Sarah Spurgeon, a student from The Sixth Form College Farnborough, was chosen to demonstrate her artist’s eye to MPs and guests at a reception held at the House of Commons on Monday 17th March.
Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, and Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt attended the event and met students to discuss their work. The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP, also attended.
Sarah’s work is on display alongside 20 other pieces of artwork contributed by 20 Sixth Form Colleges from across England, including still life, portraits and landscape scenes, as part of the Association of Colleges’ art exhibition. The week-long event is sponsored by Alan Johnson MP and the exhibit is currently in the Upper Waiting Hall.
Paul Ayres, Sarah’s Tutor at the College, who accompanied her to the reception said “Sarah chose to focus on architectural features for her first Fine Art project, focusing on the concept of the Built Edge. Sarah explored the use of palette knife marks acrylic paint to create shape, form and line within her imagery, using her own photographs from around Guildford which inspired her to create her tonal and somewhat sombre painting entitled 'Pathway'. The perspective Sarah has used draws you into the image, making the viewer look into the image deeper.”
Sarah Spurgeon said that the opportunity was "really exciting, and I was quite surprised about my painting being chosen. My painting was from my photos from Guildford. I really like the old fashioned buildings in Guildford, it is similar to Croatia, which I have visited many times. I was really pleased with how the painting came out, and look forward to seeing it on display".
Simon Jarvis, Principal of The Sixth Form College Farnborough, commented “We are constantly amazed at the quality and maturity of the artwork produced by students at the College and are delighted that this talent has been recognised and that others will have the opportunity to view Sarah’s work as part of the House of Commons exhibit”.
Mark Bramwell, Associate Director for Sixth Form Colleges at AoC, said: “We had more than 200 entries and our panel of judges had a hard time narrowing down the field to fit the space we had available. We hope this exhibition has shown the incredible breadth and depth of talent among the students attending sixth form colleges.”