Students from Bury College had their artwork displayed at a national student exhibition in London last month. 

Three art and design students from the college had their work exhibited at Origins Creatives, a University of Arts London exhibition that showcases work from some of the UK’s most talented students.

Millicent Wilson, 19, Autumn O’Neill, 19, and Luke Stansfield, 17, all had their work selected for show which took place from July 21 to 24 and they submitted an explanation of what inspired them as part of the exhibition.

Millicent, formerly of Newhouse Academy, titled her work ‘The Cat Archetype’ and spoke about how Bury College has developed her style as an artist.

Bury Times: Millicent Wilson and tutor, Mary Ainsworth. Photo: Bury College Millicent Wilson and tutor, Mary Ainsworth. Photo: Bury College

Millicent said: “Bury College helped me develop as an artist by allowing me to experiment with different techniques such as illustration and digital art.

“This project uses cats as a lens to explore illustrative techniques and storytelling devices.

“The project investigates the trend of anthropomorphism in literature and the potential it has for conveying a narrative.”

Autumn focused her work on the crisis of responsibility.

Speaking about what inspired her work, the former Holy Family RC and CE College student said: “This project explores The crisis of responsibility and how responsibilities change from being younger to growing older and the repercussions that come along with them.”

Luke is a former Newhouse Academy student named his work, Blackpool, and focused on urban environments.

He said: “The theme of the work is urban environments, and the specialist theme is buildings because of the interesting structures.

“It was influenced by the artist Javier Zabala because of their use of bright, light colour tones in their work. The photographs taken in Blackpool influenced the work for the buildings.”

Luke’s tutor Beverleigh Claypool, team leader of level 1 and 2 vocational art at the college, said: “As Luke's Group Tutor, I was privileged and incredibly proud to be able to view Luke's work 'Blackpool' with him at the Origins Exhibition in London.

“The experience of having his work chosen by the London curator Matt Williams and exhibited with other UAL levels 1-3 students from across the country will be invaluable.

“I wish him every success in the future. He has since applied to the UAL level 3 art, design and communication at Bury College.”

Mary Ainsworth, foundation diploma course leader at the College, added: “I am so happy to have had our students selected for the Origins Creatives exhibition.

“It was my first-time entering students into the exhibition as a new teacher at Bury College, so it’s been a great experience.

“The work itself is incredibly personal and well executed, Millie and Autumn are very talented students with lots of potential.

“I am looking forward to seeing how they progress in the industry over the next few years.

"Autumn has just completed our foundation diploma and will begin studying fine art at the University of Salford.

"Millie will be studying for our foundation diploma from September.

“It’s a really exciting time for our students.”

Bury Times: A selection of work on display at the Origins Creatives exhibition. Photo: Bury CollegeA selection of work on display at the Origins Creatives exhibition. Photo: Bury College

Ross Anderson, director of the UAL Awarding Body, said: “Origins provides our awarding body community with the opportunity to come together and celebrate the wonderful work and amazing achievements of all our students.

“It also recognises the remarkable efforts of the tutors and teachers who have supported them.

"The world needs creativity, now more than ever, and our students are bursting with it.”

Has the success of Bury Colleges' students inspired you to get creative? Check out it's range of Art and Design courses on its website.