As a complete surprise to themselves and to the shopping public, students from Hereford College of Arts (HCA) took to the streets of Hereford city centre on Friday, December 15th, to give away their artwork to members of the public.

In contrast to the festive Christmas shopping frenzy, students touched many shoppers with the unexpected gesture of giving their own art away for free.

This altruistic demonstration by the Foundation Diploma in Art and Design and Portfolio course students concluded their most recent project entitled ‘Take 3, Give.’

This short project began when all 110 students were each asked to draw three words selected at random from a lucky dip, and then to respond to their chosen words and produce an art work in any medium.

This was a challenging project for the students, as although they still had their normal free rein across the fantastic workshops and facilities at HCA, their choice around the themes of their work was entirely determined by chance.

On Thursday 14th and Friday 15th, the students displayed all their work in a two day pop up exhibition, named ‘All for Art, Art For All’ at De Koffie Pot in Hereford. On the Friday afternoon, when the students went to deconstruct their exhibition, they were surprised to be asked to gift wrap their pieces of work and label with the hashtag #allforartartforall.

The project finale took the form of an ‘art giveaway’ to members of the public, as students took to the streets of the city centre, approached members of the public, explained the project, and then offered their own work to members of the public to keep forever.

Students found talking to people about the work they had given away very rewarding, and those receiving gifts were touched.