HIVE PROJECTS - Rochdale Feel Good Arts Festival 8- 16th July 2011

Its not everyday you see an art festival in Rochdale but last month their was one, called the "Feel Good Arts Festival" and might as well be considered to be the debut of Hive Projects, a recent art gallery that opened in Rochdale's Wheatsheaf shopping centre. Being from Rochdale, l wasn't expecting much but to my surprise it was good.

Their where five projects set up around the town centre, one is a big pixelated painting of the Mona Lisa dubbed the "Mona Lisa Banner" hanging at the top of Yorkshire street (it ain't a art festival without doing a revamp of the most overrated painting in history).

In the middle of Rochdale's main shopping centre, their was "Utopia" where the public is invited through discursive drawings and writings with the artists to develop on what is a Utopia and then transcribe that imagery onto canvass paintings, this not just painting but a performance for that the work is a work in progress that will constantly change by the public input on the theme. I thought this project created a fun atmosphere for that the artists where on edge of projecting the public's imagination.

In the Wheatsheaf centre their was an artist called Lucy McChrystal Plimmer who's project titled "Exquisite Drawing" was leading people to into the drawing process known as 'exquisite corpse' which was adopted by the surrealists in producing images and narratives by association, their was also a video project but sadly l didn't see it because of it only being shown on certain days and times.

The one project that stole the show was the "Heads" project in the heart of the Hive gallery space.

One of the drawings from Karen Lyons “Furies” exhibition.

For this exhibition, Karen writes the following;

“The Furies are 3 sisters of classical mythology – avenging monsters charged
with the punishment of those guilty of crimes against the natural order of
society. They are particularly associated with the punishment of the breaking
of oaths (lies), and for violations against kinship, interpreted here as the
destruction of the caring infrastructure of society; as the violation of the
matriarchal or feminine order.
The Furies are depicted in mythology as completely foul – aged women with
dogs’ heads, bats’ wings, black skin, hair of snakes; sometimes appearing as
swarms of insects. They are foul smelling and ooze vile substances from their
orifices.
As recognisable entities, the Furies (furiae, meaning madness) are produced
here in drawings and 3 sculptural heads, not as simple illustrations but as
metaphors for the external expression of inner rage.”
- Karen Lyons

The open space was the perfect way to have an insight into Lyon's work, a work of not just a depiction of classical mythology but human nature aswell. Alongside this was a series of ink drawings of heads by artist Paddy Matthews and downstairs a whole lot of art made by local artists.

Overall, this was a nice taste of the local cuisine, and l sure hope the Hive Gallery will still continue to work in Rochdale or even expand for years to come. Ill be sure to check out their newly upcoming

  event...

For more information on The Hive gallery and input at the Art Festival, visit their offical website at http://hiveprojects.tumblr.com/.

-//Wayne