Coventry students lend a hand to craft innovative public art exhibition

The intricate creations of Coventry art students have been featured as part of an experimental exhibition in the city.

Creative Arts students at Coventry College have crafted hundreds of clay flowers in collaboration with the Pangaea Sculpture Team as part of Hand Earth Gesture Return, a sustainable public art project in the Canal Basin.

Thousands of flower pieces have formed part of the site-specific collaboration, which saw artists from the UK and India collaborate with Coventry citizens to craft a temporary exhibition by hand from natural materials such as clay, straw and water.

Coventry College joined the Afghan refugee community, the Gurdwara Guru Nanak Parkash, the Krishna Mandhir Temple, Cambridge Street Masjid, Imagineer Production’s Monday-night makers, Sitting Rooms of Culture, Coventry Peace Orchard, and other organisations including local schools to deliver the project.

Hand Earth Gesture Return turned natural earth processes into a series of performances and interactive events including drum performances, clay flower workshops, and a ‘water ritual’ which initiated the natural erosion process to return materials used in the project back to the earth.

Nicola Holloway, Curriculum Leader for Creative Arts, said: “Our Creative Arts students have been involved in the creation of several hundred clay flowers over the past two days in collaboration with the Pangaea Sculpture Team’s installation at the Canal basin.

“The student outcomes were fantastic, and they had a lot of fun along the way. They certainly rose to the challenge of creating these intricate flower pieces.

“It has been a fantastic opportunity to work with the Pangaea Sculpture Centre and as a department we hope to develop and expand these links.”

For more information about the project, visit https://www.pangaeasculptorscentre.com/hand-earth-gesture-return-3/

Last minute places are still available on creative courses at Coventry College. For details, visit https://www.coventrycollege.ac.uk/subject/creative-studies/