Students from Swindon College’s School of Art have been given a blank canvas to come up with their Visions For Swindon. Around 80 students, mostly aged 16 to 19, are taking part in a competition that will culminate in a prizegiving and a week-long exhibition.
The Brunel shopping centre have freed up a temporarily vacant shop as a makeshift gallery for the project, which is called Visions For Swindon.
School of Art team leader Louise Brooke said the challenge to think about what is missing from the Swindon landscape had already thrown up some interesting themes.
“We have given the students a blank canvas, so they are allowed to suggest anything that they think will add to the town,” said Louise. “It can be connected with the arts, recreation, entertainment, music, sport… It’s up to them, and they can work in whatever media they like.”
Swindon shoppers will be able to see the students’ ideas in the exhibition starting on Saturday (February 7) and running until the following Friday (February 13), in The Brunel, canal walk entrance next to Lush.
Mark Martin, deputy manager of The Brunel, said he was looking forward to seeing what students were coming up with. He said: “We approached Swindon College because we thought the competition was a good way of utilising a temporarily vacant shop unit and providing them with much-needed exhibition space. Now we’re really interested to see their ideas.”
Expect the exhibition to produce a wide range of themes and ideas about where they think Swindon should be heading.
The Visions For Swindon Exhibition will run at The Brunel on February 7-13.
