The students have three months to curate the show. © De La Warr Pavilion

An acclaimed Sussex gallery has invited young art students to curate an exhibition of work by their peers.

The exhibition, at Bexhill’s De La Warr Pavilion, will be organised over three months by 16 GCSE and A level art students from Bexhill High School, Bexhill College and the town’s St Richards Catholic College.

The young curators will explore the whole process of curating an exhibition, from initial discussions on themes and concepts to designing publicity and the actual hanging of the selected works.

They will be guided by artist Sharon Haward and members of the De La Warr Pavilion staff and will meet each week for planning meetings.

“This project demonstrates the Pavilion’s commitment to young people and their creative development,” said Polly Gifford, Head of Education at the Pavilion.

The exhibition will run for a month in the venue's Gallery One. © De La Warr Pavilion

“We will work with them in the same way as we work with professional guest curators, whilst at the same time guiding the process to ensure that they develop their existing skills, develop new interests and put on a show at the end.”

“We are looking forward to an extremely interesting and thought-provoking show from this group of extraordinary people.”

The exhibition, which has the working title Conflict, will run in Gallery One of the Pavilion from May 5 to June 3 2007. A complementary display in Gallery Two will look at creative education and feature work from all Bexhill’s primary schools.

De La Warr Pavilion has been nominated for the 2007 Gulbenkian Prize for Museums and Galleries.