A Brush with Brent
Mall Galleries
Tuesday 27 July - Sunday 1 August 2004
Eight year old Monique Barton pointed shyly to her self-portrait: thick strips of white jump out from the apple red background, creating her hair, her eyes and her cheeks. While she contests the portrait doesn't hold much similarity, the likeness is evident. Barton's brown hair, pulled up and to the side, echoes the white spiked hair of the picture, stylistically driven from a mirror, a bit of masking tape and a covering of red spray paint.
Her portrait, coupled with a classmate's, hangs as a part of the FBA's A Brush With Brent program, which brought art education programmes and workshops to six schools in deprived areas of Brent. The students studied famous and upcoming artists, and learned techniques and methods to create similar pieces, including printmaking, sculpture, watercolour, and sketching from photos.
Their pieces were then framed and hung on the walls of the Mall Gallery, and a celebration ensued. At the opening on Monday the 27th, the gallery was filled with swarms of small children, balloons, face painting, various flavoured crisps and sweets and a slew of admirers. The pieces themselves reveal a strange sort of childhood wisdom, derived from pensive portraits, contemporary prints of objects like peppers (coupled with an exclamatory 'Hot!') and the contorted faces of porcelain masks. It seems that although many of the children are learners, they are certainly not novices.
Barton has grown to like art, after attending the workshops and programming, and she looks forward to continuing in her favourite mediums, sculpture and painting, "because they're fun and exciting."
- Megan Retka
