Solihull College & University Centre’s community education students have come together to exhibit their work at The Core Theatre (formerly Solihull Arts Complex) in Solihull town centre. The exhibition titled ‘The Art of Learning’ will run until the 19th July.
The exhibition brings together work from a number of community courses including Art Workshop, Stained Glass & Mosaics, Creative Writing, Textiles, Patchwork & Quilting, Sewing for Pleasure, Cookery and Family Craft.
The exhibition took 3 months to put together and was organised by Kathryn Pettitt, a teacher on a number of the courses involved. She comments “The exhibition is about supporting each other and bringing people together who may not have ever met otherwise. There has been real interest so far, with people even offering to buy pieces of work that aren’t for sale”.
Lindsey Stewart, Deputy Principal represented the college executive management team at the opening of the event and said “It’s great to see learners from a variety of our community subject areas coming together to showcase their talent”.
Debbie Harvey is one of the students whose work is on display. She comments “I’ve never been happy in office work and was always good at art back at school, so thought I’d get back into it. I found that I had too many distractions at home, so the classroom environment with a tutor and classmates really helped because we inspired each other”.
Retired Chaplain Roy Boffey initially studied at the College 20 years ago and can’t believe the difference in facilities. He says the evolution of Blossomfield Campus has been “a lovely example of progress”. He adds “I was looking for a course that wasn’t highly academic. I can’t speak more highly of the college, its facilities and atmosphere”.
Some students are using the skills they have learnt in enterprising ways. Paula Burnham has taken a number of community courses including Family Crafts and Stained Glass & Mosaics. She owns her own hair salon and has used some of the skills learnt on the courses to produce branded mugs for use in her business which can be seen on display at the exhibition.
Jean Hodgson, Student of the Year at the recent community learning end of year ceremony comments “I think the exhibition is brilliant. It’s a lovely space and it’s good to see what others have achieved. As a result, my husband now wants to do a stained glass course!”
Sarah McDonald, Head of School for Access and Community comments “This is an excellent exhibition showcasing the best of community learning and I’m really proud to see the superb work that our hard working students have produced”.
If you’re interested in studying a community course at one of the College’s campuses, or at various centres across the borough, visit www.solihull.ac.uk/community or call 0121 678 7000.
