York St John students swap places with tutors to select work for staff show at New School House

Four Fine Art students at York St John University, Chantelle Exley, George Coombs, Rachael Bowe and Lois Batty, have enjoyed that opportunity in putting together the Young Curators 2016 show at the New School House Gallery in Peasholme Green.

Their Human Transferral exhibition follows other collaborations between York St John’s students and Robert Teed and Paula Jackson's gallery but with a new twist. For the first time, students have curated their lecturers’ work rather than their own or pieces by external artists.

Taking part in this staff show are tutors Desmond Brett, Dr Vanessa Corby, Dr Christina Kolaiti, Lucy O'Donnell, husband and wife Jules Dorey Richmond and David Richmond, Sally Taylor and Helen Turner, plus department technicians Ken Caffrey, Steve Mann and Catherine Sutcliffe-Fuller.

"The idea behind Human Transferral is that we're used to seeing them as tutors at the university, but you can sometimes forget that they are artists too who run own practice and Fine Art careers alongside their tutoring jobs," says George. "So our role with this exhibition is to make sure the public is aware that they're working artists."

Gallery co-director Robert Teed pitched the exhibition idea to York St John's students in February. "I wanted the keenest in the group to come forward and put the show together, and they were Chantelle, George, Rachael and Lois," he says. "Through an opportunity like this they become more confident both as artists and curators."

George concurs: "You learn not only about curating but also about networking and promoting a show, so it's like jumping into the real world when you're still in this student bubble."

Staff show: the Human Transferral exhibition at New School House Gallery

Chantelle recalls the enthusiastic initial response of Helen Turner, who is now exhibiting Do Birds Still Sing There?, her response to Auschwitz. "It all started with a conversation with Helen, who said an exhibition like this had never happened before at St John's and she was really supportive of the idea," she says. "So we emailed the tutors to ask if they wanted to be involved and then talked to them about working with the New School House exhibition space."

From existing works by the university tutors and technicians, the "Fine Art Four" decided which works should be exhibited and how best they would sit together, utilising the floor as well as the walls, to represent Human Transferral. "It's been interesting to see how the artists have reacted to how we have set out the work," says Rachael.

By the way, Chantelle, can you enlighten us what that exhibition title means? "It's the idea that culture is movable and can be transferred. This exhibition is exploring what it is to be human and how that transfers into culture in different, movable forms, so it's all really flexible."

Lois adds: "All the artists have come from different places and different cultures, but they have all come to York to do their art practice." The work on show duly covers a broad range of media, from sculpture and drawing to text and a live broadcast, as "we wanted to represent how the ideas in the exhibition are as diverse as the cultures."

Human Transferral runs at the New School House Gallery, Peasholme Green, York, until May 14. Opening hours: Wednesday and Thursday, 12 noon to 4pm; Friday and Saturday, 10am to 4pm.