Beverley Station Arts Residency 15th - 30th November 2014

I am in the process of completing a two week residency at Beverley Station Arts, Beverley WA, This residency has been jointly funded by The Shire of Beverley and Beverley Station Arts. 

During my two weeks I have been running creative arts workshops with the local school kids age 8-10 years. In all over 20 kids have attended the workshops many have attended on numerous occasions. A total of ten workshops were run after school and at weekends. Attendance ranged from four to thirteen.

The works created ranged from small sculptures made from recycled materials to paintings and mixed media works. All explored the individual creativity of the participants. More boys that girls participated, which would appear to represent the gender mix in this age range in the town.

The finished works are currently on display in two of the shops in the town.

The artworks produced are imaginative, colourful and intriguing! 

Here is a selection of the participants' artworks:

The Bottle Bodies!

These pieces are constructed from plastic drinks bottles, newspaper, masking tape, polystyrene shapes and chenille sticks. The are covered with art papers collaged on with stick glue! 

These wee creatures are fun to make and each has it's own story to tell!

Jako and Rix are small alien creatures from the planet Obega Nexus in the 51st galaxy. They live a clandestine life here on Earth living in the undergrowth of suburban gardens and surviving on fruit and veggies which are similar to their native diet...

 Hobo the Crow-bow Is a cool dude, he roams the skies keeping a sharp eye for trouble below. He is a member of the Aerial Flying Squad and has a reputation for spying small alien critters lurking in the undergrowth...

Pauline the Parrot is another member of the Aerial Flying Squad she is known for her great ability to spot Zombies and being a skilled talking bird she can quickly alert her human colleagues as to their whereabouts... 

Rodney the Cheerful Zombie has had a hard time recently, Pauline the Parrot has been patrolling the skies over his hiding place in the derelict part of the old city...

Mary the Incredible Fairy, now what is her story???

Exploring Creativity at The Castle

Working with the members of the Castle Youth Centre is always a privilege the young people who frequent the centre are always enthusiastic and keen to try new things. The centre is run by Deb, Melissa and their colleagues. The Castle is a safe place where young people come for support and understanding.

I was fortunate to run two sets of workshops this year exploring creativity in the visual arts. The first series of workshops concentrated on abstract painting where the participants created their own artworks from colourful paint blotches. The resulting artworks were innovative and vibrant and expressed the ideas and inspirations of each individual.

The second series of workshops concentrated on the creation of 3D models made from polystyrene , chenille sticks and plaster bandage. Again the pieces produced were many and varied. Each participant created their own unique piece. 

Thank you Deb and Melissa!

Claremont Banner Winner!

The winner of the Claremont Banner for St Georges Terrace project is Freshwater Bay Primary School. One of the three schools I worked with during the project. Freshwater was the youngest group I worked with. They produced this beautiful colourful banner which will be reproduced and displayed on St Georges Terrace in July!

Three Busy Months Jan-March 1014

Having returned from a six week trip to Scotland at the end of the year I had expected to have a quiet few weeks to start off 2014. Not so! 

My first small project was for the City of Canning preparing some Tiger masks for the Canning World Arts Exchange concert on the Shelley Foreshore 1st February 2014.

                            

I followed this with a project for the City of Gosnells for the Homegrown Festival. This was a community engagement project to seek public opinion about the services and facilities past present and future in the City of Gosnells. People left their comments on the 'trees' about what they remember, what they have now and what they'd like to see in the future. The event took place on a very hot Saturday afternoon 23rd February!

 

Banner Design

 

The 'Trees'

  

Community Feedback

 I began a six week Artist in Residence at Bentley Adolescent Unit in mid February.This followed on from  my residency at PMH last year. Working with adolescents with significant mental health issues is challenging but very worthwhile. It can be difficult to decide what technique to use when working with groups where time is fairly limited. On this occasion I chose to use collage and drawing to produce individual and collaborative artworks:

• Production of individual artworks on 35x35cm art boards which had been pre-primed with very simple abstract designs, these then to be worked on using Posca pens, art paper and Styrofoam shapes to produce interesting and unique artworks some of my own examples below:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

•  The collaborative piece was constructed on a 90x120cm art board.It was the combined work of patients, staff and myself. This art work will be hung in the Bentley Adolescent Unit it is a bright and attractive piece:

Another project was the production of three banner designs for the Town of Claremont working with three local schools. This was part of a larger project which also involved a second artist who worked with a further three schools. My chosen method here was paper collage on foam core board using Posca pens to add details.  This was a quick and efficient way to construct the  artworks following brainstorming sessions with each group. John xxiii College decided on a map of Claremont as the centre piece of their banner. This was a challenging group comprising two classes each of 30 year 6 students.

Methodist ladies College decided to represent Claremont with a roller coaster going into Freshwater Bay 20 year 10 students took part. 

Freshwater Bay Primary School chose to represent Claremont Park the year 5 students produced some beautifully detailed work.

My final project over this period was 10 weeks with the Wellard Saturday morning Kids Club. A number of projects were undertaken mainly 3D sculpture works made from a variety of materials and culminating with an exhibition of work at the Kwinana Library at the Darius Wells community Centre:

3d sculptures made from Styrofoam plaster and plaster bandage

Small 3D collages made from Styrofoam, paper and chenille sticks

Hand puppets made from yoghurt cartons, chenille sticks and coloured paper

Artworks on display at the library

What next?  Watch this space!