Filling the awkward gaps in our world with art
Issue #34 🤝 last chance to vote on our next Quest theme.
THE QUEST DIGEST by Creative Quests is a treasure chest of ideas & stories exploring what it means to live an illuminating, creative life. Delivered when inspiration and creativity strike. Subscribe to receive each issue or send to a friend in need of a creative boost.
Dear Questers,
Sam here. The votes have been flowing in for our next Quest theme in January. It’s a close call 😳 We’ve extended the voting deadline till 23:59pm GMT tonight!
💭 Awkward Gaps 🤝 Creative Acts
Last weekend was one those glorious types where you reach Sunday evening feeling rejuvenated. Like you’ve given your spirit a whizz through a soda stream. Lightly sparkling!
This year, me and my partner moved to a small, full of life, seaside town called Margate, in the south east of England. In the last 5-10 years it has really cemented itself as a beacon for creatives and artists. It’s why we moved here. A life experiment in changing our creative ecology.
I think you’d struggle to find a small town with more artists, galleries and studios per square foot than in Margate.
This weekend we hopped between the Turner Contemporary, Tracey Emin’s artist residency opening (she’s a local!), Navot Miller’s enveloping, technicolour life paintings and most notably Liminal Gallery.
Of the four, Liminal Gallery is without doubt the least immediately striking. In fact - it is the smallest bricks-and-mortar contemporary art gallery in the UK.
It’s a slice of a space. The term ‘three’s a crowd’ feels like it was made for these walls. Despite the limited wall space - the exhibition showcased 24 contemporary artists!
As if this tiny room wasn’t enough - there is an even more awkward, prestigious space in the gallery reserved for special exhibitions…. ‘The Cupboard’ is a 2ft x 2ft triangle cubby hole in the corner. Currently inhabited by Mercedes Workman’s brilliant exhibition of painted tiles ‘Turner’s Female Contempories’. Female artists making great art the same time as J.M.W. Turner - whose work was overlooked because…well… they were women.
The name of the tile collection is a play on words of the ‘Turner Contemporary’ - the very large institution art gallery which is opposite Liminal. Has a small cupboard tucked away in a corner ever packed such a punch? Not to my knowledge.
Being at Liminal Gallery invoked a different kind of inspiration. Usually it’s the art on the walls that I come away thinking about most - not the gallery as an artistic statement itself. This small, funny shaped, liminal space - was packed with life. I found myself wondering...
Imagine if we filled the awkward gaps of our world with art?
Imagine if we filled the in-between moments of our days with creative acts?
In this weeks links I share some projects I think embody these imaginings in their own way.
I’d love to hear any other examples or ideas you have in the comments!
I feel a challenge coming on…
A round up of illuminating discoveries from our world…
🎨 Ben Wilson aka Chewing Gum Man - paints murals on pieces of discarded chewing gum on the floor. I have seen him in action - lying on the ground on one of London’s busiest bridges. Once I noticed one gum mural… I started seeing them everywhere!
🌲 Japanese Botanist Dr Akira Miyawaki invented a groundbreaking planting method that allows rich, biodiverse forests to grow very quicky (about 18 months) in the size of a tennis court. They are called Tiny Forests and they are becoming a very popular way to rewild urban spaces.
💒 German artist/researcher/explorer Jan Vormann is filling the crumbling cracks of our world with… lego.
✂️ Three kilometers south of the village of Berkåk, Norway, population 930, on European route E6, between the bend in the road and the bridge over the creek, you will find the Scandinavian Collage Museum.
Finally…
This week, Andre 3000 of Outkast fame, took one of the biggest creative left turns in recent music history, ditching the rhymes, and releasing an instrumental, experimental flute album.
He said it was ‘literally the way the wind blew me’.
Andre’s lesson?
Be More Kite.
🪁✨
Until next time,
Sam x
Quest Guide / Founder
@saaamfurness
THE QUEST DIGEST by Creative Quests is a treasure chest of ideas & stories exploring what it means to live an illuminating, creative life. Delivered when inspiration and creativity strike. Subscribe to receive each issue or send to a friend in need of a creative boost.
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