CREATIVE students from a North-East art school have designs on making an impact on the thousands of music lovers attending Radio 1’s Big Weekend later this week.
The talented young graphic design students from The Northern School of Art have teamed up with internationally-renowned graphic artist, Jimmy Turrell, to create a huge, colourful collage to be featured at the event in Stewart Park in Middlesbrough this weekend.
Featuring images of three of the weekend’s acts – Mark Ronson, Billie Eilish and Miley Cyrus – the 6m by 3.5m installation will be situated in a prime spot beside the main stage.
Olivia Watson, programme leader for The Northern School of Art’s BA Graphics & Digital Design degree courses, said the "stunning" artwork will be made up of hundreds of images of work by students at the school, which has sites in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool.
She said: “The idea for the collage was in response to an open brief by the Big Weekend team for something creative and impactful created by the school’s students and our creative community.
“We’re using artwork and images submitted by students from across the whole range of creative courses at the School. Up close people will be able to see the individual work and from a distance it becomes an image of the three musicians.
“Students had to pitch for a place on the team and submit their concepts and ideas,” Olivia explained. “It created huge excitement amongst the students and we were inundated with requests to be involved.”
Student Eve Howsden, 19, originally from West Cumbria, said: “It's an incredible thing to happen. It'll be amazing to have people I love listening to and I admire up on stage where something I've worked on is on display."
The students have been working with graphic artist Jimmy Turrell, who has created large-scale collages across the world and has worked with leading brands including adidas and Apple, and who has helped to plan the image that will be revealed to gig-goers.
He will be joining the school's Big Weekend team to create the collage on the Thursday before the event opens.
Matthew Orford, 20, from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, added: “It’s a wonderful opportunity to have work featured at such a high profile event but also to work alongside someone as renowned and professional as Jimmy Turrell."
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