Year 12 and 10 Students work with Bowes Museum
A number of Year 12 students studying photography here at St John’s have recently been working with Bowes Museum to produce work influenced by the visiting Artist Room Exhibition which is currently showcasing the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, one of the most renowned and accomplished photographers of our time.
During a visit to the school by a member of the museum’s educational team, the students were set an “open brief” that required them to produce an image that explored who they were, the image needed to be captured using a black and white format. In addition, students had to ensure that their image contained what Mapplethorpe called the “magic!" Mapplethorpe always looked for that ‘magic’ quality in his work, that one thing that just made his image shine. The difficulty with this task is that Mapplethorpe could never quite put his finger on what this was. I’d like to think our students managed to capture this “magic”, please pay the museum a visit and judge for yourself.
The students also had the opportunity to curate the actual exhibition on Friday 27th November, assisting with the display and presentation of the work. The BBC Look North team visited the museum to produce a news clip which our Year 12 students starred in. Fame at last!
The preview night of the exhibition was by invitation only; the work looked incredible and was appreciated by all. SRS (a local band) played to create a truly magical atmosphere for the exhibition. Many thanks to the band and to Edward Stringer for arranging this.
Young adults under the age of 25 are able to see the exhibition for free until the end of April and there are many other workshops available on the Bowes Museum website, it is not too late to get involved.