Illuminate Invent and Build: The Day

 This weekend marked the end of the John Plowman: A Life Drawing and Richard Slee: Work and Play exhibitions at Nottingham Castle. Upon opening, Illuminate Collective had the great privilege of an extra insight tour with Deborah Dean, Nottingham Museums Visual Arts and Exhibitions Manager. Upon closing, Illuminate hosted their Invent and Build event to see the end of the exhibitions off in a whirl of creativity.

The two exhibitions inspired Illuminate with contrasting qualities. John Plowman’s use of pattern and collage led to an activity that would recreate Nottingham’s landscape and local history in a new configuration. Museum goers were given a sliced image related to Nottingham and asked to complete it however they desired. Using collage from local magazines, Nottingham was re-invented by the imaginations of not only Nottingham Castle’s visitors but their members of staff too!

 Richard Slee’s colourful play with everyday objects fueled an activity that seemingly had endless possibilities. After visitors had made their own ‘blueprints’ of the Richard Slee’s work they were unleashed into piles of scrap materials sorted in the categories of hard and soft. After their scavenge they would then face the challenge of recreating their Richard Slee blueprint. The John Plowman collage activity may have been favoured by the more adult visitors but it was the little ones that stole the Richard Slee activity and ran with it. The highlight of my day was the realization that armed with plasticine, masking tape and scrap materials, children are geniuses.

With John Plowman’s repetition and Richard Slee’s everyday objects themes in mind, Illuminate designed an activity that even visitors on a strict time limit could participate in. Visitors were able to use their continuous line drawing skills to contribute to larger collective artwork. Each individual drawing was presented on a washing line.

One of the primary reasons I volunteer with Nottingham Castle is its ability to make contemporary art available to a wide range of ages. Illuminate’s objective for the Invent and Build event was to encourage the different age groups to interact with the exhibitions by engaging them in creative play. The event had a promising steady stream of individuals all day that each had their own approach to participating in art. Children didn’t often require too much persuading to dive amongst the materials and colours and start inventing with no plan. A few adults held the belief of ‘I’m not much of an artist’ which dissolved rapidly as they admired their cardboard box television or their milk carton shovel. The success of the event can be summarized with a quote from a previously apprehensive closet artist – ‘it is nice to engaged again’.

Hannah Satchwell, Illuminate member

Richard Slee and John Plowman:

Since kicking off 2015 with the awards ceremony for the OPEN, Nottingham Castle have continued the anticipation for exciting contemporary art by hosting two solo shows side by side. John Plowman, A Life Drawing and Richard Slee: Work and Play both opened on 31^st January. Illuminate Collective were not only quick to submerge ourselves amongst the works but were also lucky enough to gain extra insight from Deborah Dean, Nottingham Museums Visual Arts and Exhibitions Manager. This gave a further dimension to the investigation we had already started. The works of the two artists will be the inspiration for our Invent and Build event occupying the exhibitions all day 22^ndMarch .

            Being greeted with a wall of categories, the sense of order and structure is present in the first room leading into John Plowman, A Life Drawing. This is a retrospective organisation of the subjects Plowman has worked through since his degree show in the 1970s. He has used this exhibition to apply these categories to the castles drawing collection. The main two categories are ‘The made’ and ‘The yet to be made’. This explains the exhibitions intention to show the thought process of a sculptor through his drawings and shown again in a quote from Plowman ‘all my drawings are really drawings of the last sculpture I (n)ever made’. Illuminate felt that repetition and architecture elements of Plowman’s work were most prominent and would transfer well to our event.

            Richard Slee offers no such boundaries. An imminent reaction to this exhibition could be one of fun and chaos. Upon closer inspection however, we found beautifully crafted ceramics from earthenware clay that could only be made with the precision of trained hands. These objects often also portray a skilfully crafted pun. He does this by using different materials to change, or entirely remove, the function of everyday objects. In doing so he presents them in an entirely new perspective for his audience. In the gallery across the landing from the Richard Slee exhibition, we find a video of the artist in conversation with Grayson Perry where he explains his process of work. When we think of everyday objects being used in art we will most probably think of Pop Art. Illuminate Collective feels Richard Slee’s playful use of everyday objects could be the inspiration for our Invent and Build activities.

            Invent and Build at Nottingham Castle will take place on 22^ndMarch 2015. Illuminate Collective have designed a range of creative activities for all ages. There will be opportunity to work on individual projects as well as a chance to be part of a collective masterpiece. If you would like a deeper insight to the exhibitions there will be talks led by the artists on 18^th March 2015

Post by Hannah Satchwell, Illuminate member