A new art exhibition exploring themes around climate and environmental concerns will open at Oriel Davies Gallery in Newtown this weekend (Saturday, January 15).

The free to visit exhibition, entitled Landmarks, has been created by learners at NPTC Group of Colleges in Newtown, in collaboration with the One Planet Generation Project, led by Open Newtown.

Students in the Art and Design Department began the creative process by looking at a variety of artists who explore climate issues in their work. The work ranged from street art to huge art installations created to urge world leaders to be ambitious in their negotiations during Cop26, the United Nations Climate Change Summit, hosted in Glasgow last November.

This then sparked discussions about the role that the visual arts play in communicating messages around climate issues and raising public awareness. The students went on to create their own work, exploring climate and environmental themes and expressing them in a variety of mediums.

Minka Stear, one of the students, said: “This art project has helped me to start new conversations about the climate crisis with my family, friends and classmates. I had previously tried to ignore the issues as they seemed too overwhelming, but this project gave me a safe space to discuss my feelings and work through some of them in my artwork.”

The One Planet Generation Project, a new Welsh Government funded project co-ordinated by Open Newtown, is led by Youth Engagement Officer, Kerala Irwin.

This two-year project has begun working with local young people to explore the issues around climate change, which includes the establishment of a new ‘Youth Assembly’ in the coming weeks. The Assembly will be a space for anyone aged between 13 and 25 to have their voices heard around planning for a sustainable future.

Nia Newson, Art Lecturer at Newtown College, said: “Working with Kerala and The One Planet Generation Project has provided our students with a platform to voice their concerns and ideas around the topic of climate change.

“Working with outside agents is an important aspect of all our courses to prepare our students for the working world. Kerala has been great at giving the students con-structive feedback in preparation for them exhibiting their work at Oriel Davies Gallery. We’re all very excited to see our work together as a group.”

This free exhibition will be running from January 15 to 29 at Oriel Davies Gallery in Newtown.

Young people are encouraged to look out for more information on the One Planet Generation Project and ways to join via the webpage - https://opennewtown.org.uk/one-planet-generation/ and Open Newtown’s social media accounts.

The One Planet Generation Project is part of a series of nature-based partnership projects, co-ordinated by Open Newtown and funded by Welsh Government, centred around the wellbeing and resilience of people and businesses in the town.

These new projects are supported by the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government until June 2023.