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Art, Cool stuff, Writing Stories

The Accidental Artwork – Art Experiments

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Photo: Gums Leaves in Little Ruby plant dye on watercolour paper. 2015. JK.Leahy©

I love the accidental artwork. That’s why I enjoy art experiments.

I set out to do another art experiment in my garden this morning. It was a beautiful day for it. I ended up accidentally shooting the leaves intended for my experiment in another artwork, totally unplanned. The accident in the experiment looked too interesting to not photograph.

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Photo: Acacia leaves (and one gum leaf) in tea on watercolour paper. 2015. JK.Leahy©
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Photo: Acacia leaves in tea on watercolour paper. 2015. JK.Leahy©

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After laying out the materials, I applied water and dyes. Then, I pinned everything down with glass. I noticed reflections and water bubbles sneaking into my work. They had their own colour and shadows. That was when my artwork plan changed. It was the experiment that came out of another experiment, the kind  of ‘accident’,  we artists love. Something you did not expect, never meant to or planned to create but it becomes yours. A gift from the universe.

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Photo: Gums leaves in Little Ruby dye on watercolour paper. 2015. JK.Leahy©
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Photo: Gums Leaves in Coffee and Tea on watercolour paper. 2015. JK.Leahy©

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The images were shot with a Nikon D5200 using both macro and 18-55mm lenses. We shall re-visit the work, after all the water dries up in a few days. Thank you for reading about my experiments, please let me know what you think of my accidental artwork in the images.

Culture and Heritage, Life, Living, Stories

The 2014 Afrovibes Festival

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Celebrating the end to Apartheid in South Africa 20 years on 

13 Oct to 8 Nov

http://youtu.be/J0_UV_i4QPk

The City of Birmingham, United Kingdom, welcomed the festival this week from October 21 to this Saturday, October 28.

This year’s festival bringing the very best of contemporary South African theatre, music, dance, film and culture to the UK
marks 20 years since the ending of apartheid and the building of the new South Africa. 

Afrovibes brings to UK, ten productions at 17 venues in 13 cities of England, Scotland & Wales. Afrovibes is a European focused  presentation of contemporary performing arts from South Africa. The festival scouts for and programmes topical African performing arts productions. These productions promote the exchange of knowledge and practice between European and African artists and theatre makers. 

History of Afrovibes

Since the festival began in 1999, Afrovibes has developed into a multidisciplinary arts festival which takes place in both the UK and the Netherlands. It connects arts and culture from South Africa with European audiences, bringing talented emerging and established African artists and their work to European venues.

Founded in the Netherlands, the festival is now a valued addition to arts provision in the UK, having been always supported by Arts Council England.

The first UK edition of Afrovibes (London, Birmingham, Manchester) took place in 2010. The second, much larger festival was in 2012, and was presented in Cardiff, Nottingham, Liverpool, Lancaster and Hereford as well as the three original cities. In 2014. Newcastle, Swansea, Bracknell, Edinburgh and Glasgow will now be added to the list.

Artistic Direction

The Artistic Director of the Afrovibes festival is the South African director / actor James Ngcobo, who has recently taken on the role of Artistic Director at the Market Theatre. Ngcobo is also an award-winning stage, television and film actor both in South Africa and internationally. He was previously Associate Director of The Market Theatre and Creative Director of Sibojama.

http://www.afrovibesuk.com/