Earlier this summer a Bournemouth & Poole College student was selected to exhibit his work at the Origins Creative Arts Festival at the Old Truman Brewery in London.
Kaixiang Zhang, who studied on the College’s Foundation Studies in Art and Design course, showcased his conceptional art piece called K.N.O.W. at the three-day event, which celebrates the achievements of students completing Levels 1-4 UAL Awarding Body qualifications.
The festival showcased the work of 150 students covered drawing, sculpture, video and fashion pieces, and received well over 350 national applications to take part.
The theme of this year's exhibition was 'coming into focus' which represents the way that students clarify, consolidate and confirm their skills and their artistic practice whilst studying on UAL Awarding Body qualifications.
Kaixiang impressed the judges with his K.N.O.W piece, an integrated language system to compare the nothingness in Buddhism, Taoism, and physics. Kaixiaing explained the inspiration behind his artwork:
“I got interested in Chinese ancient thoughts when I was in middle school. Since then, I have pondered the meaning of nothingness in Buddhism and Taoism as well as creating drawings to visualize my ideas. I chose to research physics as another aspect to contrast to Buddhism and Taoism, and, in my work, I attempted to understand nothingness in both the physical and spiritual domain.’
“I was excited when I found out my work had been chosen by the Origins Festival to be exhibited. I can’t thank my tutor enough for giving me the opportunity to take part.”
Kiaxiang’s tutor, Visual Arts lecturer Laura Joy, was delighted to hear the Festival had decided to showcase Kiaxiang’s work:
“It was a tremendous achievement for Kaixiang’s artwork to be included in the Origins Festival. Only a tiny proportion of entries were selected, and it was a fantastic reward for all the hard work that went in to creating such an imaginative piece of artwork.”
If you are interested in studying Art and Design at the College, make sure to come along to our Open Event tomorrow from 4-8pm, where you can talk to tutors and tour our state of the art facilities.