Yesterday Sian & Hannah had the pleasure of joining guest artist, local painter/printmaker Pete Marsh to judge the annual Greater Manchester Colleges' Skills Art Competition. Every year the GMColleges' holds a skills competition for its students, it’s one of the largest in the UK, involving over 750 students (aged between 16 and 19) competing across 50 competitions with each of the 9 colleges hosting a different sector each year. This year’s art competition was hosted by Bury College, and we were delighted when they invited us down to get involved. 

The GMCG Skills Competition inspires students to realise their potential and to be ambitious in pursuing skills at the highest level. Taking part in this competition is a fantastic achievement in itself and has shown to enhance a person’s learning and development of the core skills valued by employers. 

Pete put together a brief for the students, which was presented to them on the morning of the competition, this year’s theme was ‘Harmony’. The teams had the morning to research, plan and create a piece together, then after lunch finish off and present their work to the judges and other teams. We were judging based on the following criteria, Innovation & creativity, Communication & Practical Execution.

We awarded 2nd place to Bury College, for their wall mounted, largely textile based 3D work. The judges were all in agreement that we were impressed by the incorporation of different examples of harmony brought together in one piece.

The 1st place, we awarded to Oldham college for their floor mounted predominantly painted work featuring two coy carp. The team presented the work really well, and it was easy to see they worked great as a team and had a clear vision, which they executed brilliantly. We were also impressed by the unusual idea to present the work on the floor as it really immersed you with the pond like feel.

All the teams achieved so much in such a short time frame and the work, effort and thought behind each entry didn’t go unnoticed. It was a fascinating experience, listening to each team present their work, how they worked together and made decisions as a team to produce the final piece.

We would like to thank the team at Bury College for their hospitality and inviting us to be part of the judging team.