Attingham Park to host college students' portraits

More than 40 portraits from Telford College creative students are being exhibited at one of Shropshire’s biggest visitor attractions.

Art and design students were commissioned to create images of the team of volunteers at the National Trust’s Attingham Park estate near Shrewsbury.

Photographs of the volunteers were supplied, alongside brief details about their backgrounds and job roles, and students each selected an image at random.

The completed portraits have now been delivered to Attingham Park to take centre stage in a two-week exhibition, before returning to the college’s Wellington campus for the creative department’s end-of-year show on June 9.

Three of the students who took part – Isla Dowsett, Chloe Hoar and Luke Austin – described it as a ‘really exciting’ project and said they were hoping to meet their subjects face-to-face at a celebratory event later in the year.

Isla, a former Idsall School student, said: “Portraits are one of my favourite areas, so it was a fantastic opportunity to work with oils, acrylics and mixed media on what turned into a very large portrait.”

Chloe, a former Hadley Learning Community student, said: “We spent several weeks looking at various processes before choosing how to proceed, and my portrait itself took about two or three weeks. I enjoyed the process.”

And Luke, who came to Telford College from Ercall Wood Academy, said: “I chose to use biro for my portrait, as that’s one of the methods I’m most comfortable with. It has been a really good project to be involved in.”

Johnathan Abbott, learner manager for creative and music at Telford College, said: “Each of the students took part in workshops to experience working in various media.

“They then chose which material and technique they wanted for their portraits, which vary from A1 to A4 and include pastels, coloured pencil, digital collage, acrylic paint, embroidery, layered etching, ceramic sculpture, and more.”

He added: “It's really important that we are able to give our students the opportunity to take on real-world commissions like this, working in partnership with local businesses.

“We're so grateful to the National Trust, and the team at Attingham Park, for their support. Projects like these really validate the amazing work which our students are doing, and give them a proper taste of what lies ahead for them in their careers.”