nancybrownstudio

“One sun, one world- many dreams” is the name of a project organised by Dr Barbara Piscitelli AM, and Out of the Box Festival. The exhibition will tour to China, and is part of the Out of the Box Festival at South Bank this year.

A magnificent box arrived at the preschool from one of the project sponsors, full of paints brushes, palettes, paper for use on the project. I was at the preschool for four weeks as one of 10 artists in residence across Queensland. Each week the children developed prints and paintings about what they do, where they live, and the future.

It is fascinating to see the energy pre school children have in their expression and artmaking. Often it is a filmic approach where the brushes and rollers, individual colours and interactions with each other tell the story that emerges within each piece, and often it is the roller or the brush that begins the narrative. Children naturally do something that from my observation only the most experienced of artists do: react to the moment in art. They notice exactly how the paint moves and falls and all the actions between paint and paper. They see with clarity what adults usually miss. Barbara recalled a child who carefully painted black all over a detailed picture, and when she asked why, the child replied “because it was night !”.

The little artists returned to their prints and paintings each week, allowing the development of layered work for the exhibition, and discussed the finished pieces for selection for exhibition.