The arrival of the summer solstice each year heralds the staging of the keenly anticipated Creative Arts Exhibition. This exciting event showcases students’ work in the Art and Design, Performing Arts, English, Media and Film departments. On a warm, thankfully dry, evening in late June, large numbers of current and prospective students, accompanied by friends and family members, had the opportunity to see and hear some of the fantastic work produced during the year.

In the Chapel, the Art department featured highly impressive pieces produced in response to a theme of coastlines, whilst amongst numerous outstanding exhibits in the Textiles section, the designs created as part of an involvement with Manchester Art Gallery, related to women in World War One, were a definite highlight. The two Photography rooms were a popular attraction, with their impressive array of technical equipment and their digital notebooks displaying work on a theme of a sense of place.

As ever, the 3D Design exhibits intrigued and impressed in equal measure, with their ingenuity and technical flair displayed in a variety of media and materials, matched by the highly accomplished achievements of students working in the Graphics area, focusing on young people’s issues.

Loreto’s musicians were much in evidence throughout the evening, with piano, flute and clarinet recitals in one of the music rooms, and the Big Band entertaining guests outside in the grounds. Drama and Performing Arts students performed monologues and duologues, featuring the work of Ibsen, Shakespeare and Aeschylus, and screens on the red floor of the Ellis and Kennedy building showed footage of this year’s musical production Elf, and others from previous years. The English department also made use of the display screens to show extracts of work from enrichment groups focusing on creative writing and performance poetry, and the department was pleased to be able to present to visitors copies of an anthology comprising the winning entries of the inaugural Poetry/Short Story Writing competition. The Media and Film Studies department showcased a range of students’ work, from short films to music videos and digital storyboards.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening was testament to the energy and creativity of staff and students alike.