Last Thursday, a group of our Year 10 Ceramics students got an experience that most artists spend years working toward: seeing their own work photographed professionally, in a proper studio setup, by someone who does this for museums and galleries for a living.
It came about through an ongoing project with Flatlands Gallery here in Bexhill, who are producing a publication to celebrate our Ceramics students as part of Bexhill Art Weekend in August. To make that happen properly, the students needed images of their work that did it justice. So Flatlands brought the expertise to us.
Amy Mock, Head of Artist Development at Flatlands, led the session and worked with students on something that often gets overlooked: how to present and talk about what you have made. That means thinking about backgrounds, composition and context, but it also means being able to reflect on your own work and put it into words. For a lot of students, that second part is harder than making the piece in the first place.
Photographer Jorge Antony Stride joined them and spoke about his work shooting artwork for museums and galleries before turning the session over to the students themselves. One by one they photographed their own pieces in the studio space that had been set up for the day. The results were genuinely impressive.
What struck us most, though, was watching the students talk about what they had made. There was real confidence there. Real pride. These are young people who have put time and craft into their work and they knew it, and it was great to see them given the space to show that off.
We can’t wait to see the finished publication. Watch this space.
