Students from Bungay high school who held an art exhibition in Halesworth. Pictured are Bertie Gerrish, Sam Saunders, Jon Coe, Guy Parker and Till Pendred. Picture: Nick Butcher

HIGH school students have had the chance to feel like professional contemporary artists as they sold work and were commissioned to do more following a successful exhibition.

A group of GCSE art students at Bungay High School organised their own exhibition at Halesworth’s Rifle Hall after being inspired by the group Young British Artists.

Photography, installations, sculptures and mixed media pieces were put on show in Often Off Task, curated by Bertie Gerrish, 15, of Halesworth, and Sam Saunders, 16, of Bungay.

Bertie said: “It was amazing to see the work up somewhere else other than the school. People said they could not believe we were pupils from Bungay High and how unusual it was we were doing something like this.”

The students organised the event themselves, approaching the Rifle Hall to ask if they could display their work there.

Bertie said: “We were so grateful to those at the Rifle Hall for providing us with the space, they were so supportive.”

Teachers Amy Kirman and Paul Cope said the aim was for them to learn about being professional artists, following the example of artist Damien Hirst.

Mr Cope said: “It is a business-like approach with self promotion and the students are quite ambitious and took the idea and ran with it.”

In all 13 artists showed off their work last weekend.

It included mixed media paintings from Sam, with portraits and a caravan installation near to the Rifle Hall from Bertie.

Bettie said her installation was based on her great-granddad and was all about people’s perspective.

She said: “The outer shell is really hard like a bodybuilder and inside there are flowers to show his loving personality.”

Wilf Berry created landscapes using acrylic on canvas, Hattie Mclean created a textile prayer tree, Emily Downing made lino prints, Jon Coe displayed zoomed in photography, Pylin Manchee was inspired by henna tattoos in her doodles with watercolours, Dom Whittaker created a graffiti style teddy bear, Guy Parker used acrylic on canvas in a rural scene, Sophie Bell explored animals using mixed media, Jas Collins took photos at Southwold beach, Till Pendered created a dragonfly-inspired willow tipi and Lucy Delaney created an installation using personal items.

The Rifle Hall were so impressed they bought a piece to keep, while Shaun O’Neill, Bungay High head teacher, commissioned a piece for the sixth form.