BAMS STUDENT MEDAL PROJECT

2 OCTOBER - 31 OCTOBER 2021

We are delighted to be hosting this exhibition of art medals designed and created by students from art colleges across the UK, including academies in Italy and Bulgaria, alongside a small selection of contemporary medals by professional makers, commissioned by the British Art Medal Society.
The annual Student Medal Project, now in its 28th year, was established to reintroduce the art of the medal to art colleges, suggesting themes for their research and design process.  The exhibition includes medals selected from the Project in 2020 and 2021.
The optional theme for 2020 was Endangered Species from the Red List.  Each medal has a design front and back (obverse and reverse), and the students worked from design to complete their cast bronze medals, as shown here.

The winning medals and designs for this year’s Project have recently been judged, and the suggested theme was Black Art Matters.  Research on this theme included historic black art, as well as painting, sculpture, weaving, ceramics, the cinema and literature, and students investigated these areas from the beginning of the academic year.  A greater understanding and appreciation of the importance and the influence of black art has led to some wonderful medals and also to designs.  Because of the lockdown at colleges, the Project was widened to include a category of Design/Prototype so that as many students could participate as possible. Not surprisingly, a number of students also created work that reflected how they felt about isolation during this year. This year 74 cast medals from 14 different UK colleges have been made, as well as over 30 medal designs.

The British Art Medal Society has commissioned medals from many distinguished contemporary sculptors, glass engravers, jewellers, cartoonists and poets among many other creative practitioners.  The Goldsmiths’ Centre, the Worshipful Company of Founders, the Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers alias Wire Workers, Thomas Fattorini Ltd are among the institutions that support the Student Medal Project; and the British Museum has purchased particularly meritorious student medals.

A Catalogue for the 2020 Student Medal Project is available from the BAMS website: www.bams.org.uk.
An on-line catalogue for 2021 is available to view here.