Experimental Art

Artist Nicci Wonnacott led Freefall in experimental art for our first session of the new year.

Exploring mark making with charcoal

  

2 minutes mark making with 2 pieces of chalk with eyes closed!

Ink and stick

Still life- object and memory

 

                             

Night Watch

Freefall have made a horror film with director Ashley Thorpe.  Watch it, if you dare…

Shop of Souls Instillation and Exhibition

Congratulations to Freefall for 2 months of hard work culminating in a wonderful exhibition on Sunday 28th October.  Here is the group celebrating with sweets from the exhibition after a 2 hour performance of high focus and mischievousness.

The exhibition was made up of Freefall’s Artwork with the theme of creating myths and legends for the streets of Exeter.  Each painting had a story and an object, bringing each legend to life.  From the small boy who sold his soul to the devil for a measly £1 in order to buy a sherbet fountain, to The Topsham Bride who drowned in the River Exe, to The Goddess Isis guarding a secret tunnel concealed within the Roman Wall, Freefall told tall tales that re-imagined Exeter’s dark history and brought the streets to life with new eyes.  The ceiling was decorated with prints of Exeter’s historic landmarks and scenery, made into beautiful lampshades.  Freefall’s reimagied map of historic Exeter brought further creatures lurking onto our streets in this stop-motion animation:

The exhibition was brought to life in an instillation by the Freefall members, dressed white t-shirts with white faces and black moustaches.  These were the shopkeeper, artists, storytellers of the Shop of Souls, and they guarded their artwork.

A lone shop bell was displayed in the shop with the shop tag “Ring For Service” around it’s handle.  When a courageous member of the public rang the bell the shopkeepers moved slowly and precisely into action.  The Guardian of the Key, played by Flora and Alice, was first to appear from the Back-room of Doom, closely followed by the Glove Bearer, played by Joe from Burn The Curtain Theatre Company, and me, Lizzy.  They moved solemnly through the shop, and music would begin to play, they stopped in front of a small glass cabinet, filled with boxes.  Each of these boxes contained a story and an object.  The Guardian of the Key would carefully open the cabinet and the Glove Bearer would choose a box, removing it with the heat proof gloves -for protection.

The chosen storyteller would then step forward and be presented with their box, and they would all process to the Projection of Illusions to tell the visitors their story.

When it was over, the shop would return to normal and the shopkeepers would await the next ring of the bell.  In two hours the bell was rung 11 times.  Luckily it didn’t reach 13, you wouldn’t wanted to have been in the Shop of Souls if that happened.

The shop window was also alive with activity and caused quite an audience outside the shop.  Two Freefall Members stood or sat in the window, motionless.  A hand drawn sign on the window, a button which said “press to animate”.  The pair may sit for minutes with people staring, too shy to push the button or simply passing by not noticing them.

Then someone would dare to press it and the duo would spring into life.  Silly dancing, mime, symbolism, characters, whole stories would play out in a matter of moments, then like a non-Duracell bunny they would loose power and become motionless again.

We caused quite a stir and many people out to shop stumbled across our Shop of Souls with interest.  One customer penned us a post-it note saying:

“In the words of Andy Warhol, everyone is famous for 15 minutes, Freefall have managed to extend this time to 2 hours for one day.  On a crisp autumn day we have listened to several stories complimented by pictures and objects, performed by people with white faces.  An excellent idea, staged in an unlikely setting.  Thank you!”

Thank you Joe, for visiting the shop of Souls!

Creating Experimental Art

Jade explores bold colours to graffiti her work

Flora explores mark making with acrylics

Sashka composes her piece using primary colours and found images from a newspaper

Dixie concentrates with charcoal to create a precise drawing

Keelan uses a photograph for this charcoal sketch

Freefall behind the easels!

Hugo works with perspective

Flora uses collage to create texture in her piece

Freefall worked with International Artist Nicci Wonnacott to create paintings for our forthcoming Shop Instillation.  Using a variety of techniques including mark making, collage and compositions the Freefall group had a very busy session. From acrylics, to ink, to charcoal and raw materials, the group went wild with their artistic imaginations.

Freefalling through September

Freefall is back with artistic a vengeance after a busy summer for all.  We hit the ground running with the opening night of Exeter Contemporary Open at Exeter Phoenix.  The gang researched the artists selected to prepare to interview them at an invite only event.  Freefall were at the heart of the action and got to hobnob with local artists and VIPs.  Budding photographer Alice from Freefall was busy with her new camera capturing the event.  Alice’s dreams of owning a camera were granted by the Mark Marshall Youth Fund just before the summer holidays.  She is now working on her Bronze Arts Award and preparing to exhibit her first pieces of work for our October Shop Instillation. Go Alice!

Freefall also had a whole day working with animator Josh Gaunt to create a 30 second animation to be part of our Instillation about imagined histories and myths in Exeter.  Using an old map and iconic buildings in Exeter, Freefall brought the streets alive with some crazy creatures and ghastly ghouls-perfect for our halloween date (28th October). Here’s a sneek peek of what we were up to.

Freefall have also worked with Double Elephant Print Workshop this term to create unique prints.  Working with Catherine Cartwright and Suzanne Ross they created Exeter inspired landscapes which will be on display in our Shop Instillation.

Next week Freefall will work again with International Artist Nicci Wonnacott to complete their paintings for the Shop Instillation.  Here’s a sneek peek from Sashka’s colourful work:

Reviews and reflections galore!

Read the latest book review by Sashka, a memoir of Exeter by German exchange student Vanessa, and review of Andro Semeio’s Le Grand Charmer by Hugo.

The exhibition opens with rave reviews from visitors

Clara interviews Vanessa

German Freefall member Clara Sonneborn was our roving reporter for the evening.  Clara offers her thoughts on her experience:

‘May I interview you?’ , was the question of the day for me last Thursday. It was a big day for freefall: The photography exhibition we have been working on for months celebrated its opening. And I had the task to interview the visitors to get opinions from them. Which first did not appear the best task soon turned out to be very interesting: By asking the people what they think about the exhibition we got important feedback. Luckily, most of it was very positive for us as well. Visitors were impressed by the creativity and variation of freefall. When asked to tell which photo was their favourite, a few even could not decide.

Watch this space for a write up of Clara’s interviews.

Click here for photographs from the event by Georgie Daltrey.

Click here to see the Arts Heroes and Heroines Photographs in the exhibition