Imagine the Land project

Imagine The Land Project

Project 2012-06-14 02:19:50 +1200

A participatory arts program at the Wallace

The Imagine the Land Project and 500 children are going to make a massive earth art mandala installation from natural earth pigments!  We are creating an opportunity for an interactive group creative experience for the youth of the Waikato region, a largely rural area. The project is a collaboration between the artists from Imagine the Land, children and youth from the visiting schools and the general public during the Morrinsville Arts Festival. 

Our program will encourage group participation within the arts, generating a sense of belonging to a greater community and a personal sense of accomplishment through a creative process that generates connection to the land.

Imagine the Land

Imagine the Land Project have a successful history in facilitating group projects and public programs. Imagine The project is co-facilitated by artists Karma Barnes (New Zealand) and Ekarasa Doblanavic. The Project works to re-establish a connection between people and the environment through art, using natural resources in organic, impermanent land based installations.

Benefits

The project at the Wallace Gallery offers an exciting opportunity for children to participate in the creation of a large artwork in the one of regions most significant galleries. The participants will have the opportunity to expand on the previous participants work by adding their personal contribution to the ultimately larger work. This will generate individual creative expression with a sense of relating and contributing to the whole experience. The spontaneous fusion aspect of the installation work invites an accessible and creative process that generates curiosity and wonder. With the simple yet innovative procedure of working in a tactile manner with a palette of local natural earth pigments, a sense of belonging and identity for the land of Aotearoa is fostered.

The creation process

The artwork will be based on a circular template that draws upon influences of the mandala and the medicine wheel from world cultures, such as Tibetan sand mandalas and medicine wheels form the Americas. The work will be constructed from natural materials, including a colourful array of soils, sands, stone dust (acquired from regional carvers) gathered from around the local region and beyond to be hand processed into workable pigments prior to the events by the artists. Working with locally gathered materials from the natural world the program fosters a deeper environmental awareness within the contributing artists.

Notions of impermanence

The work explores notions of impermanence through the materials being malleable and temporary. The ephemeral nature of the work allows the participants to be predominately process driven and let go attachment of perfection. This generates a mindfulness and presence with the creative process.

Creating creative opportunity within communities

The program at the Wallace Gallery reaches a wide audience in the region by offering a direct experience on a contemporary art platform. Opportunity is created for children to work alongside arts practitioners with a project that has national and international applications. Encouraging children and youth to participate in community supported art activities builds personal and social skills. Our goal is to encourage long-term habits of art practice, collaboration, and inspired creative expression. Children will have the opportunity to revisit and share their work with their family and friends on the public participation programs during the weekend of the Morrinsville Festival, generating wider community involvement and exposure to the arts.

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