Graphic design students from Forth Valley College have become the poster children for an exciting exhibition currently underway at the Tolbooth in Stirling.
The ‘Stirling Future World’ exhibition includes a selection of digital poster artwork – showing images of a future Stirling - created by first year HND Visual Communications students at FVC.
It was created as a response to a film which is also being shown, hosted by the late journalist, broadcaster and historian Magnus Magnusson, which takes the viewer inside the Tolbooth, providing a glimpse of how the building was pre-renovation, as well as featuring wonderful footage of Stirling and in particular the Top of The Town.
The free exhibition – which runs every Tuesday to Saturday (from 10am-5pm) until Saturday 25 May - is part of the Stirling 900 anniversary, which celebrates Stirling, a Royal Burgh founded by King David I in 1124 - making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Scotland.
From April 2024 to April 2025, the City of Stirling is inviting residents and visitors to join in to commemorate its communities, its remarkable history and the promise of the next 900 years.
The students were asked to produce one digital poster each with their vision of what Stirling would be like in 70-100 years’ time or to celebrate 900 years as a burgh.
Scarlet Barton-Holtz (18), an HNC Visual Communication student from Stirling, said: “I have enjoyed being involved in this project, especially the creative freedom of the brief, which was a highlight for me and how I could create this poster. My poster is an apocalyptic take on the future and I took inspiration from the computer games Resident Evil and The Last Of Us.
“This is my first public exhibition and it’s great that Forth Valley College encourages us to be open and test out styles we otherwise might not use and also encourages us to be experimental. I hope as many people as possible can get along to see the work on display.”
Mark Milligan (28) also a HND Visual Communication student from Falkirk, said: “I have also enjoyed this process and to be given the opportunity to be open and create a poster of what Stirling would look like in the future. The College always encourages us to come up with new and innovative ideas and it was a good brief to work on. My poster shows a cobblestone street in Stirling at moonlight with a spaceship in the sky and squishmallow dinosaur. I would encourage people to come and see all our posters at the exhibition.”
Creative Industries Lecturer, Kirsteen Wright, said: “We were given a very open brief from the Tollbooth, to create some posters for the exhibition either looking to the next 40 years for Stirling or celebrating 900 years as a burgh. It fitted in perfectly to a break we had between projects and the students got to work using skills that they have learned this year so far in our Mac classrooms on Illustrator and Photoshop. There were nerves about showcasing work in an exhibition, but working together they came up some very original concepts. We hope people will pop in and see the work and celebrate the creativity from our graphics students based on the Stirling Campus.”
For more information visit Stirling Future World Exhibition - Stirling Events
For more information on FVC's Art and Design courses click here