Fashion students exhibit gowns in Bedern Hall
A display of gowns will be among the pieces of work on display as Bedern Hall hosts an exhibition to showcase the talent of York College University Centre’s fashion, graphics and 3D design students next week.
The event – which is free to attend for members of the public – will be staged on Tuesday, June 20 in the historic 14th-century St Andrewgate building that was originally used as the dining hall of the Vicars Choral of York Minster but also once served as the premises for William Wright’s pork pie factory and is now home to three of the city’s ancient guilds.
It is the culmination of a project that the University Centre’s degree students were set by the Guild of Media Arts.
The brief for the first-year BA Fashion Design & Garment Technology students was to design and make robes that would be fit for senior members of the Guild to wear.
Other stunning works of art, produced by the University’s BA 3D Creative Practice and BA Graphic & Communication Design students with the brief of depicting a “York Story”, will also be on view at the exhibition, which will run from 11am to 4pm.
York became the UK’s first UNESCO City of Media Arts in 2014 and the Guild is committed to bringing media arts into the lives of the city’s residents, as well as projecting the best of York’s media arts scene to a global audience.
Ahead of the public display, Owen Turner, Master of the York Guild of Media Arts, attended a preview event at the education provider’s Sim Balk Lane campus, where the students individually presented their work and explained the concept behind their creations.
He said: “The enthusiasm and the passion of the students throughout the whole project has been inspiring, as has been their commitment to completing the brief in the most creative ways that they could. It will be great to see the students’ family and friends at the exhibition, as well as members of the public, to show off what media arts can be and the talent that we have in this city.”
York College University Centre BA Fashion Design & Garment Technology award leader Rebecca O’Leary added: “We try and embed as much professional practice as we can across all of our modules, but this has been a particularly good example of us engaging with local industry and organisations such as the Guild to simulate real-life scenarios and act upon a working brief.
“The final presentation is such a huge part of our industry whether that be the catwalk, a fashion video or, for this project, curation in an exhibition scenario - it’s what our students live for. In York, we have this beautiful scenario where we are surrounded by culture, and it will be great to present these young, conceptual ideas within a historical building like Bedern Hall.”
Main picture caption: Owen Turner, Master of the York Guild of Media Arts, tries on Emma Hogg’s gown for size
