‘All About Everything’ featuring the creative work of Eric Gray students
The creative and colourful work of Eric Gray students is on display from today in a new exhibition ‘All About Everything’ at the Shetland Museum and Archives.
The display is a group exhibition offering a ‘snapshot’ of the artistic achievements made during the academic year by students from theShetland UHI’s Creative Industries classes. These students, who attend through the Eric Gray Services, have filled the first floor of the museum with an array of paintings, prints, ceramics, and photography.
The photography section of the exhibition is notably inspired by last year's ARTIST ROOMS Diane Arbus exhibition at the museum. The students explored themes of identity through their work, influenced by Arbus's approach to capturing the lives and emotions of her subjects. Kristi Tait, UHI Shetland Creative Industries lecturer, explained: "Using digital SLRs, students spent the year visually exploring genres, engaging in digital and hand editing, and experimenting with cameraless photography techniques such as cyanotype, anthotype, and chemigrams. Inspired by Arbus's curated ‘Box of 10’ photographs, the students have compiled their own collections, offering a personalised view of their student journey through a camera lens."
Karen Clubb, exhibitions officer at Shetland Museum, has worked closely with the Eric Gray group, delivering gallery talks and workshops which explained how Arbus’s work documented the lives, appearances and emotions of people, building up relationships of trust and respect with her subjects to produce powerful portraits of astonishing intimacy. She said: “I am overwhelmed by the variety and personalization of the work which encompasses many techniques from line drawings to layering and photo manipulation. The breadth of work is impressive, including photos using textiles and the ‘strong woman’ pieces inspired by Arbus’s ‘strong man’ images. It is wonderful to see how the Diane Arbus exhibition has inspired such meaningful engagement and creativity.”
A second element of the exhibition features clay pots, mono printed cards, alternative screen-printed images, and drawings, all inspired by Shetland’s landscape and community. These works are part of the students’ preparations for a pop-up shop which is planned for the autumn.
The exhibition will be on display until mid August.
