Angus College

Swedish trip for Angus students

A group of Angus College staff and students are gearing up for a trip to Sweden next week on the 9th March as part of a project which will address the topic “Connect, Create and Sustain“. As well as the Angus students, representatives from Colleges in France, the Netherlands and Romania will be meeting with their Swedish counterparts to undertake this project.

The trip is being funded by Comenius, a strand of European funding which promotes travel between countries in order to develop knowledge and understanding of the diversity of European cultures as well as sharing educational objectives. The project itself will look at promoting the use of environmentally friendly materials and practice in the creation of pieces of art. For their part, Angus College Community Programmes Art students were all invited to produce sustainable designs for a mosaic table top.

The designs were judged by Art and Design Course Leader Fergus McLachlan who chose the winning design, a piece produced by Kirsten Weir (Brechin, 18), a school link pupil from Carronhill School in Stonehaven. Kristen’s winning design will now represent the group and be taken to Sweden where it will be made into the final product. Students from the other College’s will also be invited to add contribute by adding their own pieces to the mosaic, resulting in a cross culture collaborative piece of artwork.

Angus College will be the only College involved in this project which is fully inclusive, involving students who have a wide range of different learning abilities. The students who will be travelling to Motala, Sweden to represent the College are Michael Taylor (Edzell woods, 18) and Dafydd Elvy (Kellas,18) who will be giving a presentation to the group detailing the project. Travelling alongside them and leading the project is Community Programmes Curriculum Manager Wendy Duke (Montrose) and Art and Design lecturer Jacqueline Ritchie (Arbroath), who helped the students to develop their mosaic designs.

The cross College project has not only involved the Art and Community Programmes departments but it was also made possible by Jim Low from the construction department who produced the wooden frame of the table which will feature the winning design.

Community Programmes Curriculum Manager said “This project is a wonderful opportunity for our students to demonstrate their creative abilities on a European stage. It also presents some fantastic opportunities to connect with Colleges in other countries and learn more about their background and culture.”