Virtual Art Gallery showcases talent of the future

When the students and staff at Milton Keynes College realised they weren’t going to be able to put on their highly popular annual arts show in the normal way, they decided they weren’t going to let lockdown stop them from proving their talent to the city.

The event is always incredibly popular having spent some years opening at Middleton Hall and more recently MK Gallery.  This year the whole show is moving to a special online production where visitors can take a virtual guided tour of the two hundred and fifty art works on show.

With so much content to put on, the exhibition team has been working flat out for the past two months to make sure everything is ready for it to launch to invited guests and the students on Wednesday.  The exhibition team encompasses the technicians from the School of Arts and Media; Liam Cunningham, Michelle Lockwood and Olivija Zukauskaite. “Each of us have different strengths in our work backgrounds that made us the perfect complimentary team to realise this project” said Liam, “its been an immensely rewarding process, and in some ways enabled us to get to know the students better through their artwork”

Each item has a full description of what it is and who it’s by, just as if you were shown around the halls of the Tate Modern or the National Portrait Gallery by one of the curators, the digital platform they have used looks very effective. Students at all levels from the College’s School of Arts & Media have contributed to the exhibition.  With pieces from the departments of Art and Design, Graphics, Photography, Fashion and Clothing all hanging in the new virtual galleries, whilst Music, Performing Arts, Media and Games and Visual Effects are showcasing on the newly developed webpage, there is something for all tastes.

Melody Hawes is one of the students whose work is being exhibited.  She says, “It was really disappointing not to be able to see my piece on display at MK Gallery but I realise now that the virtual show is going to be special.  It’s brilliant to know that our work will be seen by a wider audience and it gives the whole thing a very modern feel.”

Budding architect, Doha Belko added, “Working at home was a bit challenging at first but I eventually found ways to stay productive at home and it’s been really fun exploring ways to display my work digitally.  It’s a shame we can’t see our work on display at MK Gallery because after seeing the previous year’s exhibition, I was really looking forward to having my work there.  But I think that the online exhibition is a great alternative as online generally provides more exposure.”

Visitors to the show need only go to www.mkcollegeartsonline.com to see for themselves the wealth of talent on display from Thursday 18^th June.  Digital doors open at 9.00am