Today was the last day of a really good two weeks of the Art Allotments exhibition. It has been open in the Visual Arts Network community Gallery in the (new) market hall in Shrewsbury which is is not the easiest place to find located on the top floor. Even so 80 visitors came through on the busiest day.
The feed back was really positive and exciting. many were excited by the idea of one artist having fun using another artists reject work to make some new work of their own. Already others have taken up the idea. A small group of jewellers are now organising a scrap metal art allotments and A quilter immediatly saw the possibilities for textile artists.
Lots of people of all ages stopped to chose an envelope of collage and make a postcard size art work to hang on the wall. We also received emails of thanks saying how much people had enjoyed themselves which was a great feeling after all the work we had done.
Here are just a few images to give a taste of the project
Well I have, at last, made a collage from the last envelope of stuff – I began with the coloured pile. and an extra piece of strong colour that had got overlooked. It became the all important starting point.
Bird imagary has crept in. I have resisted it up until now as I see so many birds in cages in design & art work and to use that motif always feels a little like plaigerism.
However, this bird, hat & figure arrived spontaneously from a conversation with Angela and refused to be rejected so it has stayed with a multiplicity of meanings and associations that can be choosen by the viewers.
This will be the last collage for the time being. On Monday the exhibition goes up. … 10 artists, 30 plus pieces of work and more in browsers. Then on Tuesday it quietly opens.
Where will art allotments go now ……?
The last envelope has been opened and It is really full of stuff. So much that I have split it into two piles neutral & coloured – a bit like washing. No idea immediately jumps to mind from the items so I have decided to begin with the coloured materials.
Before I begin I decide to rearrange the coloured materials and take another photo.The very act of rearranging the pieces helps me start to think of an idea.
I have been looking at my latest envelope from Angela since I last posted an update. I remained determined not to open it until I knew that I had time to make work from the contents.
So why has it taken me so long I ask myself – What have I been doing? Procrastinating? I confess to prioritising other work but I console myself that I have also been sorting out the framing, discussing the publicity & organisation and then making, printing, & distributing the first batch of posters.
Similar to last years poster- when this all began – the poster has a new shoot which has now grown and has 3 sets of leaves for the 3 Art Allotment exhibitions.
The first was in March 2010 the next will be in February 2011, and the third in March 2011.
This is the last picture that I have to add to this blog for 2010 before I begin making 2011 collages. As always at the beginning of a new year I feel a need to reflect on the work done, think about how making collages has affected my own work and decide if blogging about it (even in the fairly factual way I have adopted) has helped either my own work or the work of others participating to develop in any meaningful way.
