Constructing Visual Language

Kiera (artist in residence) kicked off the next workshop with an exercise that illustrated the universal nature of visual language. Using their VAD's (visual art diaries) , the artists were asked to draw 6 boxes on a page and label them each with a word eg. joy, anger, feminine, peacful. The artists were then asked to do a quick marking exercise to illustrate the label. Overall, we discovered that many of the markings for each label, looked IDENTICAL!

Gemma (artist in residence)set up a mock awards ceremony for her part of the workshop and asked the artists to do a bit of acting. Each artist was awarded a prize, and asked to give an acceptance speech.

Floyd accepting his award for best director

Kiera: 'Iam an artist, I dont do awards'

Sienna & Jordan in action

Angelo (artist in residence) then finished up the workshop, by exploring the visual language of photography, through the  deconstruction of images. The artist were each given an image to  to stick into their diaries, and were then asked to break the image down into elements by labelling the image. The exercise demonstrated how photography can be used as a means of 'telling stories'.

Marking exercise - VIDEO EDIT

Below is the video footage from the marking exercise. I edited some of the best moments, into a quick 2 minute video. As you can see, each of the artists has a very different approach and style that is indicative of their personality. Phase 1 COMPLETE! the artists are well on the path to discovering their own visual language. 

The visual language of the artist - MARKING EXERCISE

For the first workshop, we decided to start things off with a bit of fun! After the meet and greet formalities were over with, Kiera (Artist in residence) spoke briefly about visual language, and how it shapes our identity as artists. Then we prepped our artists for a marking exercise by arming them each with a piece of charcoal. Then we cut them loose on two large pieces of paper that we had attached to the walls and to the floor. 

The artists, were given no guidelines, just instructed to scribble and do what comes naturally. The object of the exercise was to allow the artists to explore their own unique visual language.

The artists took to the task with enthusiasm and creativity, some of them drawing with charcoal between their toes, and some using their bare feet to smudge and distort their markings.

Each artists displayed a very unique style of their own, as you can see by the collaborative result.  

I will also be posting a video of the artists creating the work. Stay tuned and ill get back to you shortly...

Introducing THE IMPRESSABILITY PROJECT

Introducing the IMPRESSABILITY PROJECT! In short, this project is an exciting new creative project that invites emerging artists with low level physical or intellectual disabilities, to produce new and innovative art works under the mentorship of 3 highly skilled artists in residence.

The overarching theme of the  project is 'Identity' and the aim is to arm young people with the tools to comment on, and present artworks on this theme. The artists will participate in weekly workshops to explore ideas through multi-media, performance, movement, photography, film, music and visual art, and work together to produce visual creations for an exhibition in July.