ReImagine Wrexham - Part 2

ReImagine Wrexham would culminate in an evening of live music and interactive art on July 11th .

The live music was supplied by experimental band DRK MTR - the Oriel FB book page describes them as . . ."an experiment with music, art and poetry is the brainchild of 3 north Wales artists. Musician and Producer, Steve Nicholls, Poet, Sophie McKeand and Artist, Andy Garside, are collaborating on this project. Fusing poems of the earth with digitally created sounds and performing them with VJ projections the live shows are not to be missed."

This was again, a really enjoyable experience - DRK MTR were edgy and innovative, and somehow, their material worked incredibly well with the 'feel' of the event . . . and it was fantastic fun to photograph them, and the on-going interactive art that was still taking place .

Yet more fantastic art work had been added

Mikey - still painting

The Band joined in too

 

By now, my daughter was thoroughly hooked on ReImagine - and enjoyed encouraging others there to join in !

The art work wasn't restricted to the walls!

This was a really great event to be involved with, for several reasons.  It gave me the chance to learn more and add to my photographic skills, I really enjoyed seeing the artwork grow and develop, it was brilliant to be part of something that was appreciated by everyone I spoke to who participated, and again - I met some fantastically creative and genuinely nice people .


Some of the images I provided were published in an Oriel Galley Programme - sadly, they forgot to credit me, but hopefully, I'll be able to get a copy of the programme and scan it to add to this blog at a later date :)

UPDATE :  I have been put in contact with Helen Odunaiya, Senior Performance and Improvement Officer, from Wrexham Council - Ms Odunaiya has emailed me with reference to using some of the ReImagine Images . . . Its really great to know that my photographs are likely to be used in this way, and I'd like to say Thank You to Ms Odunaiya for taking the time to give me the exact details of their use - below is a portion of the e mail she sent, explaining .





 

"I am interested in using some images of the artwork for the Wrexham Local Service Boards strategic plan from April 2013 to March 2024.  It is a high level strategic plan looking at the future of Wrexham as a place and will be signed off by all the LSB partners, ie Council, BCUHB (hospital), Public Health, Probation, Police, Fire, AVOW, Glyndwr (LSB rep is Paul Whiting) and Yale.  I saw the exhibition and thought the work could be great to represent Wrexham as it comes from local people and is an individual piece of work and will bring our document to life! . . .

 

In terms of my timeframe the plan needs to be in place for April 2013 and we have to have a 12 week consultation period.  We are currently working hard on the plan with 3 high level themes looking at Quality of life, Economy, and community involvement / safety.  The final document will be printed in paper format and we will also have an electronic version so it will go out far and wide across Wrexham and to all our partners and will exist for many years!

 

 Thanks very much for your help, the photos are just great."

  

Here | There | Everywhere . . .

Recently, I was asked by contemporary artist, Estelle Woolley, if I would like to attend and photograph the opening night of  'Here | There | Everywhere ' .  This is an exhibition of the work produced by the artists in residence on the AA2A scheme at the University of Chester 2011-12, and took place on 6th July, at the Contemporary Art Space, Chester University of Chester, Kingsway . Obviously, I jumped at the chance - aside from the benefit of the photography experience this would give me, I'd seen several examples of some of the work that would be shown, on the Chester Contemporary Artists page - Estelle is co-manager of the group - and I was very keen to see it in the flesh, so to speak .  Estelle asked that I 'catalogue' each piece of work, and perhaps get a few shots of the event as a whole .

So, during one of the recent bouts of 'Summery' torrential rain we have been having, I braved Chester rush hour, and arrived at the venue, just before 5pm. 

The Contemporary Art Space straight away struck me as a really lovely venue for exhibitions - a large, high ceilinged main space, with quite a bit of natural light .  The artists involved greeted me really warmly, although I had only met 2 of them previously, and it was easy to feel comfortable and get to work .

First job was to work out what settings would work best for the venue.  With exhibitions, there are often several light sources, which can make getting the white balance tricky.  You often get fluorescent lights above, individual artificial lighting types use to highlight some pieces of work, and sometimes (as in this case) you can add natural light to the mix too.  Wanting to avoid the flash (yet another light source!), I set ISO initially at 400, set the camera to P mode,  and then took several 'test shots', close ups and long shots, going through the different WB settings on the camera.  In this instance, AWB produced the best results, so I started with that, checking each photograph after I had taken it, and 'stopping' up and down as required to get the best image I could.

I had to keep focused on the fact that I was supposed to be taking pictures - the work was innovative, intriguing and in some cases, beautiful - I often found myself just stopping and looking !  However, over about an hour, I worked my way around the main space, and managed to get photographs of each piece of work, that I was pleased with.

 

 

 

Looking at this piece, I loved the shadows it cast on the wall behind . . .

There were also two smaller area's, one of which kept me occupied - and entertained - for quite a while, as I got engrossed trying to work out the best settings to capture the work . . .

Another area, that contained work by MA students, had very different lighting - it was far darker, subdued - but totally suited to the work in it, which  made me feel a little like I had stepped back in time .  ISO had to go up to 800, even though I decided to try and capture the pieces with the lower lighting effect .

Quite a few people had attended the opening, which also gave me some photographic opportunities .

The photographs featured here give just a taster of the work exhibited - the exhibition is at Chester till the 13th of July, after which it will be touring, with one of the venues being here in Wrexham - its really well worth going to see if you get the chance .

Some of the images I took have been featured on the Here | There | Everywhere FB page, and I believe they are also going to be used possibly elsewhere - once links and info is sent, I'll update.  

Here | There | Everywhere 


Many, Many Thanks to the artists who created the art work, and who made me very welcome - Estelle Woolley, Jo Marsh, Tony Evans, Guy Mayman , Ruth Cullis and Rebecca Key - it was a pleasure to meet all, and I really enjoyed the experience.


More info on the artists and their work can be found at the following sites 


aa2a.biz


Estelle Woolley


Tony Evans