Trip to New Blood Exhibition in Hawick


The New Blood Exhibition showed the work of 6 artists from the Borders who were all under 28 and who had all studied art and design at Borders College before going on to further studies. Some are still undergraduates at Scotland's art colleges, and some have already graduated.
The work was very varied and promoted various amounts of discussion. I refer to four of the artists here.
Gavin Wood's (above) pieces were of pencil on wood. I thought they were quite beautiful and the skill was obvious. I could never see me being able to wield a pencil with such effect!

Alice Scott hung her photographs upside down and on their sides. She was hoping that the viewer would gain a mindful insight into the world around us. I actually quite liked her photos and the two above made a nice group. However I did not think there was anything startling about her photos, the quality, the composition or the subject. I felt I could hang my photos upside down to similar effect.


 Charlotte Miller wanted to convey the curiosity, energy and enthusiasm for the world around her through painting and there is much energy in this seascape. I loved the size of this painting which was big enough to hold the amount of power in the painting. However I did not like the boat with the dog in it. That is not my taste.
Paulina Imbiorkiewicz exhibited a series of photographs of foods/sandwiches. These were accompanied by a piece of text where she talked of the character traits of her ex partners, likening them to a sandwich. These exhibits prompted much conversation in the car back to college as we likened our relationships to food!
As some of these artists were within touching distance to some of us (I thought) it was great to examine their work and understand their inspiration and their techniques. As I am coming to realise that art is far more than - do you like it or not - I liked the engagement the viewers had with some of the exhibits.

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