IFT Café IPM exhibition showcases works by students, teachers

An exhibition of works by students and teaching staff from the Bachelor of Arts program at the Macau Polytechnic Institute’s (IPM) School of Art opened last week at the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) Café.

Three teachers contributed artworks to the exhibition, while the rest of the pieces  were from selected students currently taking courses at IPM. Priority was given to students of design rather than fine art, associate professors at the institute told the Times.

Among the works exhibited at the inauguration ceremony were color pencil works such as “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” by Doria Ling.

Wilson Chan, an associate professor at the IPM who teaches illustration and assists students with their graduation projects, said that the exhibited works were only a selection of the students’ creations and that a larger exhibition is usually held at Creative Macau each year.

“The [IFT] invited us to use the coffee shop to make it more lively. They change the exhibited works every two months and after the fine arts students showed their work […] it was the design students’ turn.”

Patrick Lei is the associate professor responsible for assigning some of the students a project to create a print advertisement for chocolate brand Kit Kat. Some of these works are on display at the exhibition.

“The assignment was to train the student’s concept [of] how to express a brand image. They needed to make a print advertisement for newspapers and magazines, and so needed to research about the brand and decide on a concept,” he said. “We chose Kit Kat because it already has an established brand and slogan and so it’s easier for the students [to create an advertisement],” added Lei.

The IFT Café serves two purposes, according to the institute responsible for managing the venue: to promote culture and to provide training to IFT students.

The exhibition, titled “The Voice of Design – Works Exhibition by Students and Teachers of the Bachelor of Arts in Design of Macau Polytechnic Institute”, will be open until April 15. DB