The Gown Student Newspaper at Queen's University Belfast

ARTS: Pop down to PS2 for some flowery creativity

Accidents make for the best discoveries. On my way to an exhibition at the Belfast Printworkshop that has a friend’s prints on display, I was unable to find a parking space and so turned up late. Unfortunately everyone had left. They were to be found standing outside PS2, a gallery on Donegall Street. Inside, the gallery was packed to the rafters with flowers and people concentrating hard on the plants in front of them, drawing, painting, taking photos, making videos and creating sculptures.

BY BEN FINCH

Plant Drawings! is an unusual exhibition that requires participation. It is inspired by Lee White’s stall of perennial flowers at St. George’s Market, springtime and a long history of horticultural drawing by the artists such as Monet and Van Gogh. You pick a flower pot, pick up some paper, attempt to represent them and in return you keep the flowers. A simpler and more fun idea is impossible to find.

It is an exhibition of interaction and exchange and that changes the rules of what an exhibition is. There is no standing around, trying to discern what ideas so-and-so artist is trying to represent or even what the art is. Instead there is the reward of a feeling of pride, a large smile and a pretty potted plant that can be put in your garden and will grow year on year. The artist/spectator boundary is well and truly smashed.

Plant Drawings! takes place at PS2 on Donegall Street and runs until the 3rd July. Drawing workshops for all ages and talents will be taking place at PS2 and St. Georges Market. A normal exhibition of the artwork created will happen in early July at St. Georges Market and PS2. For further details visit www.pssquared.org.

Tags: Ben Finch, Gown, newspaper, qub, queen's university, student, The Gown

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 5th, 2010 at 1:37 am and is filed under Arts + Ents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.