ARTISM Exhibition

Today I’ve been to the ARTISM Official Launch Exhibition at Newcastle Contemporary Art. This is a ground-breaking exhibition showcasing the creativity and vision of autistic and learning disabled artists. More than and exhibition ARTISM is the launch of an ongoing movement, creating space for artists to sell their work, take on commissions, and build sustainable careers in the arts while celebrating difference as a driving force for innovation.

Aiden Dawson of Little Fire Arts with some of his pyrography work. Aiden also worked on the marketing for this opening exhibition.

Bryony Randall, another of the many artists showcasing their work at the exhibition. Bryony works in water colour paints then uses water colour pencils to add detail. After that she layers images to create depth of colour in some beautiful images.

Hannah Cook working on a drawing at the exhibition. Hannah explained to me the way she sharpens her pencils exposing about an inch of the lead. This is a technique she learned from one of her teachers and means she doesn’t need to keep stopping to sharpen her pencil and disrupt her flow. However the exposed lead can be pretty fragile so she needs to be careful not to break it.

Some very expressive mixed media art by Liam Austin.

I found this work by Unknown particularly fascinating. My son is autistic and creates art from dolls. I couldn’t get him to come to the exhibition to see it in person, however I shown him my photos and he was drawn to the framed work on the left. He liked the way the artist had used the feathers through the torso to represent “wings and little legs”.

Lego based interactive installation at the exhibition.