Creative arts students from Barnet and Southgate College have been showcasing their work at the final year show.
The 2019 exhibition showcases paintings, film, sculpture, fashion and photography by the students. As part of the show an award ceremony took place for fashion students judged by a panel of esteemed judges, which included: Tom Davies from Poeticgem; a menswear designer and Silvana Seseri, owner of Silvana’s Boutique.
Winning student Eldina Kadiu, aged 18 from New Barnet, who is studying on the UAL Level 3 extended diploma in fashion, won first place for her clothing collection themed on Christian Dior and couture fashion. Judge, Silvana Seseri offered a special prize to Eldina for her couture collection, which was also shown at the College’s recent catwalk show. When Silvana saw Eldina’s collection she said it was so good that she wanted to offer her a placement at her London boutique.
Silvana Sesari said: “When looking at all of the collections for this year’s College fashion awards, Eldina’s really stood out as at this stage in her career it is very hard to achieve the level of design needed to produce a couture collection such as this. Eldina did so well I wanted to offer her a work placement to help her development within the industry.”
Eldina leaves Barnet and Southgate College this year to go to the London College of Fashion, she said: “I’m really proud and speechless about winning the special prize. I’m excited to work at Silvana’s boutique, to start university and actually become a fashion designer! I was so inspired by Christian Dior’s couture pieces and I love 1950’s fashion as well as contour design, so I used these elements as themes in my collection incorporating the colour red to really help it stand-out.”
The talented students have been working on their final projects for many months and some of them have already been offered places at university, students such as, Ashlee Tapiwa, aged 21 on the Level 3 UAL extended diploma in media production. Ashlee joined the College on an animation course as he was fascinated by the process of developing characters, but he struggled to use the software so looked into his options and how to develop his skills and changed paths to a media course and he’s already been accepted by Bournemouth University to study TV Production after achieving a distinction on his College course.
Ashlee Tapiwa said of his final project: “I researched topics in social media, but felt this wasn’t a unique subject and with further research I decided on producing a motivational video showcasing activities you can do other than being on social media. My concept was comparing people on their phones versus being active, creating a short film to inspire others. College has been a tough journey, learning and updating my skills, but I now feel the pressure was worth it and without that learning curve I wouldn’t be where I am.”
Barnet and Southgate College’s CEO, Darren Mepham said: “Barnet and Southgate College is extremely proud of all our talented Creative Arts students; they’ve put together an eclectic, inspirational and very professional show. This is testament to the dedication and hard work involved in creating their final year projects. It has also given the students a chance to shine and be part of a team organising a modern art exhibition, which they may even host themselves one day.”
The show was opened by the Deputy Mayor of Enfield, Cllr Kate Anolue and by the Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Caroline Stock.
Cllr. David Longstaff, Deputy Leader of Barnet Council, who also attended the exhibition said: “It’s great to see the work of young artists and the imagination that has gone into these pieces. It’s lovely to see so many people at this art exhibition too. I have found the art work thought provoking and following the fashion show, which I attended a couple weeks ago it’s also great to hear from both that event and tonight that so many students are progressing and following their desires at University.”
The show is open to the public and is located at the College’s Wood St Campus in High Barnet. Entry is free until 27th June 2019.
