Art Cafe 2019

On Thursday the 6th of June, ISM artists and performance artists once again put on a fabulous show for the Annual Art Exhibition.

Featuring student art work from across the Secondary school, embellished by musical and dramatic performances, the event has become one of the most popular in the ISM calendar.

A room each was dedicated to A Level Art students Polina Iakoleva and Maria Kouritsyna.

The highlight of Polina’s exhibition was the fabulous large-scale painting inspired by her local environment. It depicted a dense, congested environment, polluted by the industrial noise of our wonderful city. It was produced in a series of work, largely in acrylic, although some pieces incorporated layered collage to give an enhanced feeling of density. All these works depicted the energy and vibrancy of the city in which we live.

Maria’s work was largely conceptual in nature and explored themes such as childhood, freedom and the value of art. She produced work in many 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional mediums including painting, photography, dressmaking and mixed-media sculpture. The childlike figure made from wire and tape, covered in children’s toys gave us much to contemplate. Her sculpture made from carrier bags, covered in plaster made us question the role of modern art.

The evening ended with an epic hour of performances on the outside stage, featuring music from Year 10 and Year 11 students, including impressive solo performances from Alek Samarin and an original composition from Lihn Nguyen. Year 10 GCSE Music students entertained the crowd with rousing renditions of folk music from around the world. Year 11 and 12 performed a medley of music from the hit musicals ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘Beautiful’. Key Stage 3 Drama students performed a humorous sketch written and directed by Mr Burke.

One of the principal reasons for hosting the Art exhibition in June is in preparation for the Art examiners visit which took place on the 7th June. We wish all our Art, Music and Drama students the very best of luck this summer and with their future studies. 

Written by John Branton, Art Teacher