The artist in residence scheme has always been a key aspect of the Whitworth Young Contemporaries programme. Each year we employ young, emerging artists under the age of 24, to deliver workshops with young people and deliver projects within the gallery.
This programme develops the artists skills as social practitioners and to give them the next step on the career ladder. The peer-led approach often means there is a collaborative, symbiotic nature to the relationship between the artist and young people and the young people are inspired by someone who is not too much older than themselves.
In lockdown 3.0 we recruited 3 very different artists to work with us. This included Helen Farley who explored augmented reality and coding; Polly from Westweaves, an artist an designer who led us through brand identity and how best to use social media to develop your practice; and finally Josie Tothill, a social practitioner who’s issue based sessions examined our place in history and the role of art and statues in the world around us.
We invited each artist to write a blog post to share their experiences of being artist in residence with us. Here, emerging artist, curator and workshop facilitator, Helen Farley tells us about ‘Whitworth Augmented Reality at Home’.
Since lockdown began, I have been diversifying like many other artists and using this time to test/develop new skills and learn different software. When galleries and museums closed, I really missed going and viewing art, as well as having conversations with friends about it. Through learning how to use augmented and virtual reality software I have been leading workshops as well as designing virtual art spaces, where artists can send across artworks to be placed in a virtual exhibition. After designing, curating and coding the virtual space we had a networking event via Zoom to talk about art and just having something to look forward too.
I thoroughly enjoy leading workshops in-person and online, the process of learning new skills and then introducing/supporting others to see their art practice in new ways is something that I really enjoy. In the sessions I encourage exploration, no pressure environments where everyone can just enjoy the process of exploring and testing what they can do without a predetermined outcome.
Facilitating workshops on Zoom can be challenging, but there are always pros and cons to anything. The main aim throughout the sessions was to create a friendly and relaxing atmosphere, where conversations can flow via audio or through the chat. Throughout the sessions I was able to share my screen displaying the teachers account to oversee everyone’s creations. This was a great way to offer support/problem solve together, as well as giving the feeling of being in an art studio/shared space and sharing ideas (making it feel more as though we are in one space rather than all in separate homes).
One of the highlights after the sessions has been seeing members of the Youth Collective using augmented reality in their own practice and artwork. Seeing your artwork in different environments can help to generate new ideas and take your artwork in another direction or back into reality/physical making in a different way.
Thank you very much for having me be a part of the Young Artist in Residence online programme at The Whitworth Art Gallery.
For more updates, photos/videos and more about my art practice you can visit my Website: helenfarley.co.uk or you can visit my Instagram: helen_elizabeth_farley
Gathering of Strangers 