A Cut Above - Star Brewery Gallery Exhibition

The Star Brewery Gallery once again plays host to the work of East Sussex College students for this year's Royal Opera House Design Challenge.

This year the prestigious competition is based on Rossini's opera, ‘The Barber of Seville’. Entitled ‘A Cut Above’ this year’s show comprises the work of the twenty talented students studying on the Art & Design Extended Diploma. The exhibition is free and will be open from Tuesday 12th March until Sunday 17th March, from 10am until 4pm.

Over 40 schools/colleges nationally participate in the Royal Opera House Design Challenge as it provides an incredible opportunity for students to engage with a ‘live’ brief, a real client, and create a design for the most prestigious stage in the country, if not the world. The College has a highly impressive track record of students winning or being awarded highly commended for their highly imaginative, creative responses and outcomes, with at least one winner for one of the five categories in the past ten years. 

Last year, working on Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’, Sam Howard scooped the award for best costume, while another student, Phoebe Ociepka-Tearle was Highly Commended for her poster and animation in the Marketing Strategy and Design category.

James DiBiase, the Art & Design Extended Diploma Course Leader, enthuses “This is our eleventh year of working on this competition and the third year we have held the related exhibition at the Star Brewery Gallery. It is the perfect venue for showcasing the work and visitors to the past two shows have been bowled over by the quality and sheer professionalism of the work on display. It will really help the students if you can come and visit as they must also complete a body of work about presenting and exhibiting work. I can assure you; you will be impressed by the students’ sheer dedication, imaginative interpretations and creative skill working on Rossini’s infamous opera buffa.”

To help support the students, members of the public will be encouraged to fill in a short questionnaire and vote for their favourite piece of work. The 'Best in Show’ will be awarded by the Mayor of Lewes at a private view to be held between 11:30am until 1pm on Sunday 17th March, before the exhibition will be opened again to members of the public.

A small selection of the best work along with their video presentations will then be submitted to the Royal Opera House Design Challenge at the end of this month, with the students hearing if they have been successful in April.