Creating art for all

A BLANK wall at The Ham car park has been transformed by nine art students at Sidmouth College. On Thursday the eight by four feet murals were unveiled by Sidmouth Town Council chairman, Councillor Tom Cox. The murals, based on the theme Sidmouth, past and present, were undertaken as part of the students' A-level art course after a suggestion by John Govier, chairman of Sidmouth in Bloom. There to see the unveiling was college principal David Birch and Nick Rorke, head of art, who said: "They have done really well. Just painting on that scale, when you do it in the classroom, is quite a thing to undertake." Mr Birch said: "I have always felt the work young people do in the college is often not recognised, just acknowledged by teachers and examiners. "Here is something that turns that on its head. They are here for the town to see what young people, with inspiring teaching, can produce. I am extremely proud of what they have done, these are brilliant." Mr Govier said he was inspired to ask the students to produce murals after seeing what talent the college had to offer through its productions at the Manor Pavilion Theatre. He said it was kept under wraps because it was exam work: "We set them a pretty tough challenge. A lot of research had to go on, I have seen some of their scrapbooks. It was brilliant how they worked out what they would like to do." Some of the mural artists were at the launch, including Jemima Rix, 18, who chose to reproduce the Sidmouth Herald FolkWeek issue, pictured right. She said: "It took a very long time and a lot of hard work. It was a big challenge working on such a large scale. "I've lived here all my life and grew up with the folk festival. I wanted to build it into other things by doing a page of the Herald." Other students to paint murals were Oli Green, Grace Broe-Ward, Tom Whelan, Hayley Delasalle, Emma Banfield, Amelia Boalch, Anna Hamill and James Swain.