Process: A Contextual Art Exhibition

Pro-cess

A exhibition by local secondary textile design students

Geevor Tin Mine Café 28th Sept – 29th Nov 2008

The images in this exhibition have been created by year 9 students at Humphrey Davy School and year 10 students at Mount’s Bay School.  The exhibition, includes 20 pieces, mainly abstract and all created from textile taking their influences from exteriors, interiors, machinery and the underground workings of the mine.  All students have been studying G.C.S.E. Textiles. and this project has formed part of their course work. The work has been developed over several months, beginning in September last year in the lead up to, and in celebration of, the opening of the New Hard Rock Museum. The Project has been funded by ACSW ( Arts Council South West).

The title of the exhibition Process, refers not only to the industrial, material processing of Tin but also, and importantly, to the ‘creative process’ in which the students immersed themselves.   Each one expresses a different aspect of Geevor, Each one is that student’s own particular and unique view of their heritage.

The project began a year ago with an inspiration day at the mine. The day included workshops led by, internationally acclaimed artist, Kurt Jackson, who’s own exhibition” the Mining Paintings” has been commissioned to celebrate the opening of Geevor’s new Hard Rock Museum.

To get a true taste of the mine, the students were also given guided tours around the site and underground, experiencing, first hand, how history is imprinted on to the fabric and surface of the buildings and landscape.

The project has been coordinated by Geevor’s resident art practitioner Diane Spiers, who supported the students creative process. Together they looked at themes such as physical and geological processes, minerals and pigmentation, scale, structure, changing perspectives and different ways of looking at the social and historical contexts.

“The work they have created is amazing. It’s of an extremely high quality showing great maturity of concept and idea to produce an exciting series of images .” Diane Spiers