Mollie Bullock was selected as one of the three finalists, with her piece, inspired by the shortage of fossil fuels, as was Alice Weatherell-Toms, seventeen, who combined manufactured materials with a natural form, saying "I was inspired by Almuth Tebbenhoff at the Goodwood Sculpture Park and I was interested in making a sculpture of a natural form, using only synthetically made materials." The third finalist to represent the College is sixteen-year-old Cameron Williams-Hill, who found taking part in the project benefited him in many ways, saying "The re-cycling project has really inspired me. It's allowed me to develop my 3D work and expand my ideas." All three finalists received feedback from sculptor Hamish Black.
Kate Thorne, subject leader for Art at the College's Sixth Form Haywards Heath campus who co-ordinated the project said "Students worked really hard and created a diverse range of work exploring the possibilities of contrasting recycled materials. Their visit to the sculpture estate influenced many ideas within the project, and introduced students to the sculpture foundation which every year commissions approximately twenty monumental sculptures from emerging and established contemporary British artists and designers. Students also had the opportunity to see the space and woodland environment in which the winning sculpture would be exhibited."
The overall winner will be selected from the finalists from all four Colleges, and revealed at the Cass Sculpture Foundation's sculpture estate at Goodwood on the 7th June.
