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Students at The University of Nottingham are to showcase their work and build links with the city’s thriving art scene, after setting up their own city based gallery.
Known as the Crop Up Gallery, the students hope to take temporary residence at established exhibition spaces across Nottingham, debuting at the Backlit Gallery from 15-29 June.
The first exhibition, entitled ‘Illuminate’, will feature work from fine art students Sean Coupe, Joanna Hooper, Gill Turner, Sara Gaynor and Bella Milroy, who are currently studying at The University of Nottingham or Nottingham Trent University.
The artists have been chosen to represent the diverse range of fine art students in and around Nottingham. While the pieces range in medium and content — including both installations and paintings — all share a common theme, showing the interplay between light and dark.
Artistic links
Beth Wright, a second year Art History student and Vice-Director of the Crop Up Gallery, explained: “The gallery has been set up to provide students with a unique opportunity to pool their individual creative interests and knowledge of art history.
“Our main aims are to build lasting relationships between our University and the wider art scene in Nottingham, and to create our own opportunities with which to gain invaluable industry related experience.”
Fellow Art History student and Head of Promotions and Marketing at the Gallery, Rachael Jones, added: “Nottingham is the perfect place to launch such an initiative, primarily due to its large and diverse art scene. As a city it is packed with highly esteemed galleries such as Nottingham Contemporary, as well as numerous volunteer run spaces, such as Backlit Gallery.”
A professional approach
The project has been set up to reflect the structure found in a commercial gallery or museum, with students taking responsibility for areas such as curatorship, marketing and finance. Impressed by the drive and attention to detail shown, Gabriele Neher, a Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts, offered her support.
She said: “Crop Up offers a rich programme of temporary exhibitions that allow local artists to showcase their work, while providing our students with the chance to gain vital work experience and establish contacts in areas that they might later seek to enter for employment.
“The project demonstrates the very transferable skills that make Arts and Humanities students at Nottingham stand out from their peers; they are demonstrating initiative, resourcefulness, commitment to the wider community and social engagement in the most direct and tangible ways.”
To find out more about the Gallery, please visit the Crop Up blog, facebook page or twitter account.
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has 42,000 students at award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is also the most popular university in the UK by 2012 application numbers, and ‘the world’s greenest university’. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University aims to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health. The University won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2011, for its research into global food security.
Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest ever fund-raising campaign, will deliver the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. More news…
Crop Up Gallery: The gallery was established earlier this year by third year Art History student Charlotte Hopson. Twenty students from The University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University are now involved, with others welcome to join by emailing cropupgallery@hotmail.co.uk
The Directors and heads of the various departments are as follows:
• Director: Alex Jones, second year Art History
• Vice Director: Beth Wright, second year Art History
• Finance: Charlotte Mathias, first year Art History
• Research: Emma Hardiman, first year Art History
• Promotions and Marketing - Promotions and design: Grace Mitchell, second year Art History
• Promotions and Marketing - Social Media: Rachael Jones, second year Art History
• Curator: Xanthea Heynes, first year Art History