An exhibition which has brought together students and tutors from all courses and all years at Norwich School of Art and Design opens next week.The show has had an unusual, all-encompassing approach and allowed anyone based at the college to submit a piece of work based on the fundamental element of all art.

An exhibition which has brought together students and tutors from all courses and all years at Norwich School of Art and Design opens next week.

The show has had an unusual, all-encompassing approach and allowed anyone based at the college to submit a piece of work based on the fundamental element of all art.

Students from every course and department and staff, including those not directly involved in teaching, were given a blank canvas in terms of subject matter and materials but had to capture the modern idea of drawing.

The result is an eclectic mix of styles, colours and textures - from minimalist pale pencil lines and classic life drawing to cartoon characters and striking graphic novel or comic book-style images.

Third-year BA Fine Art student John Eadon said he ripped out a page from his small sketchbook, showing a pencil drawing of a goblet, because he thought it stayed true to the theme, while his course leader, Carl Rowe, produced “Lime Being Interrogated” from pencil and watercolours.

“It's about the way society punishes people, how we are removed from nature and become mechanised,” he said.

Lynda Morris, curator at Project Space, which is hosting the exhibition from Monday, said: “The Drawing in the Title exhibition is an investigation by staff and students within the school in to modern idea of drawing.

“The exhibition name was chosen because drawing, like handwriting, comes closest to the mind of artists.

“The timing of the exhibition is particularly exciting as it comes during a period of development in drawing studies at the school as the first group of students from the new MA Drawing course are set to graduate later this year.”

The pleasures of drawing has really taken off at the school in a big way, with an over-subscribed evening class that is open to all levels of ability expected to be repeated due to public demand.

The exhibition at The Project Space, St George's Street, runs from Monday to February 9.

For more information visit www.nsad.ac.uk.