Top overall student Morag Shaw with artwork inspired by myths and folklore.

Eclectic is the word for the end-of-year exhibition of studio work by final-year visual arts and design degree students at EIT’s ideaschool.

Art produced by 33 students and showcased in the EIT IS3 exhibition encompasses a wide range of  disciplines including embroidery, ceramics, cast glass, graphic design, painting, printing, spatial design, product design, assemblage of found objects, installation work, sculpture, woodwork and leatherwork.

Materials are also varied.  Some of the more unusual materials and objects used in the artworks are birds’ nests, pumice, wax, a stair banister, a metal trowel, animal gut, fused glass, magnets and rubber.

Programme coordinator Nigel Roberts says the exhibition’s eclecticism demonstrates the freedom ideaschool’s Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design students have to explore their creativity.  All second-semester students from the class of 2014 passed, achieving a 100 percent pass rate.

Top Overall Student Morag Shaw taps into mythological and folklore themes in her hand-printed woodblocks and stand-up and hung plywood cut-outs depicting menacing wolves, an eagle, goats and a satyr.

Quirky but practical examples of student art include a gun rest designed by Shaun Simpson and personal writing cases crafted by Carol Goodier.

A keen hunter, Shaun was finding it difficult positioning his gun when taking aim.  His portable gun rest, small enough to carry in a jacket pocket, can be readily opened and secured to a tree trunk or branch to provide a stable platform for shooting – a particularly useful device in rough terrain.

Carol has used pliable leather and maplewood to create portable writing cases.  Their retro-styling, will remind baby boomers of their satchel-carrying school days.  Reinforcing the sense of an earlier age, her display includes a letter from her father, handwritten in 1998, and a schoolgirl’s panama hat.

Top Arts Student Susan Mabin’s powerful sculptures express an artistic interest in domestic disharmony.   Jenni Coulson and Michelle Hellyer shared the Top Design Student Award and Kaye McGarva and Morag Shaw the Top Theory Award.

The exhibition opened on Friday night and continues on campus from 11am-4pm on Sunday, 30 November.  Many of the works are for sale.