Mixed-media exhibition, This is Just What I Saw
RADAR’S most recent commission, This is Just What I Saw, is an exploration of the legacy of pioneering arts educator Marion Richardson.
The outcome of the project – led by artist Katarina Hruskova in collaboration with Loughborough’s Dr Sarah Mills – is a mixed-media exhibition which will run from October 3-25.
Using printed textile, spoken word, archival materials and text, the exhibition will function as both an imaginative and pedagogical space.
Dr Mills and Katarina Hruskova began their research by visiting Marion Richardson’s Archive at Birmingham City University, to see the works produced by her pupils and examine her teaching methods.
The pair then led workshops with schoolchildren and young adults in various learning environments across Loughborough, Leicester and Nottingham, which were structured around narratives by Katarina and focused on two key aspects of Marion’s methodology: ‘Mind Pictures’ and drawing and painting from description.
‘Mind Pictures’ was a term used by Richardson to describe images which ‘came spontaneously to the mind’s eye’ without any instruction. She would encourage pupils to close their eyes and paint whatever they saw, stimulating both vision and trust in their own expressions.
On the other hand, drawing and painting from descriptions was much more structured, with Marion setting a scene using detailed verbal descriptions, which pupils would then recreate through paintings or drawings. Katarina used both of these methods as a foundation for her texts, developed using visual language derived from the work produced by Marion Richardson’s pupils.
As part of This is What I Just Saw, Katarina selected elements and gestures from the artworks produced by workshop participants to create collages and patterns, which have been reproduced on surfaces of carpets to encourage guests of the exhibition to sit down and listen to the stories, and consider the relationship between image and language.
The exhibition will be held in the Martin Hall Exhibition Space and will be open from 10am-5pm, Monday to Friday, and from noon-5pm on Saturday, October 19. Access to the exhibition is free.
As part of the programme for This is Just What I Saw, a film and discussion event – Bodies at Play – will take place on Thursday, October 10, from 6.30pm-8.30pm.
Focusing on the politics and material cultures of play, this event will consist of a screening of Helen McCrorie’s film ‘If play is neither inside nor outside, where is it?’, as well as a discussion event with Helen and Dr Sarah Mills.