Penelope Thompson is an Australian contemporary artist currently living in Korea. Her work includes outdoor and indoor installation art , performance art , and interactive community art events.
Community Art
Community art projects aim to make art accessible to the ordinary community. Frequently 'art' is perceived as consisting of precious objects (eg. paintings or sculpture) produced only by gifted experts, to be passively observed at a distance in a gallery or museum. However, community art endeavours to actively involve people in the creative process of art in a way that is meaningful to them.Penelope's community art projects in Korea have been based on themes such as world peace, personal creativity and responsibility, the environment, and cultural exchange.
One ongoing cultural exchange performance project in Korea is the 'Great Australian Tea Ceremony'. In this performance, Penelope boils the 'billy' and makes black tea in the Australian bush style, which is then shared with the audience. (see photo left) Another international ongoing community art project is the
'World Peace Production Room' .This is an interactive piece of community theatre where participants of all ages get involved in creating a knitted scarf symbolising world peace. This event has been held in many different cities in Korea since 2004, with the 'world peace' scarf growing longer all the time. The project will not be finished until 'world peace' reaches around the entire world - a length of 40.076 kilometers!
Please feel free to contact the artist via email if you are interested in having the 'Great Australian Tea Ceremony', the 'World Peace Production Room', or another community art project visit your location.
Community art is a powerful way of forging links between members of a community or between different cultural groups. One of Penelope Thompson's previous community art projects in Korea was 'The Beautiful Changwon Tree' project, held at the Sungsan Art Hall, Changwon, Korea in April - May, 2004.
In this project, the artist set up a bare-branched tree and invited members of the public to write positive messages on paper leaves and flowers about what they could do to make their city a better place. (see photo)
These were tied onto the tree which progressively became greener and more beautiful as more and more green message 'leaves' were added over a 2-week period.
posted 13/08/2009 by Penelope Thompson
Some links to some of Penelope's recent community art events
- July 12-20, 2009. 'Interchange' - installation and performance Matsushiro Contemporary Arts Festival, Nagano, Japan. Blog entry - "Interchange"- installation and performance, MCAF 2009, Japan.
- May 30/31, 2009. 'Making World peace' workshops, Chuncheon International Mime Festival, Korea. Blog entry - 'Making World peace' workshops, Chuncheon Mime Festival 2009
- April 11/12, 2009. 'Flower Power' - performance at Various Integrative Arts Festival (VIAF 2009), Yeouido Cherry Blossom festival, Korea. Blog entry - "Flower Power"- performance, VIAF 2009, Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival, Korea.
posted 13/08/2009 by Penelope Thompson
Quote:
They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.Andy Warhol.
