Visit the portraits of visual artists in the making

Tuesday 28 January 2014, by Julia Duchemin, Louise Jacquet.

All the versions of this article: [English] [français]

At last ! Here they are ! Atelier 231 is proud to welcome in its walls the four UK students from the Bachelor of Street arts of the University of Winchester and the four French students from the art and design school of Le Havre and Rouen (ESADHAR).
Under the watchful eyes of the company Les Plastiqueurs and their teachers, the French and UK students have been working together to devise the scenography of the Fish & Chips festival.
Since the beginning of the week, this collaboration has taken form through the completion and the installation of the set ! We are looking forward to see the grand total !
Explore the portraits of those who imagined a dream scenery for you !

Juliana

Could you introduce yourself? Tell us who you are?
I come from Germany and I study street arts at the University of Winchester because it’s the only course of this kind in Europe. And I’m also a clown.

Tell us about your involvement in this project. What are your missions?
We are four students and we are visual artists. I am a wood carver and my teacher incited me to participate in this project.

How do you feel about this exchange? What is it teaching you?
I find this absolutely fantastic! The possibilities are different in France and in UK. It’s really interesting to have 2 whole weeks to focus on a single project.

Nicki

Could you introduce yourself? Tell us who you are?
I am a visual artist and I study street arts at the University of Winchester.

Tell us about your involvement in this project. What are your missions?
This is my first opportunity to work with visual artists in a professional context. I work on the construction of the giant props.

How do you feel about this exchange? What is it teaching you?
I am extremely happy to work like that with professional artists. Originally, I come from fine arts and my school used to be really small. It’s brilliant to be able to work in such a space. There aren’t any similar structures in England.

Chiradet "DRUM" Phuban

Could you introduce yourself? Tell us who you are?
I am an arts student, I study street arts in Winchester. My speciality is the technique, mostly video and the management of artistic projects. I am also a dancer.

Tell us about your involvement in this project. What are your missions?
My main mission is to understand the artistic vision of French visual artists through the way they work and build elements for the scenography. I could learn new skills for my own project in Winchester.

How do you feel about this exchange? What are you learning from it?
It really is an important professional opportunity, learning from the festival artists.

Hattie

Could you introduce yourself? Tell us who you are?
I study Street arts at the University of Winchester. I am one of the four students from this course that are a part of this big project.

Tell us about your involvement in this project. What are your missions?
I am working on this project as a visual artist. I am here to learn about different techniques and about French artists.

How do you feel about this exchange? What are you learning from it?}
I am really looking forward to starting the installation. I am really happy that we are all working together on this project, it’s enriching.

Elliot

Could you introduce yourself? Tell us who you are?
I am from the arts and design school in Rouen, in 3rd year. I specialise in drawings and volume works. It’s the person in charge of the metal and clay workshop at school that advised me to work on this project, that I could be interested..

Tell us about your involvement in this project. What are your missions?
My job is to dress up and fill up the giant props. I’ll also be in charge of the sound effects.

How do you feel about this exchange? What are you learning from it?
The problem with exchanges is that there is always a language barrier, but it’s just a matter of time before this barrier is gone. It’s really interesting.

Antoine

Could you introduce yourself? Tell us who you are?
I am a fine arts student from the arts and design school, in 2nd year. I mostly work on sculptures.

Tell us about your involvement in this project. What are your missions?
I mainly work around the scenography, the preparation of the festival. I have mostly been working on the devising of the structures and on the aesthetic design.

How do you feel about this exchange? What are you learning from it?
It’s all very friendly because we all find each other working on a common subject which is the scenography in the context of the preparation of a festival. It’s very interesting because we all share the same passion. There is the language barrier, but I believe that when we love what we do, we find ways to communicate.

Lola

Could you introduce yourself? Tell us who you are?
I am a fine arts student from the arts and design school in Rouen, in 3rd year. Right now I am in placement, learning about scenography with Les Plastiqueurs on the Fish&Chips festival.

Tell us about your involvement in this project. What are your missions?
I help with the construction of the props for the scenography, mostly the lights.

How do you feel about this exchange? What are you learning from it?
It’s really a fascinating exchange. Even though I don’t speak English very well, we still manage to communicate through our common work, through what we do. We can draw, gesticulate or show our own work to the others. It’s true that this is a really rewarding experience. It’s so interesting to talk with students from arts school from other countries.