Year 12 students from the Visual Arts Department went on the annual trip to Newcastle and Gateshead as part of their art enrichment. This trip included a visit to the BALTIC, Side Gallery, Hatton Gallery and Newcastle University Fine Art department.

Over 60 students attended this trip and firstly congregated on the steps of the BALTIC for a group picture in the sunshine. Once inside, students spent time viewing the exhibitions including ‘Hinterlands’,a group exhibition, Jala Wahid’s ‘Conflagration’ installation and the new Hew Locke ‘Procession’ exhibition pictured. Students also had the opportunity to use the research and archive space where they could explore the array of specialist art books to support the development of their current project and research journals. 

Enjoying a sunny walk along the Quayside, students were able to take in the architecture of the bridges across the Tyne and take plenty of photographs. The next stop was the Side Gallery, a photography gallery dedicated to showing the best in documentary photography. Students were able to explore the current exhibition, A Wounded Landscape by Marc Wilson which spread across two of the galleries floors.

The weather was luckily on their side, compared to the previous week’s blizzard, which allowed them to take a walking lunch through the city centre and Northumberland street. Students took in the grand buildings of Dean Street, Grey Street and Grey’s Monument. Fashion and Textiles students were given a brand case study challenge in the shops, giving them an opportunity to take a detailed look at a brand of their choice, while the rest of the group headed towards the Hatton Gallery at Newcastle University. They were given tours of the fine art department by some undergraduate students and were pleased to bump into ex students currently studying there.

The trip offered students a fantastic opportunity to generate a range of resource material and research to support their component 1 personal projects. Students collected many photographs, pieces of exhibition literature, sketches and gained an insight into what it might be like to study at Newcastle University.