A WEDDING dress splattered with red dye to show the spread of cancer cells throughout the body was just one of the pieces on display by pupils at an end-of-year art show.

The impressive exhibition was the product of students in the art department at John Mason School in Abingdon.

For the past week, 130 GCSE and A-Level students have been exhibiting 900 pieces of work, among them crucial final projects.

Today is the last chance to catch it.

Head of art Claire Pennington said: “I am expecting close to 90 per cent A and A* grades from the A2 group.”

Among the most eye-catching works on show was Georgie Bartley’s.

She transformed her mother Carol’s wedding dress into something which you might be forgiven for finding somewhat distressing.

Taking the pristine white dress, the 18-year-old dyed swathes of it red and pleated and puckered it up one side to create the impression of a tumour spreading across the body.

She explained: “My aim was to show that there can be beauty in something hideous.”

At another end of the spectrum, Aminah Shaikh, also 18, drew on her Asian heritage to create a sculpture so delicate it looks as if it is made of glass.

In fact, the mandala is made from circles of tracing paper held together with wire and intricately decorated with henna-style patterns – whorls of tiny, colourful dots spinning around each other.

Aminah said: “I wanted to explore colours and cultural patterns such as those featuring on henna tattoos, and I chose to create a sculpture to bring the patterns to life.”

Another of this year’s top students according to Ms Pennington was Douglas Broad.

For his final A-Level project, he created two striking portraits of contemporary icons to explore the place of women in society.

He is pictured, left, with his oil painting of actress Lupita Nyong’o, star of the film Twelve Years a Slave.

He said: “I wanted to look at the relationship women have with men, themselves and society and how they have to veil aspects of themselves.

“Despite Lupita being a positive role model and successful actress, the blue dots covering the portrait represent how she has to hide her true nature.”

All students are graded on how well they meet their own objectives for a project, along with the research they demonstrate and the skills they bring to the work.

Although John Mason has been running the show for decades, Ms Pennington said this year’s was especially “exciting”.

She said: “It has grown every year and we now offer many more courses so it keeps getting bigger and better.”

The exhibition will be open for one hour after school finishes at 3.30pm today.

* Find out more at johnmason.oxon.sch.uk