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.

Selected for

 

WELLS CONTEMPORARY ART COMPETITION

 

2014

 

Visual Diary of my Cruise Holiday

from Genoato Cape Town

Solo exhibition. November 2014.

 

‘Show and Tell’ Exhibition by Fran Webster
Thursday 20th November 2014, at 3 Counties Church GU27 3QW. 

 


Fronto Temporal dementia has robbed 68 year old Nick of the ability to 
have a conversation. Neither can he write - his written words are 
unintelligible. Yet artist, illustrator and teacher Fran Webster has been 
able to encourage him to draw and paint with her. Some of his 
collaborative artwork will be featured in the exhibition. ‘In 2 years I 
have been thrilled to witness progress. He has gone from simply 
watching me draw to happily work alongside me, singing all the time, 
doing more and more on his own. We never know how the 
collaborations will end up as they are really doodles. I always know 
when Nick is up for an afternoon of painting – When I ask “Do you want 
to paint Nick? he says ‘ yeh, yeh, yeh" I never get a negative response". 
Fran gets huge joy out of working with Nick in this way. Nick’s wife is 
thrilled too. They completed a book last year called ‘Picasso, Nick and 
Me’ and proudly presented it to his 95 year old mother for Christmas.

 

 

The exhibition will also feature Fran’s ‘Gazoonkas’ .

On show will be Gazoonka artwork produced by pupils from

Farnborough Grange Nursery and Infant School.

Fran used her Gazoonkas to stimulate creative story telling in 
the children by getting them to transform the random lines and 
squiggles into pictures and then making up stories about them. (Fran 
inherited the word ‘Gazoonka’ from her father who had a talent for 
making up fantastical words).

 

 

Fran’s Visual Diaries will also be on show. “They are a special place for me, 
full of little memories that are triggered by what I see”. There are depictions 
from her childhood growing up on a farm in Kenya, drawings of Table 
Mountain in Cape Town and references to the Bush War in Zimbabwe. 
Fran will give a talk about the art on display during the evening.

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