This Is Guernsey

GRANGE HOUSE was a place of mixed emotions on Saturday.

Not only was it a time of celebration for the second year art students who were displaying their best work for their final year show (it’s a two year course), but also a time of sorrow as it marked the end of the building’s use for art.

Over the years Grange House, which has been dedicated solely for use by College of Further Education art students, had become iconic.

Ex-student David Higgs expressed how he felt about the building closing its doors.

‘I kind of feel like my kids will be robbed of my experiences here,’ he explained.

‘For me, it was inspirational and life changing. The building wasn’t just a building – it became a place for many students to express themselves.’

Strong opinions were also expressed on the new location at St Sampson’s School.

‘Eric and Martin have had a really high rate of students going to university,’ said ex-student Hannah Link.

‘So I feel they deserve a much bigger space for what they do. I’m really sad about Grange House closing – I have a lot of memories here and I have learnt more in this building than I have anywhere else.’

With this year’s show being the last one at Grange House, the place was packed.

The work on display covered a broad spectrum in a range of media. There was a mixture of graphic design, textiles, fashion design, video and sound, photography and history.

One piece that stood out for me  was Brett Smeed’s.

Brett, who is blind, had created a piece using sound, which was projected from four large speakers. Visitors were able to enter this ’sound capsule’ and really get a sense of Brett’s perspective of the world as a blind man.

His accompanying leaflet explained how he uses sound to see.

‘Some grapheme-colour synasthetes report that shapes and colours seem to be projected into the world from an impingement of sound into sight,’ it says.

‘Sound works quietly with other senses to scan an environment, to define our orientation with a space, to register the feeling that we describe as atmosphere.’

Viewer John McCarthy said Brett’s piece forced participation from the viewer.

‘It is an instalment and an interactive piece and because you have to get involved with it, it makes you think about the piece more. You really are in Brett’s world.’

•  The Student of the Year was Sophie Hardman.

The photos in this article were taken by Peter Frankland. You can order copies of these, and others, from our photo orders site.

Ryan Dawe with his final piece. (0588983)

Article posted on 11th June, 2008 - 2.00pm