Constantine Gras
  • Gras Art
  • Film
  • Exhibitions
  • Blog
  • About/Contact

Animal life

19/6/2015

1 Comment

 

Lancaster West Art from Constantine Gras on Vimeo.


This was the third drawing workshop held at the Lancaster West estate. 
Children are using their imagination to help me work up designs for a mural. This will be installed in the Grenfell tower as a 3x2m mural made up of wall tiles. The tower is currently undergoing renovation and the art work will probably be located in a new community space. 
Although not being run exclusively for children, adults seem very reluctant to shed their inhibitions and participate.  So it's the children who are having all the fun and we have a clearly defined pattern of imagery taking shape: urban structures, especially the iconic appearance of a high rise tower;  self-representation whether this is drawing oneself, or family,  or referencing aspects of cultural identity.  And given the age range of participants, it's not surprising that animals of an exotic persuasion, are materialising  on the estate. Thankfully they are all friendly and well-behaved. 
In the drawing completed at the last session we had the following:
  • an elephant that is spraying a group of residents who are trying to make a drawing
  • 3 giraffes, one of whom is towering over Grenfell tower,
  •  two snakes, a rhino, horse, birds, alligator, fish and sundry other animals
  • a high rise window where a child has written "I Love Cheerio" (popular cereal in these parts)
Anyway. Don't take my word for it. Play the film and listen to the excited words of the young artists and witness how the art work was constructed. 
1 Comment

Live laugh love

9/6/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
Picture
Picture

Grenfell Tower residents had organised a Fun Day at the Lancaster West estate. It was a pleasure to be invited along and to fit art into the barbecue, face painting, sports and pony rides.  This took place on the landscaped space connecting the estate with a newly built academy and leisure centre in North Kensington. 

At the Fun Day, a teenager looked at a blank sheet of paper.  
"What do we draw?" 
"Absolutely anything you like." 
I was not here to teach or instruct. Merely to facilitate creativity. An act of improvisation. 
Picture

If help was needed, we did have on display a large scale drawing made on a previous workshop at the estate. This was a fantastical metropolis (children's input) with recognisable architecture from the estate (my guiding hand). At the event several children went across to copy elements of this visionary landscape. However most had the desire to draw or write what came naturally to them. A girl brought over a leaf and started to sketch this. Animals came to the fore. The cultural identity of the children also became a point of self-reflection.

One child exhibited a rare doodling quality which is often at the heart of my working mode. She started to just draw without thinking. Playing with abstraction and the feel of colours and only then deciding what she was going to do. Did she end up with a building or a flower? Or just a mark on the paper?
Picture
Picture

Back in the studio, I was able to colour in and unify all the diverse elements created by the children. 

These drawing workshops on the estate are helping me to forge ideas about a mural wall tile. This will be made with residents over the coming months and sited in the new community space in the tower. I want this mural to be based on a story told to me by residents. It might be based on real life or conjured from the imagination or a combination of the two. It seems important to have a graphical representation of the Grenfell tower block. This is home. 

The text that follows is based on the ideas and images created by children at the Fun Day. I am particularly haunted by a giraffe standing beside a tower block. I can see this working as a visual design. Hopefully someone will tell me the story of this giraffe and why it came to stand beside Grenfell Tower? 

Picture in words

Live, laugh, love
Grenfell Tower.

Flags. 
I love you England and Morocco.

Clip, clop.
Horses hooves 
Poo and pee. 

Three, four, five, six, seven.
Ground floor, 2nd floor. 
The movements of a lift.

An elephant, rhinoceros and giraffe 
Came to Grenfell tower
For the day. 

Flowers. 
Free Syria. 

Lionel Messi is the best. 

Live, laugh, love
Grenfell Tower. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
1 Comment
    HOME
    ​FILM
    EXHIBITIONS
    BLOG
    ABOUT/CONTACT

    Categories

    All
    Ar
    Architecture
    Art
    Belfast
    Books
    Built Environment
    Ceramic Art
    Chaplin
    Community
    Coronet Theatre
    Dance
    Derek Latham
    Design
    Drawing
    Edinburgh
    Environment
    Europe
    Exhibition
    Films
    Flood Light
    Gate Cinema
    Glasgow
    Grand Union Canal
    Greece
    Grenfell
    Henry James
    History
    Home
    Horror
    Irish
    Jacob Barua
    Kensal Green
    Lancaster West Estate
    Latymer Mapping Project
    Leo The Last
    Melodrama
    Melodramatic Elephant
    Migrant Crisis
    More West
    Music
    Nathaniel Westlake
    Nicholas Ray
    North Kensington
    Notting Hill
    Painting
    Photo Book
    Photography
    Pittsburgh
    Poland
    Portobello Film Festival
    Portrait Of A Lady
    Regeneration
    Sculpture
    Silchester Estate
    Siobhan Davies Dance
    Social Housing
    Soundtrack
    Stain Glass
    St Helen's Festival
    Still Moving
    Theatre
    Therapy
    This That
    This-That
    University Of Warwick
    V&A Museum
    Westway
    W. Eugene Smith

    Archives

    September 2021
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    July 2013
    May 2013
    January 2013
    September 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Gras Art
  • Film
  • Exhibitions
  • Blog
  • About/Contact