Playland exhibition is a COPC success

Themes of identity and heritage by City of Portsmouth College art students have been on display at two iconic city locations.

Originally working with Aspex Gallery at Gunwharf Quays via Portsmouth Creates, Level 3 Art and Design students based at Highbury Campus enjoyed multiple workshops with its creative engagement manager Karl Bailey, allowing the class to study the workings of a professional gallery space and how to produce and curate work for a public exhibition.

Visual Arts lecturer Dan Leonidas then set the wheels in motion for a surprise move for the exhibition, to the Playland Creative Hub on Commercial Road, where it enjoyed a ten-day run.

Once a derelict amusement arcade, Playland Creative Hub is now a vibrant two-storey cultural space bringing together young people, artists and creative businesses in the heart of Portsmouth.

Dan said: “After a successful student show I approached Anastasia Alexandru at Playland, who very generously invited students to have a second showing of their work, using all of their knowledge and experience from the Aspex show to create their own exhibition space to be proud of much like the first showing, with decisions and mounting of the work being done by them as a team of creatives sharing their work with Portsmouth.

“From the creation of the art to working together to create the welcoming exhibition space, the students should all be very proud of themselves for applying their knowledge to a real-world opportunity!”

Assistant Principal David Lycett added: “A big thank you to Portsmouth Creates, the Team at Playland and to Aspex Gallery for all their support with this exciting project. It has been a real pleasure to see the students work in and display their work in these spaces and a huge thank you to our fantastic team, in particular Dan for all the work putting this together. The work was exceptional!"