VIRTUAL EXHIBITION LAUNCH FOR NEW COLLEGE HND TEXTILES COLLABORATIVE

New College Swindon HND Textiles students, Brendan Watson(26), Megan Raine (20), Tamsen Mellor-Gardner and Emma Hines-Wragg (20) make up the Cerulean Collaborative. Today would be the launch day of their exhibition at New College, but in order to be in-keeping with current times and social distancing measures, they’ve had to switch things up.

Today, (07.05.20) their online exhibition launches across their Instagram page (@ceruleancollaborative) and Facebook: Textiles at College Swindon – pieces will be revealed every couple of hours. The team have been focussing on mindfulness and well-being for the project, they began looking at how exhibitions can make you feel, and the way they can have an impact on emotions and thoughts.

However, when the pandemic started, they shifted their focus to look at how to keep grounded and mentally healthy during the outbreak. The collaborative have focused on garment pieces and techniques including quilting, embroidery and weaving, which they say have proven to be mindful in this uncertain time. The aim of their project is to also encourage creative projects in others and welcome all to share their work with them.

Brendan said: “As a team of artists, we wanted to create a project to not only focus on our own well-being and mindfulness, but to also inspire people into completing creative mindful practices, improving their mental well-being in this unusual time. We understand that during this pandemic many people feel anxious. We used this opportunity as a way to engage others and to encourage a focus on mindfulness and in turn keep them interested in our exploration of this topic, in the form of our exhibition. Our end projects are garments and accessories that show you can make a product that makes you feel comfortable and at ease when you wear it. We all felt very strongly about this exhibition and hope people enjoy viewing it.”