Art + Power
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Colin Hambrook visited Art + Power to find out about their work
At the beginning of 2005 I had the pleasure to visit an exhibition of painting, drawing and poetry by Art + Power in Faith House, Holton Lee. Art + Power are a learning disability group based in Bristol. At the time I was particularly drawn to a poem by Brenda Cook called the Fire Artist It sums up an essential feeling that perhaps most visual artists - and especially painters - must have to get to grips with. I say that because I think painting, of all the visual arts, demands a personal exposure of who and what you are, as a human being.
Art + Power have an ethos which focuses on the artistic strengths of their members. The group are in control of the process and the ideas they generate are collaborative efforts. It takes motivation and dedication to create a body of work for exhibition, or a play for performance. You may be lucky and get some rewarding comments from people who like your work. Or even, if you're really fortunate, as well as talented, you might sell something, get a bursary or win a prize. Mostly that doesn't happen. And so you have to concentrate on what it is that makes you want to go on producing work in the first place.
Art + Power artists have a strong sense of what they want to achieve. Marketing is one of the key areas where the members take control of the direction the organisation is heading. They share and record ideas about how to get their work out into the world. Their work isn't about creating something worthy, which will make people feel sorry for them. Instead they are about creating work from a uniquely professional approach. And they have some great ideas about how to get their work noticed.
Art + Power are also collaborating with Bristol City museum and Art gallery to create a training program for their artists to become stewards in a forthcoming exhibition in the gallery. The idea is to create better access by giving the trainees the opportunity to describe to the public what the works on show are about.
last updated: 2005-12-01 00:00:00
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tags : training gallery learning disabilities accessibility visual arts