As part of Grundy Art Gallery’s engagement programme, we have recently worked in partnership with the V&A Museums Design Lab Nation project, which aims to inspire the next generation of professional designers, makers and innovators and equip young people with 21st century skills necessary for workplaces of the future.
For this project, Grundy Art Gallery commissioned artist and designer, Aliyah Hussain, to work with children from local secondary schools; Aspire Academy and Highfield Leadership Academy to create a design for a large format neon lighting display that would communicate a message of active and positive change that would ‘shine a light’ on Blackpool.
Exploring Blackpool’s design heritage linked to ‘light’ the children experimented with drawing, collage and printmaking to create their designs and undertook research trips to the V&A in London and Lightworks in Blackpool, where the Blackpool Illuminations are made and stored. The images created will be on display on the forecourt of the Grundy Art Gallery as part of the gallery’s ongoing Forecourt Commissions programme.
This exhibition is a result of the work produced as part of the Design Lab Nation project, which has been developed into a digital collage by Aliya Hussain alongside some of the artist’s own artwork.
