| Mar. 11th, 2005 @ 12:05 pm I need reviews on this... PLEASE |
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When we think of art we think of galleries , pristine white walls with pictures and the little wire around them that you always end up tripping over. The art produced at free form is not like that. As there slogan suggests they make artWORK for the community, not for the highest bidder.
Their latest exhibition shows just that. Free Form have worked in making our enviourment, more beautiful and picturesque while also having a practical use. Take the Mayfield nursery project for example. Free form artists worked with the nursery children got their ideas and hopes for the playground, and created something that the children wanted, something that was truly their own. The generations of children who will attend the nursery will enjoy it, and although the artists may not always be appreciated for making the playground. It will always be there and enjoyed. Some people might argue that this is not art, as its not a load of names sown on to a Blanket a la Tracy Emin, but if you take one look at the playground its obvious that it is. Anyone who says otherwise is a twat.
The rest of the projects have the same values, art that actually has a purpose and some use. The nursery project is my favourite, but I also really liked the Seacole project. Seacole is a new school with around 100 students. Seacole wanted to give its school identity and brighten up the building. Free Form were commissioned an installation in the school celebrating the life of Mary Seacole, A marker outside to give the school its identity and notice boards for the common rooms of each of the houses which are named after a pioneering human rights fighter; Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman, Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks. Instead of the artists going off on there own and sitting in their little studios all dressed in black with cigarettes and coffiee going “oh my god, nobody UNDERSTANDS my art.” Like a typical artist steriotype (which, I would just like to point out in case I get in trouble for people thinking I’m implying that they are. NO ONE is like a Free Form Arts Trust) They had workshops with the students working with them as to create artwork that was theirs and not just some thing that someone unknown would make and they would walk past it in the corridors going “oh, that’s nice” Instead they worked with the artists, teaching them new things and being taught new skills, as well as making their school have its own identity.
This latest exhibition also shows how well free form can work with limited resourses. The Frampton park pre-school nursery was a dull playground with a massive metal storage container and metal fences. Free form artists worked with the children and were inspired by the way they could make loads of imaginary games. They had a planting workshop with the children where the brightened up the playground with plants. They then used the limited resourses to make the playground more fun. The massive metal container got a huge pink bow on top of it, so it was like the nursery just got a huge gift.
Then the children worked with the artist to make magnets they could stick on to it. The metal fences became the base for weaving colourful plastics and foam. The best thing about the nurersey is that its ever-changing, how can you get bored of a playground that is constanly changing and rearranging? Especially when its you that can change it.
So far I’ve made it sound like free form only work with children and schools, which isn’t true but being a child myself it’s the thing I like the most. But free form also have plans to brighten up the community for every one, for example painting dull metal shop shutters on Mayfield road. The exhibition at free form shows their projects and the things that there doing. While I was working in Free form for two weeks on work experience and I got an inside look at their new artwork plans. I sat in (and even sneakily made a tile myself) with a school on a glass tiling project, the students made their own glass tile on the first week learning all the techniques, then came back the next week to work in a group on a huge tile design. I also saw the plans for a huge sculpture in Shoreditch park, which as I live in Shoreditch am really looking forward to. In conclusion I prefer Free form art work to art work in Galleries. Mainly because (in my opinion) its better, and you don’t have to pay for the privilage to look at it like in the Saachi gallery which only has someones unmade bed in it anyway. The end. |
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