Image credit: participants in “Art in the Dark” in Zapopan, Mexico. Courtesy the British Council Mexico.
Indefinite Arts Centre x Contemporary Kids:
Art in the Dark Workshop with Andrew Harding
January 11, 2020 1-2:30PM
Contemporary Calgary is thrilled to collaborate with the Indefinite Arts Centre for a special edition of our monthly Contemporary Kids program. Artist Andrew Harding will lead this workshop expanding his practice as an artist with a visual impairment. By exploring the non-visual qualities of art making, Andrew, alongside IAC staff, will explore the way they work together to address colour and form in Andrew’s artwork.
This workshop is developed by Andrew with the support of IAC with the goals of expanding popular conceptions about visual arts practices as part of an “Art in the Dark” series. The workshop is also an important part of the advocacy work that IAC does, by putting artists with developmental disabilities in roles of leadership, we underscore some of the important contributions they make to our understanding of the arts.
This two-hour workshop will be made available to individuals of all abilities and all levels of art-making experiences. The workshop will accommodate up to 20 participants and all materials will be provided.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Andrew Harding explores a variety of approaches to artmaking including ceramics, fibre-arts, drawing and painting. As an artist with a visual impairment, Andrew’s artmaking often focuses on the tactile qualities of different materials. Using a variety of colours, Andrew draws series of overlapping figures and froms. For Andrew, each colour signifies a figure or personality from his community.
Andrew has participated in “10th Annual International Competition for Artists with Disabilities” in Phoenix, USA in 2015, IGNITE! 2013 Festival in Calgary, Canada. He recently created a fibre head piece worn in Momo Movement’s touring “Mind Palace” and represented Canada at “Trazando Posibilidades” in Guadalajara, Mexico where his artwork and this workshop contributed to international conversation about art and disability.
ABOUT INDEFINITE ARTS CENTRE
The Indefinite Arts Centre is Canada’s oldest and largest disability arts organization, providing artistic training, creation, and exhibition opportunities for people with developmental, physical, and acquired disabilities.
Every week, 300+ artists come through our 12,000 square foot multimedia studio and gallery space in Calgary. Working alongside talented instructors, our artists are supported and empowered to experience the entire artistic creation process – from conceptualization to exhibition.
