KAN KAN COLLECTIVE
January 2017
Imaginings 1 & 2.
Here I enjoyed flirting with layers of paint to create an abstract image that would invite the viewer to imagine, see things, stay a while and contemplate.
Silk Purse
Can the work of the artist's hand increase the value of a worthless object? Just a bit of fun. Experimenting with new materials, mark making and pulling out the fantasy.
'Cream in my Coffee'
With echoes of Hieronymus Bosch, only cuter, this imixed media drawing teases out the fantasy from the random lines made by the cream floating on the top of a cup of coffee. My work nearly always has elements of the everyday and the imagination in it, and this work references the idea of daydreaming, looking up at the clouds, or reading horoscopes in a teacup. It explores the play between fantasy and reality that we all engage in during our waking day.
October 2016. Artist Residency and Exhibition at Wellington College.
The brief our group of artists was given, during the Arts Festival week, was to transform the staff dining room, with contemporary artwork, into an exhibition, by working directly onto the walls.
June 2016
Visual diary 2016
I love to draw. My drawings hover between observational drawings, capturing life around me, and automatic drawing where imagination births on the page. I allow pattern and memory to creep into the work using the dyed splashes and the negative spaces as the playground upon which to build intuitive patterns, or out worldish creatures. The result is an interesting mix of reality and fantasy. I have enjoyed encouraging my grandsons to draw in this book, and then drawing into and around their work, creating an interesting conversation between their work and mine.
Con Fusion Art Exhibition. London. January 2016.
I am a member of the alumni group, Kankan Collective. We are all Fine Art graduates. This January we held our debut group exhibition. We had some sales, made good contacts and have a future exhibition opportunity pending, at Wellington College. We have been invited back in January 2017. All very exciting.
Wells Contemporary Art Competition. October 2014.
Solo exhibition. November 2014.
The Big Draw
Farnborough Grange Nursery and Infants School
The children and parents enjoyed 'The Big Draw' on Friday 24th October 2014.
After two days of drawing the children began to discover imaginary creatures in the random lines and the drawings are charming. I am in the process of putting together a collaboration of my illustrations and the childrens pictures. Here are a few to tempt you back to see the end result.
So what do the teachers and children have to say about Gazoonka?
Crazies Hill CE Primary School, Berkshire.
"The children enjoyed the drama related to the picture that we explored. Fran engaged the children, igniting their imaginations." Mrs Burton (Reception class teacher)
"The cildren were encouraged to use their imagination to create pictures from what began as just a few black lines. They amazed me with what they were able to create and produced some fantastic imaginary creatures." Mrs Wellman
"I liked the doggie flying in the sky." Hugo age 4
"I liked pretending to be the Gazoonkas" Ryan, age 5
"I liked making up my own story to go with the picture." Josh, age 6
"It was spectacular and special" Harry, age 8
"It was fun creating characters out of doodles." India, age 9
"It was amazing to see how the most awesome pictures could appear from the simplest squiggles." Abby, age 9
"A unique way of drawing that came to life" Rosie, age 9
"Fran helped our imaginations come to life." Jos, aged 10
"It was brilliant that everyone could draw Gazoonkas successfully!" Milly, age 10
"Gazoonka sketching is an excellent way to warm up your brain." Tommy, age 10
"Fran taught us how to see everyday objects with different eyes." Annabel, age 11
"Fran taught us that art can come from anything." Isabella, age 11
Recommendation.
"We tried out the Gazoonka ice breaker in India. We conducted the exercise in silence and it proved to be a fantastic ice breaker as participants related the images they created to the theme of the day, tapping into new ideas whilst also disclosing upfront any reservations. Great for immediate right brain thinking. Highly recommended."
Emma-Sue Prince. Unimenta - Working with Senior Management. NGO's - training day. Author of "The Advantage" http://www.unimenta.com/Default.aspx?pagename=The-Advantage-Book
'Imagination is more important than knowledge'. Albert Einstein
'Creativity is intelligence having fun.'
Albert Einstein
'Disneyland will never be completed.
It will continue to grow as long as
there is imagination left in th world'
Walt Disney
PAREIDOLIA, in a nutshell, is the ability to see faces, or other things, where there isn't one.
In his notebooks, Leonardo da Vinci wrote of pareidolia as a device for painters, writing "if you look at any walls spotted with various stains.... if you are about to invent some scene you will be able to see in it a resemblance to various different landscapes adorned with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, plains, wide valleys and various groups of hills. You will also be able to see divers, combats and figures in quick movement, and strange expressions of faces, and outlandish costumes, and an infinite number of things which you can then reduce into separate and well conceived forms."
Wikipedia
These imaginings, or seeings, with the aid of drawing, become my Gazoonkas
Fran Webster's Art
More of my work can be viewed on Redbubble.
http://www.redbubble.com/people/franwebster
and on my face book art page
http://www.facebook.com/FranWebstersArt
and frantuckster on Instagram