Wrexham Glyndwr Graphic Design students’ thanked for role in award-winning exhibition

Graphic Design students at Wrexham Glyndwr University have played their part in an award-winning local history exhibition.

‘Hidden Holt’ a joint project between the university, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum of Wales, Holt Local History society and Wrexham Museum, won a Society for Museum Archaeology Award at the end of last year for the ‘Exhibition, Display or Interpretation’ project category.

The exhibition told the story of how this once lost Roman site was re-discovered in the early 20th century and excavated in the years prior to the First World War, showcasing many finds from excavations, most of which have not been displayed in north-east Wales for over a century.

Level 4 Graphic Design students from the university Luke Worrall, Migle Valyte and Daniel Birchall, helped by designing a presentation for the exhibition and the illustration for the poster.

They have since been thanked for their contribution to the award-winning exhibition, by Holt Local History Society members.

Graphic Design lecturer Dr Heliana Pacheco said the experience the students gained from being part of the exhibition was invaluable, tailoring and adjusting their designs for posters, leaflets as required by the client.

Working with the museum, history society and other partners gave them a real life opportunity to produce work for a client and add to their learning.

“It was a chance to work with real people in real situations”, Heliana explained.

“The museum has been a very good partner. The students were very involved, and have since been invited to a meeting at the museum with the Holt Local History Society to thank them for their work.

“It was good for the students to see real engagement with their designs. The poster for the exhibition is an image we had produced – an illustration from one of our students. When the students see that, it encourages them to do more and they feel confident.

“They learn how to talk to clients, who can tell them exactly what they want and what they don’t want, so this partnership has been really, really good.”

Jonathon Gammond, Access and Interpretation Officer at Wrexham Museum, also praised the students for their part in the exhibition.

He said: “We were working with National Museum of Wales, there’s an organisation called the Society of Museum Archaeologists and they organise an annual competition with various classes of projects.

“One of the categories was exhibitions or interpretations of projects launched during the past year across the UK.

“I knew they would like the fact the project involved a university, a national museum, a local museum and a local history society community group, all completely different organisations with different aims coming together for this exhibition.

“The students helped the society create a professional presentation to show the public. They have that expertise. It was a great project for them, it’s good for their CV’s and I thank them for their contribution.”

More about the BA (Hons) Graphic design course at Wrexham Glyndwr University, can be found here.