POWERFUL messages about the inner strength of women depicted in art have been revealed at an exhibition of students’ work.
The force of the female was not a theme set by exam boards but came through strongly in some of the high quality work produced by girls who have completed A Level art at Trinity Academy, in Thorne.
The exhibition opened at Thorne Library and for, the A Level students, marked the end of their time at the academy before they go on college and university.
Work by Sineade Hazel, 18, took centre stage at the opening night and was depicted on invitations for the event.
“The image is about women not being defined as sexual objects and showing them in a different way, so I removed breasts and faces and left strong shoulders. It shows the female form in a beautiful way but not in the conventional way,” she explained.
For Sineade, who was abused between the ages of 11-14, it is more than a piece of art.
“I am confident now and can speak out, so this is about empowerment and about bad things not affecting you if you don’t let them. It’s very special to me,” said Sineade, who hopes to go on to teach art as therapy.
“It’s been really good at Trinity Academy. The staff are really supportive. They push you, but are always there to help,” she added.
Phoebe Leech, 17, who is joining Sineade on an art pre-degree course at Doncaster College, has portraiture work in the exhibition and a large piece inspired by the artist Eliza Bennett, who she contacted for advice and was delighted to receive a reply.
“Eliza stiches into her own hands to show how women’s work is never done. I didn’t do that, but I wanted to focus on hands and stitch into canvas to show the tough life many women have,” she explained.
Phoebe’s work also followed the brief of surfaces, portraying folds of heavy fabric using dark paints to create depth and layers of paper towel and folds of canvas tacked to the main canvas to give texture.
Jamiela Nunez’s work reflected the beauty of women in delicate yet impactful flowers with vines stretching across the canvas.
“I wanted it to flow in a way that reaches out and at a deeper level depicts women stretching and reaching further, with some flowers open and blooming and others closed and still to come out,” she said.
Ruth Wheatley, 17, created one of the biggest pieces in the exhibition, inspired by artist Wyatt Mills.
She explained: “He is known for his abstract, fragmented faces and viewing faces from different angles, which I really like, but the style is inspired by Jenny Saville. She focuses on parts of the female body and exaggerates or distorts features or folds of flesh. They’re usually bigger women and I like that.”
As well as fine art, there are exhibits of A Level textiles. Maddy Hookway, 18, based her work on how animated characters are used in film posters, especially those from the pop art genre.
The exhibition also shows work by Year 9 students in their first year of GCSE.
Showing her cubism work, Madeleine Taylor said: “It’s inspiring to see the work of the A Level students but at the same time I see how much work they’ve had to put in. It’s really impressive.”
Head of art Laura Dallett said: “It was fantastic to see so many friends and family supporting the students at the opening night of the exhibition. It’s been a really busy, hard year and the students have worked extremely hard and shown real determination.
“We do push them, but when you see the results it makes it all worth it and they have done themselves and the academy proud.”
Some of the work has been displayed in Thorne Library over the summer for the community to see.