Games art students go back to basics in Arts Connect workshops

Games art students at Walsall College have expressed their identities in a new creative way with the help of two artists.

Exodus Crooks and Haseebah Ali each hosted workshops at the college.  They encouraged students to create lino and mono prints inspired by their heritage, beliefs or someone or something they admired.

The workshops were part of an Arts Connect initiative aimed at exploring race and identity through contemporary art.

Lecturer, Adam Moore explained: “These students are more used to technology-based 2D and 3D drawing, illustration and sculpting so this was a great opportunity for them to experiment with other art forms and processes.”

“They also benefitted from working and sharing ideas with established artists.”

Adam continued: “While art and identity go hand in hand, artists may need that extra bit of inspiration and encouragement to pursue their creative freedom.

“We are delighted by the work everyone produced and the positive influence this will have on their future creativity.”

Arts Connect work in partnership with education providers and artists among others, to deliver programmes that nurture, grow and impact positively upon children and young people’s creativity, knowledge and skills.

Multidisciplinary artist, Exodus Crooks said: “The aim of ‘Be One’ is to promote confidence and mutual respect using a visual arts lens.

“Haseebah and I were impressed by how open the students were about their interests, lived experience and heritage.  They also responded well to print as an artistic medium.  I hope they will continue being open-minded about creative self-expression and how it supports mutual respect and tolerance across our societies.”

Artist and arts educator, Haseebah Ali said: “We were keen to bring these student artists out of their creative comfort zones through a personalised exploration of identity and culture.

“Some of the students made use of prompts such as record sleeve artwork or a family crest, while others used objects to represent themselves.  They successfully bought to life a variety of ideas for others to resonate with.”