blogbloghttp://www.wearefrilly.com/blog/2012-05-09T18:03:59ZSquarespacerumblings of changehttp://www.wearefrilly.com/blog/2012/5/9/rumblings-of-change.htmladrienne2012-05-09T17:47:27Z2012-05-09T17:47:27ZJust a teeny tiny heads up - our site is currently on tenterhooks awaiting a few changes and overhauls to be made (it's starting to look a bit dusty after all.. :) and along with that, a few changes to the structure of Frilly itself... which will be revealed in time!  As we're still just a two-girl front, these things take time and have to be juggled amongst other jobs, but we're getting there.

Exciting news to be told includes:

 

  • public art developments
  • our first arts & health resource nearing completion
  • organisational developments
  • ambitions ambitions ambitions
  • a forked prong approach to the future!

 

..and so that this isn't just text, I'll finish this brief update with a random photo of a donkey called Pascoe who we were lucky enough to meet in Sutton Park at the Elizabeth Svendsen Trust - he was born in *1979* and is amazing!  I love organisations that do amazing things, like these guys do. :)

 

]]>sneaky peek [work in progress..]http://www.wearefrilly.com/blog/2012/1/25/sneaky-peek-work-in-progress.htmladrienne2012-01-25T10:24:36Z2012-01-25T10:24:36Z 

]]>wmpaf - direction of travelhttp://www.wearefrilly.com/blog/2012/1/20/wmpaf-direction-of-travel.htmladrienne2012-01-20T11:15:16Z2012-01-20T11:15:16Z 

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-simplifiedhttp://www.wearefrilly.com/blog/2011/12/5/papercut-tests-super-simplified.htmladrienne2011-12-05T12:26:43Z2011-12-05T12:26:43Z

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

 

]]>"Long-Eared Furry Things"http://www.wearefrilly.com/blog/2011/11/10/long-eared-furry-things.htmladrienne2011-11-10T11:43:08Z2011-11-10T11:43:08ZIn 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!http://www.wearefrilly.com/blog/2011/7/8/kingsfest-2011-160711-excited-now.htmladrienne2011-07-08T12:10:20Z2011-07-08T12:10:20ZSuperquick 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!

]]>kaleidoscopes and telescopeshttp://www.wearefrilly.com/blog/2011/5/31/kaleidoscopes-and-telescopes.htmladrienne2011-05-31T08:39:30Z2011-05-31T08:39:30ZJust a little interin update - most of the installation at one of our PiCL schools has happened - but we wanted to add some home made kaleidoscopes as the school we're at is SEN and we wanted to try to engage a range of senses.  Some of these have colours, some distort the view out the other end, some rattle and make sounds.  We're going to hang them using elastic so they can be pulled down to a range of heights and moved about within the outdoor space.  They're made entirely using recycled materials - old glasses lenses, ceramic offcuts, coloured plastic and more.  They make fun photos!

 

]]>Swamp monsters and origami... launch night!http://www.wearefrilly.com/blog/2011/5/27/swamp-monsters-and-origami-launch-night.htmladrienne2011-05-27T11:32:00Z2011-05-27T11:32:00ZIt was a bit worrying whether or not we'd be able to get everything put up safe and soundly because of the crazy weather - but team Frilly managed it nonetheless!  Despite a deluge of bad circumstances trying to knock us off course (bandstand at Bridgnorth being closed off because of someone stealing the lead from the roof, staff sickness, weatherproofing issues, etc!) we put up all your hard work from the past few weeks in Bridgnorth and Ercall and last night was the launch.

We'll say more about this all and scan in your comments - but in the meantime, here's a selection of images from last night.  It was fab to see all the young people again!  To see more on this project, have a look at the blog.

]]>snapshot of being busyhttp://www.wearefrilly.com/blog/2011/5/20/snapshot-of-being-busy.htmladrienne2011-05-20T08:21:53Z2011-05-20T08:21:53ZNext week we reach the culmination of our Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire project with the outdoor installation of the young people's work.  It's been a really interesting project for us - combining new techniques we've not worked with before (sculpting with cling film and car tyres), and new activities (including a weekend retreat to Wales!) which was all new territory for us!

Whilst all the work has been made by the young people involved, we've been doing the finishing touches and will be installing the work next week in time for the exhibition launch.  Speaking of which, it's next Thursday evening.  We'll be taking a tonne of photos - so expect some creepy swamps and various zombie body parts along with beautiful origami installations in pruned gardens!

As I write this, Kirsty is busily coating origami creations in wax to make them a little bit more substantial (and SO PLEASING TO TOUCH!) having already PVAed the few masks that remained plain.  Later on today we're going to add some finishing touches to signs the group made whilst we were in Wales.  We're also going to construct some kaleidoscopes/looking-glasses today from recycled plastic cones and glasses lenses and old tin cans.  We're not ENTIRELY sure what the end result will be, so I should probably get on with figuring that out right now!

]]>Happy Birthday to Frilly!http://www.wearefrilly.com/blog/2011/5/2/happy-birthday-to-frilly.htmladrienne2011-05-02T08:37:03Z2011-05-02T08:37:03Z

Hurrah!  We've made it through our first year - and in such a blur that we actually managed to miss out on our birthday itself.  Kirsty was looking through accounts and numbers and suddenly said, 

You do realise it was our birthday last week?  Frilly is 1!

Obviously, in my overworked endofyear brain I probably just grunted back at her - but we did decide it would be a useful moment to pause and reflect.  The past year has been mostly manic, and unsurprisingly stressful - but it's also been an amazing time for us.  We've met SO MANY new people and organisations, we've worked with a LOT of different people, and we've made some awesome things.  Above all, we've had a lot of fun! In a snapshot, here is team Frilly in the past 12 months.  Kirsty has experimented with various shades of orange, and Adrienne has had long, medium, short, then medium hair starting off black then bleached all the way back to white (with some pink and grey thrown in for good measure.)

We've worked with lots of people and made lots of things in the last year, including: 

  • decorated and moved into our awesome studio with Lee Allen
  • secret codes
  • cardboard kinetic sculptures
  • multisensory classroom environments
  • films
  • animations
  • books
  • websites
  • blogs
  • pillow heads
  • photographic alphabets
  • nail signs
  • cling film sculptures
  • outdoor installations
  • zines
  • maps
  • resin embedments
  • modelling clay self portraits
  • lifesize interpretive bodies
  • masks
  • mini sensory environments
  • learned how to letterpress 

And here's the visual evidence as a quick rundown - not in any order!

Frilly began in response to a very unpleasant situation and was our way of moving forwards and continuing to produce work and engage audiences in a variety of fun activities.  We had no idea where our first year would take us, and would never have been able to guess the range of people we would work with or the types of projects we would be involved in.  Our first year has been awesome, and we've really loved it all...

..but now I wonder what we'll be blogging about this time next year?!

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