OVER 200 art students recreated the animals from the biblical story Noah Ark’s at an impressive exhibition.

Students at City College Brighton and Hove created 70 animals from the biblical story using only cardboard and tape.

The Foundation Art, Foundation Photography and Extended Diploma Art & Design students were split into teams on the first day of their course and assigned different species of animal to create using only cardboard and tape in just six days.

The pairs of animals were created to scale and featured gibbons, lizards, swordfish,whales and dragon flies making for an amazing menagerie in the exhibition hall.

Talking about the purpose of the project course tutor Mary Ledgard said: “We delivered this with the main purpose of doing something exciting and different for the start of the course.

“We tried to get them to be inventive and understand art and design isn’t just about paintbrushes and pencils - it is whatever you make it.”

Foundation Art & Design student Ellannah Sharman’s team was responsible for creating lions. The 18-year-old said she never would have imagined it would have turned out so great. She said: “I thought it was going to be a lot easier than it was. But when we were given a flattened cardboard box it was quite difficult to imagine turning it into a lion.

“It’s completely different to using paints and softer materials, there are so many features on a lion, but we got round it by bending it and ripping it, and trying to create texture with it.

Biblical character Noah and his family were also given the cardboard treatment. Matt Knifton on the Extended Diploma in Art & Design took on a life-size creation of Noah’s wife Emzara. He said: “I have never done a group project so it was quite different to anything I’ve done in the past. I loved the fact my group gelled instantly and got on with our tasks.”

For many students most coming from A-level courses, it was their first collaborative art project. Tutor Jim Smithyes said: “Many of the students didn’t know each other before starting the project, so it was a great exercise in collaboration and team-work which I feel brought out the best in all of them.”

The college’s department of Visual Arts, is graded Outstanding by Ofsted, is based in the North Laine area in Brighton and students have to opportunity to explore a wide range of areas like fashion, graphic design and fine art. This project is just one of many collaborative events, students will be doing on the course preparing them for studying art at university.

Mary Ledgard added: “We were absolutely bowled over as a group of staff over how well it looked and it surpassed all expectations.”

The college now has the arduous task of recycling the cardboard.