Former North Lanarkshire pupil and Marvel Comics writer and Hollywood producer, Mark Millar, was the guest speaker last night (Thursday) as North Lanarkshire Council officially opened the fourth Kilbowie Art and Design Exhibition at the New Town Hall in Cumbernauld.

The 2007 art and design exhibition showcases work produced by 37 senior pupils from 20 North Lanarkshire secondary schools who attended an Art and Design Summer School at the council's Kilbowie Residential Education Outdoor Centre in Oban.

The exhibition is the culmination of a dedicated programme offering potential advanced higher and art school/college candidates the opportunity to work in the stunning, inspirational and creative environment around Kilbowie.

The main aims of the summer school are to give pupils the chance to:

• investigate a rich variety of visual material in challenging locations;

• explore the use of media and the element of scale in their work;

• communicate and interact with their peers;

• enhance their critical and evaluative abilities; and

• produce work that could sustain studies back in school.

Previous participants in the summer school have gone on to study at Scotland's central institutions for art and design including Glasgow School of Art and Edinburgh College of Art. To help pupils achieve this potential, guest speakers for the exhibition opening are selected who can inspire and motivate the artists and designers.

And Mark Millar certainly meets that criteria. Mark – who is a senior writer/story consultant at Marvel Entertainment in New York – has written some of the most successful English language comics of the last few years and is the best-selling British writer working in America – a title he has held for six years in a row. He is currently writing two major superhero screenplays and acting as an executive producer on one of his owned creator-owned properties.

Mark said: "I was delighted to speak at the opening of this fantastic exhibition and meet these talented young people. It's great that these kids are already aspiring to challenge themselves and their creativity and the results on show at this exhibition speak for themselves. I was very impressed with the variety of the work and range of materials used and applaud the council for arranging events like this to showcase the talent that exists in our schools.

"I'm sure we'll be hearing much more from these young artists and designers and I wish them all the very best in their chosen fields."

Councillor Harry McGuigan, Vice-Convener of North Lanarkshire Council's Learning and Leisure Services Committee, added: "I was delighted to welcome Mark and the other guests to Cumbernauld's New Town Hall to mark the official opening of our fourth Kilbowie exhibition and I echo his comments about the quality of the work on show.

"I have always known that we have many talented pupils within our schools but the standard of the work exhibited goes far beyond that. Each piece of work – be it a painting, a piece of jewellery or photography – is definitely a terrific work of art and would not look out of place in a professional art gallery, museum or exhibit.