Saturday 7th December 2013

Enjoyed working with Selena and the children who attend her Saturday art club at Letchworth Arts Centre this morning.  We had a look at my face pictures in the Foyer gallery and then we created faces first on post it notes and then on canvas squares.  The children pushed the boundaries in surprising and delightful directions, including faces of animals, sleeping faces and faces growing over increasing numbers of post it notes.  They enjoyed using acrylic paints and all produced beautiful work.

 

 

 

 
 



Also today I attended a talk by Anita Klein, organised by the Eames Fine Art Gallery.   It was thought provoking listening to Anita explain her views about reclaiming the notion that 'beautiful' and 'decorative' are essential components of 'good' art.

She has very strong feelings about conceptual art and believes that it should not be called visual art.  I don't exactly agree as I love some 'beautiful' art and some 'conceptual' art.  I love pushing aside boundaries between concepts and (as in education) I think the best art speaks to our emotions, our soul and our intellect.

However,  I love her work and was fascinated by what she had to say.  Mainly I think her frustration is the dismissal by major art institutions and critics of work that is seen as 'decorative' in favour of work that is trying to be clever and obtuse.

(As usual I find myself believing two diametrically opposed things at the same time.)

When I finally got home this evening I found this nice blog post by Beatriz Acevedo about my show in the Foyer Gallery at Letchworth Arts Centre.  Thank you so much Beatriz - I'm delighted that you enjoyed the show.