Update from November's meeting

Annabel has completed her tiny triptychs! Fashioned from the wedges she removes from the backs of her canvasses, individually decorated and bearing a miniature version of her paintings inside. The whole opus fits inside a modest-sized box.

Hilli brought along two dishes made from scraps of glass in her kiln. Not the greatest shots, but I wanted to get the light shining through the richly coloured glass. Here also a few of her 'jar melts' (my nomenclature). Anyone visiting Hilli's Christmas gift Open House will know that she's been very prolific recently and a whole family of fascinating jar melts has been created in a wide variety of colours and shapes.

Contributions from Annabel Mednick.

Borin's assemblages

'The eyes have it' (foil pie containers, Guinness can widgets, Co-op stir-fry container, coloured card, black paint, red dye)

'Death and the maiden 1' (DVD disc, yoghurt

pot top, shotgun shells)

Death and the maiden 2' (DVD disc, waste kitchen surface, shotgun shells, filler, Alkyd paint)

'Interior furniture' (medicine bottle top, ring pull, aerosol top, sponge ring, size indicator from clothes hanger, light bulb, crown cork, cassette and mixed media, spray paints)

Steve Joyce writes...

"The work was made with restrictions to make me create in a different way. There are six sets of images made from sets of 6 pages from discarded magazines, using one image as the basis for selective cutting through the whole lot, producing many interchangable parts. Each of the six images in each set were created from the parts but were compromised by the restriction that all had to say something different yet could not exist to the detriment of others; they all had to work successfully. Some sets where fairly easy to coordinate but others took days of reshuffling of the pieces. Initially the idea was to create the images to be made into sets of six containing one of each set and sell them as multiple packs, but after much work and pain that hardly seems right as others said if they are to sell for the price limit, so they will go as separate items, and I will produce concertina booklets from my images, in sets to sell for the price or under as appropriate." [4 sample sets of images by Steve]

At the recent AGM, we discussed the strange phenomenon of the rather beautiful mouldings and protective packaging which stands between us and 'stuff' we buy. Andrew held a tiny, perfectly formed, clear perspex moulding of four half-egg shapes in his palm. It reminded me of a recent photograph I took of a clear plastic container for four small tartlets as I washed it in the sink prior to recycling in the blue wheelie bin. Gemlike and glittering. Rubbish really.

First steps

Some members of the group have produced their first few pieces using all types of discarded materials. The following are by Maureen Galvani using packaging waste, collage and hand colouring.

The discarded made beautiful

An economic recession (global as well as national) might provide an opportunity to creative people like us. Art movements spring from these economic conditions (Dada, Abstract Expressionism etc.). After two 'glamorous', beautifully produced book projects by Freelance in the last five years, 'Blank page' and 'He opened his eyes...', could Freelance members participate in something less precious, more disposable?

Here are some of the ideas around which we will build a project:-

1. Waste produced by society; recycling of "useless" stuff (something which one member has been exploring since /blankpage) as a source material.
2. Discarded materials; interesting surfaces.
3. Miniature work.
4. Is there a need for a theme (e.g. The Alphabet) - or will the agreed structure of the project provide the theme?
5. Temporary work; cheap or free to create. Example: if we cut up a newspaper into squares, what could each member do with one square (we have the use of our photocopier to focus on printed content, produce images/multiples etc.)? Flat or three-dimensional?
6. Single items rather than multiples / published edition? Perhaps to be given away free? Option of taking photographs of pieces, producing postcards of them as collectables? Perhaps Waterstones, the Town Galleries and Mansion could sell them? Producing postcards might run counter to the spirit of the initial idea.
7. Could produce a pack of loose work.
8. Exhibiting the work. We intend to show the "work/s" in a gallery in Ipswich in 2011. The works will be affordable, adventurous (hopefully), in an "out-of-the-box" show which with the right launch/publicity should prove popular with those who "can't afford art".

Over the coming months members of Freelance will develop this idea, of  "The discarded made beautiful". The ongoing development will be reported on this blog.