sneaky peek [work in progress..]

wmpaf - direction of travel

All has been quiet on the Frilly front - we've been keeping our heads down, applying for things like crazy to ensure we make it through the winter, and cracking on with existing projects like the papercut tests mentioned previously. (and, hopefully, we'll have more to show from that in the next couple of weeks!)

In the meantime - we've been continuing our involvement in WMPAF - West Midlands Participatory Arts Forum - which is a group of professionals from across the region meeting semi-regularly to discuss issues within the sector, share best practice, and have a bit of a natter over coffee.  During these meetings, we decided to work towards an event to partially 'launch' the network, and to look at what shape it will take, and also to raise awareness of it.  And so all of that has led towards the above event, 'Direction of Travel'.

More information can be found on the WMPAF site, and booking is essential as places are limited, but it's a free event and there's lunch and a lot of awesome people attending.. so it'll be worth it.  And Frilly will be there - so what other reason do you need to attend?! :)

papercut tests - super-simplified

Playing with vague compositional elements in advance of workshops.  Colours are wrong, but it's just a first test.

"Long-Eared Furry Things"

In the current climate, we find ourselves looking for opportunities further afield - but this often leads to random trains of thought.  We do think that eventually these all magically link back into bigger things we're interested in pursuing - ideas and artforms and ways of working.  But the problem with responding to adverts is you think of an idea in response to a prompt, then you write up your idea, then you talk about your idea - and by this point you think THIS IDEA IS AMAZING - I CAN'T WAIT TO MAKE IT! .... And then more often than not you're not selected. (recessions seem to ramp up the competition exponentially..)

So - this may be another one of those ideas, and because of that we don't want to say too much - other than we picked a rogue prompt: "Long-Eared Furry Things".  Our idea was based around collecting 'sightings' of this mythical creature and then make them in 3D using a range of techniques.

To test the idea, we posed the question on Twitter, with about 2 hours worth of turnaround time for responses:

if you're bored this morning, could you draw a quick picture of a "long-eared furry thing" for me? i need any drawings before 11! rt please!

And here's the responses we collected!  What would your Long-Eared Furry Thing look like?

 

Credits:

1) Ben Waddington - @falsedog

2) Jon Clarke - @goatboyuk

3) Kirsty Hillyer (my partner in crime!) - @kfrilly

4) Ben Waddington (again!) - @falsedog

5) Lee Allen - @leeallenphotos

6) Keith Bloomfield - @hardluck_hotel

7) Paul Gallear - @paulgallear

8) "Quirky Joe" - @QuirkyJoe_

Kingsfest 2011 - 16/07/11 - excited now!

Superquick entry just to mention we've been working on an event happening next weekend in Kingstanding, Birmingham and we now have marketing material to show to help promote!

Everybody is welcome and the programme is just being finalised... and there's a LOT going on across the 5 sites - exhibitions, performances, donkey rides, competitions, amazing installations (including a knitted bull!), graffiti workshops, Zumba, and Hunt Emerson (Beano artist) is going to be exhibiting some work and chatting to visitors!  Amazing!