The Bermuda College art and design department is a-buzz with excitement as its 35 students prepare for Friday's opening of their City Hall exhibition.

"We are encouraging all our students to enter, and viewers can expect to see a wonderful mixture of traditional and non-traditional paintings, drawings and sculpture," said Julie Coash senior lecturer in art history.

Along with her colleague Mr. Edwin Smith, who is a senior lecturer in art and design, she has been delighted with the progress of what they believe are record numbers of Bermudians currently enrolled in the College's associate degree arts programme, whose syllabus includes art and art history.

"We are excited by their enthusiasm and their openness," Mrs. Coash says. "We think of Bermuda as being a pretty traditional culture, but these students are at an age where you show them what is being created in the world and they take that as a challenge."

Participants vary widely in age, from young to mature, and are of both sexes and different races, but they all get along as "one big, happy family". The course has become a voyage of discovery as their eyes have been opened and their imaginations stimulated by the unlimited potential for creating art. For some, just discovering that being a career artist is not necessarily synonymous with "starving" has been a particular stimulus.

"Students learn that they can make art out of anything - found pigments, lights, computer components, materials they find by rummaging in the garbage or at the dump - so they are really incorporating some very contemporary ideas into their artwork," Mrs. Coash says. "Where that extends into making the person more conscious - i.e. thinking outside the box - is that they see the entire world as having art making potential. Students should be able to see art on the ground and in the air. This has value to a scientist or an architect as well as the art student." The Bermuda College art programme includes both studio art and art history, and involves science, math and philosophy, so students need a strong academic foundation as well as technical training.

"They learn painting, drawing, two- and three-dimensional design, colour, the introduction to graphic design; art history survey and modern art history," Mrs. Coash said. "Not only are classes grounded in technique but also they are conceptually based. In other words, the students problem-solve."

The senior lecturers pointed out that their course is not a total package, but a two-year prelude to further studies abroad in order to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

"We are offering foundation-level courses so that the students can choose the direction in which they wish to go. They can remain in the fine arts genre, or they can choose where they want to go into graphic design, for example," Mr. Smith says. "You wouldn't leave this programme and say you have made it. It is a step."

Meanwhile, the lecturers are pleased to note that a liaison between the College and other local art bodies is beginning to develop. For example, two students have completed internships at the Bermuda National Gallery, with one serving as a curatorial research assistant for a show. Such avenues also lead to other things, such as attending lectures and exhibitions as learning experiences.

For mature student Angela Lightbourne, being able to pursue a BFA degree is a dream come true, for her interest in art has been lifelong. Although she says this was not encouraged in childhood, she successfully took GCE art the Berkeley Institute. After graduation, however, she went to work in the hotel industry, despite art being her first love. Now, thanks to her husband's support while she studies, the newlywed is at last on the road to fulfilling her dream.

In addition to being an admirer of the paintings of the old masters, Mrs. Lightbourne has always liked the performing arts, so she was delighted to discover that film making is part of the media component of her present course. She is also happy to note that, after just one year of study, a painting she entered in a City Hall exhibition was sold.

Once Mrs. Lightbourne has completed her two-year associate programme at the Bermuda College, she plans to go abroad for the final two years, where she hopes to pursue her particular interests of movie making and graphics. Meanwhile, she and her fellow students are very happy with the present course.

"We really like Mrs. Coash and Mr. Smith because they have a wealth of knowledge which they readily share with us," she says.

Her advice to young people with similar dreams is: "If you have an interest in art don't put it off. Just do it.Now that this course is available you should take advantage of it because it is excellent."

The Bermuda College student art exhibition will take place in the Bermuda Society of Arts main gallery on the upper level of City Hall from May 3 to 17. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Admission is free.