Art & Design Club: Urvi’s Experience

Through the eyes of a budding architect:
My name is Urvi and over the past year I have been involved in the Saturday Art & Design Club at Nottingham Trent University.  Here’s a little bit about my experience.

Finding out about the Club!

We were told about Saturday Art Club in a school assembly and I instantly liked the idea of creating art on the weekends with no restrictions.  It also appealed to me especially because of the stressful environment we are used to at school.

First thoughts:

Initially I thought the Art & Design Club would be like every other place where we are treated like children and monitored each step of the way; however we were treated like young adults with the freedom to approach our work however we wanted, making the experience more enjoyable. 

Saturday Art & Design Club in the photography studio. 

New friends, skills and experiences:

From the Art Club we learnt a massive range of new exciting skills such as screen-printing, calligraphy and photography. Of course we learnt a lot about different artistic techniques but during the trips to London and the galleries we also learnt a lot more about the world of art and the growing creative industries.

We learnt how to review and interpret pieces of art and design which then helped us understand how to develop our work and approach it in more creative and abstract ways.

I think the whole experience as a whole was great. From the trips to London to the weird and wacky photos we took of each other in the studio, all of it has been exhilarating because we were surrounded by people who shared the same interests as us making it easy to have fun.  

Saturday Art & Design Club in London.

What I enjoyed the most:

At Saturday Art Club I would say the freedom to experiment with different materials and stuff was probably the best part. Normally at school we are often restricted even when we are told to be creative so at Saturday Art Club it was so easy to think big and follow through (even though my grand ideas didn't always work out). 

Arts Award:

Saturday Art & Design Club also offered us the opportunity to take the Arts Award (optional).  All we had to do was jot down our thoughts about what we had accomplished or where we could have improved at the end of each session. Whether we did the award or not it was a good way to reflect back on our work and experience.

Portrait of Urvi

I hadn’t taken Art as a GCSE. Consequently I wasn't able to get onto my A level course however I was later told that I could also use the Arts Award as evidence to prove I was capable to sit the course and now I am signed up for the Art A Level classes at my sixth form. 

Architecture – my career goal:

My future career aspirations are to become an architect.  I would love to work on designing buildings in creative yet abstract ways to bring a bit of art and fun into simple things in our lives that we see every day.

I would strongly recommend Saturday Art & Design Club to anyone who has an interest in Art or anyone looking for something new and fun to do as in the end you leave with more experience and great memories. 

*The Saturday Art Club runs free weekly workshops at Nottingham Trent University from October to July.  The workshops are open to pupils in Year 9 – 11.  This is a targeted event based on widening participation criteria.  If you would like to find out more, please contact Esther Triffitt at NTUSaturdayArtClub@ntu.ac.uk