An Interactive Introduction To Contemporary Art

February 2011

The YMCA, St Annes

The Grundy Art Gallery  delivered a day of practical workshops and discussions for Fylde DFAS members led by Kerry Hunt. We explored their past exhibitions programme, alongside many of the artists who have dominated the headlines in recent years. The day consisted of three sessions.

The first session was very hands-on involving the use of ceramics and clay.

We were encouraged to look at things in new ways and produce our own works of art from what might loosely be described as ‘found objects’ (i.e. found by Kerry in the Charity Shops of Blackpool!). Here are some of the results….

….dubious doll….

I think the Turner Prize is safe for now, but we had a lot of fun in the process.

The second session involved looking at different aspects of photography and the third session made us think about how to use gallery space in creative ways.

The day offered quite a different experience from our usual lectures because of the level of interactivity and the way we were challenged to contribute to different ways of thinking about art rather than experiencing it in a more passive way.

Feedback from the members who attended was very positive and the catering was exceptional – we were spoilt with danish pastries and home-made cakes as well as the advertised soup and sandwich lunch. It also made us realise that we weren’t all getting as much as we could out of the gallery on our own doorstep which has featured some extremely innovative work in recent years, so I think many more of us will be making visits to the Grundy after this excellent day.

Thanks to Kerry Hunt for leading the sessions and thanks also to Kate Cartmell for organsiing such an interesting and enjoyable day.

Below are photos of this event