focal point gallery education

THE BIG DRAW

2008-12-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

THE BIG DRAW Saturday 11 October 2008

The Big Draw is the annual festival to get people drawing. It is held all over the country.

This year over one hundred people, older and younger, got down on the floor here in the Children’s Library and drew things about their home and their favourite things.

The Big Draw was led by artist Heidi Wigmore. She was helped by volunteers Laurence Harding, Rachel McGivern, Sean Petley and Jack Sweetenham. They also took the photographs. Jack Sweetenham made the DVD that you see here.

What people said about The Big Draw
‘You should be doing more of this. It’s really fun.’
‘Children get to be free. They can say what they like.’
‘We use as much paper as we can for everyone to share.’
‘It’s not about who can draw the best. It’s about trying.’

The parents were particularly enthusiastic and inspired, a common comment was about the lack of creative activity in school these days. The children liked the scale of the activity and ‘communal’ feel and freedom to express themselves. Also the fact the piece was to be seen by an audience in public.

Thanks to:
Southend Central Library staff.
Laurence Mathews Art, Craft and Hobby Store on Queen’s Road who provided drawing materials.

Angry Gam3rs Meet Dance Umbrella

2008-12-01T06:06:00.000-08:00

Angry Gam3rs Meet Dance Umbrella

Two participants from Focal Point Gallery's Collective Vision project, Tommy Pope and Lewis Wilkes, were invited to use their new skills to make their own film about the creation of a new dance, Overture 2012. Choreographed by Royston Maldoom, 120 young Londoners performed to live music by the London Symphony Orchestra at The Albert Hall on 1 and 2 November 2008.

Evaluation of experience of filming Dance Umbrella’s project Overture 2012
Lewis Wilkes and Tommy Pope
28 November 2008

Our first impressions? “Yeah – work and free travel!”, but also “Oh-Oh: Dancers!” We had the impression before the project that dancers are pretentious, but now we know that they are professional and on the ball the whole time!

The process started out as daunting, overwhelming, because we didn’t know about the equipment. Like “The Zebras” – The Zebra on a camera is a function that helps sort out over exposure. It took a bit of time to get into the flow of things but after a couple of days with the dance workshops we got the hang of what Gerald Fox wanted us to do. He is a cool man.

It was an amazing opportunity working with someone as experienced as Gerald. He thinks a tad differently to everyone else and he knows what he wants and the right approach to put his ideas into practice. He’s an incredibly busy man.

The kids that took part in the project – they had really varied personalities and backgrounds. It was great to see their perspective on the project. They were the participants, we were the watchers. We got to appreciate the dedication, discipline and hard work that was needed.

This was filming our first documentary and we were mentored by a first class professional, for free. And it’s added to our CVs. We’d love to work with Dance Umbrella and Gerald again as documenters.

Contact:
Lewis Wilkes Facebook
Tommy Pope Myspace or http://uk.utube.com/gamingmusiciantom

Exhibition Review - The Historians

2008-07-15T07:06:00.000-07:00

The Exhibit: the exhibit I am going to review is Julian Woollatt's The Historians at Southend Library on Wednesday 9th July 2008.

What I Thought: I like to take a quiet look around at everything before I make any kind of judgement. The reason for this is because I prefer to see everything as a whole picture. As for me, if there is an exhibit that one particular artist has done, he must have a certain style to his work, so I prefer to try and find this style before I begin making any kind of judgement on their work. From first gaze it's obvious to me that the artist has a keen interest in the military, in particular early wars (World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War). What struck me at first was the eyes in the portraits, some of which were staring right at the viewer, where as others almost seemed like a momento. As I moved through the exhibit, there were staged shots of re-enactment soldiers on the front lines of Vietnam, also a group shot of World War I re-enactment soldiers standing behind sandbags in a trench. I particularly liked this one as the colour blended well, they were all pale greens and browns which all blended well together to create quite an interesting piece. Towards the end of the exhibit, there was almost a comedy piece in my opinion, two nazis eating ice creams. This stood out for me as the nazis are generally known for being evil and yet here they stood, eating ice cream smiling.I would recommend this exhibit to anyone who is into the militaria as the pictures have clearly had alot of thought put into each shot, as well as the artists clear dedication to the art.

Lewis Wilkes

2008-04-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT - A COMMENT

Interesting use of perspective, darkness, and light, making some of Rik Pinkcombe’s images look like toys in a blurred landscape. The triptych is made interesting by the colour of the lights, which shine out as turquoise blobs throughout the pictures, disappearing into the horizon. My particular favourites are the Fire Escape Door which is slowly being swallowed up by a hand of creeping ivy, and the two Ice Pictures which create an interesting pattern and form, each being distorted by the artist’s use of the camera.

Freda Downie

Review of Hidden in Plain Sight by Adam Gooding

2008-04-07T04:41:00.000-07:00

Hidden in Plain Sight – Rik Pinkcombe

Seventeen untitled images lead us through Rik Pinkcombe’s altered world “Hidden in Plain Sight”. It is a world full of questions with no intention of giving answers; a world where our perceptions are deliberately undermined; and, although hauntingly familiar, a world we cannot place within the realm we know as reality. As the title of the exhibition suggests, here lies a mystery within the ordinary.
Pinkcombe is a master of manipulating perceptions, dictating and ultimately challenging the way we see our own world. In several of his pictures he uses a technique of leaving buildings and structures in crisp and clear focus, while blurring their surroundings. This unnatural contrast distorts out perceptions lending the images an artificial quality. Buildings appear as if models in miniature; toy towns with toy cars parked in front. We find ourselves almost unconsciously asking “is this real?” - A fundamental question with which Pinkcombe has intentionally burdened us.
His more recent images capture isolated structures surrounded in a sea of darkness. Taken out of context, their isolation creates a similar sense of artificiality. Lit up as if from a spot light, it is as if they have become pieces of scenery for a stage. It could easily be believed that the parking ticket machine without its car park had been found in a television studio. While miniature models and stage scenery make the unreal seem real, here Pinkcombe has made the real seem unreal.
Each picture subtly removes us further from a normal perspective so that we are in a position to face pictures of a starkly realistic nature in a new light. We find ourselves studying a bus stop, a fire escape or a dilapidated house, far more intently than had we passed them in the street. Pinkcombe has indeed manipulated the focus of his lens and also the focus of his audience, elevating the once mundane and dull to the centre of our attention, where we find ourselves asking further questions about the nature of these images.
However, we are denied any information behind them. Even images of snow give us no clue as to what we are looking at, adding to the distance between ourselves and reality. Each untitled, we find ourselves in an anonymous world. Further emphasised by the absence of any individuals, the loss of identity is striking, whilst being presented with overt images of the impact of human civilisation. But where are the actors on this stage and where are the puppets in this toy town? Of course it is us and we are asked do we want to perform?
The artificiality of the world we have created for ourselves is suggested through Pinkcombe’s work where the man-made is so often set against the might of nature with disturbing consequences. The construction of a tiny city skyline beneath the vast sky seems an almost humorously pointless endeavour let alone the banality of a ticket machine or the travesty of a pile of tyres beneath a tree. We are forced to question our role within this world aided by the ability to look at reality through a changed perception.
Pinkcomb’es vision becomes most apparent in his triptych depicting the border of Mexico and the USA at night. It is taken from a large distance away reflecting the removed perspective he has created throughout the entire exhibition. From here we see clearest the crater humanity has made on the earth and itself through the scar on the landscape of the border. A self imposed boundary. A man-made division. The mass of lights and buildings and roads is intensely claustrophobic creating a great sense of pressure; a world about to burst at the seams. These three images suggest international unease, racial tension and all the stresses of living in this toy town we have made for ourselves. The loss of identity is felt most strong in these pictures, just a mass of people living and working together. The individual becomes lost as we see the human race from a removed perspective.
Despite the strangeness and uneasiness surrounding these images the most important point is that they are depictions of the real world. They are an opportunity to see from the artist’s point of view and look through the eyes of Rik Pinkcombe. We are looking directly at our world yet the esoteric implications of the title should urge us to look at ourselves. In this artificial world, how real are you?

Adam Gooding 2008

Review of Just An Ordinary Life by Joanne Skeels

2008-04-03T04:40:00.001-07:00

Review of Just An Ordinary Life

From Pamela Meyer Arndt, Just An Ordinary Life is a honest documentary revealing the personal motivations and inspirations behind three female photographers (Sibylle
Bergemann, Helga Paris and Gundula Schulze Eldowy)‘s series of photos of life in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), showing life before and after the Berlin wall, which was shown at the Focal Point Gallery.

What attracted me to this documentary was the personal motivations behind the photos, and how events in society (particularly significant ones such as the Berlin Wall and the war) can affect people’s artistic techniques. I saw the ‘Do not Refreeze’ photos in the gallery and was intrigued to the motivations and life of the photographers who dared to take these pictures in a time of oppression and dread.

The documentary revealed the background and life of each of the photographers, so you got a sense of knowing them personally, and how they evolved in both their techniques and as an artist. They gave personal stories behind the photos which gave a poignancy and realism to the people portrayed in the photos. On the other hand, some of the photos were shocking and explicit in nudity, and I felt that was not needed, it took away the poignancy.

The three photographers freely talked about their motivations and inspirations, and were not afraid to talk about issues such as censorship and being oppressed by the state not to show the photos. This freedom of speech in the film showed a persistent passion alive in each of the women.
The feminism view of the photographers and also the director could be criticised, it would have been nice to have a male voice to balance the contrast between male and female photographers in the GDR. It was felt that the film was not shared between the female photographers, so you felt more affinity with one artist compared to the others.
The technique and structure of the film was also a weakness. It jumped between the three artists, and there was a cross section of different issues and you got confused with who was who. It would be less confusing if it focused on one photographer, and then moved on to the next one. Having said that, the direction and clarity of the film, especially in showing the photos was superb.

Just An Ordinary Life gives a worthy conclusion to the series of photos in ‘Do Not Refreeze’ series, by providing the personal experiences and motivations of three of the artists. It gave a culture eye opener about life behind the Berlin Wall, and how life and art goes hand in hand. I specifically liked how it showed that in a country known for its harsh censorship and oppression, ‘the artistic urge’ as quoted in the film could not be stopped, and showed an honesty and realism of life in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.

By Joanne Skeels

Hindu Unity Day

2007-09-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

This month we took the Cameravan down to the Hindu Unity day in Shoeburyness. This is the Ganesh Visarjan day and is the biggest Hindu Festival in the UK. Here are some images.

The Lord Ganesha

Visitors to the festival and the Cameravan.

Image of the festival from inside van - projected from the lens onto white card.

Next adventures for the Camaravan

2007-08-08T05:03:00.000-07:00

For the chance to see the cameravan in Southend Carnival just pop along to Southend Seafront on Saturday 18 August from 7pm.

Or if you would like join us for the Ganesh Festival when photographer Elina Jokipii will meeting and interviewing visitors to the festival, come to East Beach in Shoeburyness from 10am on 16 September. You could always enjoy the experience of the biggest Hindu festival in the UK too.

See you there!

Leigh Art Trail

2007-08-08T04:46:00.000-07:00

During Leigh Art Trail we took the Cameravan out and spent the day at Leigh Library Gardens enthtralling shoppers, art lovers and those just using the park.

Setting up in the morning.

The crowds await.

At Southend Library

2007-08-08T04:35:00.001-07:00

The lens being assembled.

Graphics added

2007-06-05T10:51:00.001-07:00

With sponsorship from John Parker, we were able to have some expensive chrome vinyl applied to the Cameravan. The chrome vinyl was very much in keeping with the whole ethos of the Cameravan and what it does.

2007-06-05T10:48:00.001-07:00

finishing touches and first press appearance

2007-06-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

Volunteers and staff work hard to put on finishing touches and get interviewed by the press in the process!... see the video here... http://www.echonews.co.uk/news/echovideo

first outing!

2007-06-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

Even before the Cameravan was finished we were eager to unleash it on the public. So on 15th April it had it's first trip out to view through it's periscopic lens the newly unveiled Art U Need public art project in Southend - 'Streams'.
The touring group visiting all the Art U Need projects in the Thames Gateway took turns in viewing the 'Streams' and it's surrounding environment projected into the Cameravan.

...before

2007-06-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Cameravan logo

2007-06-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

inside window re-repair

2007-05-16T04:09:00.000-07:00

mobile camera obscura view from inside window .

Cameravan Update

2007-04-25T04:31:00.000-07:00

Focal Point Gallery are very pleased to announce the arrival of the Cameravan. A quirky camera obscura that from the outside appears to be a brightly coloured 1970s Sprite caravan but when you step inside all goes dark and you can enjoy a peculiar voyeuristic view of the outside world. Anyone entering the Cameravan will be able to control a 360 degree periscopic lens looking out on the world. People say its magical!

The Cameravan was donated to Focal Point Gallery in January this year by Bedford Creative Arts. It had not been used in a while and was in need of a little TLC, but it is now being lovingly restored by a group of enthusiastic volunteers. Thanks to a generous donation from Dulux Paints it is currently midway through a transformation from its original vibrant pink to a futuristic silver and will soon be out on the road again!