Shetland Arts is delighted to present the latest exhibition at Bonhoga Gallery – THE FUTURE, a collaboration between Amy Gear and 300 young artists from five Shetland schools.
THE FUTURE is the second project in a four-year gallery education programme, part of Children & the Arts’ Start programme and delivered by Shetland Arts in partnership with SIC Creative Links. The project involves schools in Sandwick, Aith, Fetlar, Baltasound and Whalsay, and involves around 300 pupils from 5-15 years of age.
Start gives children who might miss out on arts and cultural activities the chance to participate in and enjoy high quality arts activities by providing the funding and practical support for arts organisations to partner with their local schools.
Jane Matthews of Shetland Arts explains, ‘Following on from success of The Art World in 2016 this year’s project has focused more on exhibition visits and workshops at Bonhoga. This short exhibition showcases the young artists’ experiences and ideas and, as always, it is so inspiring to see how creative they are”.
Working with artist Amy Gear and editor JJ Jamieson, and focusing on animation and storytelling, this year’s project explores the future – what will the world look like 300 years from now? Who will be living here in the year 2317? The young artists’ responses culminate in the work on show at Bonhoga and online at 2317thefuture.tumblr.com
Amy explains, “Working with the young artists is always an exciting process as they always come up with new exciting ideas, that I wouldn’t think of myself – future clothes that protect you from enemies and nasty viruses, future animals that are half cow, half sheep so you don’t need to farm both, teleport buttons, robot teachers, a chip that goes in your brain so that makes you good at certain jobs. THE FUTURE only shows a fragment of the young artists’ massive and wild imaginations, and I hope that those who visit the exhibition ponder the future as much as we have, and that we introduce you to a few new ideas”.
Jeremy Newton, Chief Executive of Children & the Arts says, "We are delighted to be bringing Start to the Shetland Islands. Shetland Arts have provided an amazing creative learning experience for the children; and we hope that visiting the gallery, working with Amy and JJ Jamieson, and exhibiting to the public will have a wonderful impact on their confidence and development, and of course, give them all unforgettable memories to cherish”.
The exhibition opening will take place at Bonhoga on Friday 16 June from 6-7.30pm. Everyone is welcome and refreshments will be provided.
