Throughout July, the Sixth Form College Association are holding their national art exhibition featuring artwork created by sixth form students.

The Sixth Form College Association represents all designated sixth form colleges and 16-19 academies in England, as well as a growing number of FE colleges and 16-19 free schools. For the last 25 years, it has been the home of specialist experts in sixth form teaching, learning and leadership, and is an influential voice of sixth form education when it comes to change of policy, curriculum and funding.

This year, the online exhibition is on the theme of ‘Fake News’. Each college submitted five entries – this meant that Farnborough’s art department had the tough job of choosing which five pieces across the four disciplines (fashion textiles, fine art, graphic design and photography) were going to be entered. The students had three months to create their pieces.

Congratulations to the following students whose artwork was selected for the exhibition:

Second year student, Ty Hargrave – ‘Altered Reality’ (Photography)

First year student, Emily Chawe – ‘Princess Diana’ (Fine Art)

First year student, Angel Dismas – ‘What is real?’ (Graphic Design)

First year student, Lily Pitt – ‘Is this True?’ (Graphic Design)

First year student, Aiden Baker-Stanley – ‘I Read It On The Internet Zuck’ (Graphic Design)

Emily said, "I was very surprised to see my painting of Princess Diana on the SFCA website. I’m proud of it because it took a long time to create! Also, I really enjoyed making it as it was different to my current project and gave me something different to work on."

Aiden commented, "I am ecstatic about my work being selected for this exhibition as I really enjoyed making it and exploring the themes I did. I have always been a massive fan of chaotic imagery and crazy photo montages, so being able to really show off my skills has been a lot of fun. When looking at the brief  of ‘Fake News’, the first thing that came to mind was to try and find the most absurd, obviously fake, stories from the past couple of years and go from there. When I found the "Mark Zuckerberg is a robot" articles, I was instantly struck with inspiration!"

Angel said, “My idea for this design was to present how easily influenced we are by the media we consume and how we passively accept media messages without question. I tried to show the impact of fake news on audiences and the difficulty of spotting what is real and what is fake. I am delighted that my work was chosen and I am grateful to have the opportunity for others to see my design.”

Rose Davies, Senior Curriculum Manager for graphic design, said, “The students did so well at visualising an idea to disguise what is fact from fiction with the brief title, ‘Fake News’ with their unique designs. The graphic students all approached their designs by layering existing photos and digitally editing them. This gave the idea the most impact with interesting and engaging results.”

Hanno Niemand, Curriculum Manager for photography said, “Ty was always keen on developing his studio lighting skills in collaboration with manipulating the image. Students who have access to studios can really distinguish themselves from the rest of the cohort due to this specialist understanding.”

Paul Ayres, Curriculum Manager for fine art, said, "Great news, not fake news! We are so pleased to see Emily's artwork featured in the SFCA exhibition. Her lovely portrait of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, contrasting with the headlines that have been used reflects the theme well. It's a great exhibition full of fantastic artwork, and it's wonderful to see our students participating."

Matt Sheppard, Director of Faculty, commented, “It’s really wonderful that our students had their work exhibited at the SFCA online exhibition, which give a national profile to these talented artist. Well done to the students and their teachers!”

To read more about the exhibition and see the amazing artwork, please click here.