PAULA DO PRADO

Playdate

Playdate is the first joint exhibition by artist Paula do Prado and her five year old son Tomas Marinangeli. It is a celebration and reflection of the power of creative exchange to nurture connection, understanding and mutual respect. The exhibition includes a range of different artworks spanning the last five years. The stages of play development are referenced, from Tomas’ independent mark making, to their collaborative monoprints and papercut works, to Paula’s increasingly intricate and large scale fibre artworks. At times they work on their own. Sometimes they work side by side in parallel or associative play. Other times one or the other may take a more spectator role and watch the other making, but most commonly they are interacting in cooperative play. Whatever the play making involves, it is time together. Time spent negotiating materials, tools and space, experimenting with colour and texture. They make a mess, argue, work for 10 minutes or an hour, they compromise, they begrudgingly pack up and clean. Often they inspire each other. Tomas uses tools which ever way he likes, or he might not use them at all. Instead he’ll use his fingertips as a paintbrush, glue instead of paint or a shoebox lid for a canvas. For Tomas the recycling tub in the kitchen is like going to the art shop.

Their art making sessions have always offered a small respite from the adult/parent versus child power dynamics. While making art they are on a more equal footing, perhaps because they are both child-like in their approach and they can both relax about their usual roles. This exhibition marks an important transition time for Paula and her son. Tomas is in his first year of preschool and Paula is undertaking her first artist studio residency. With her studio no longer being at home, their joint art making is not what it used to be. This new reality of life, with its time and energy limits, means that their joint art making sessions are now relegated to school holidays and rainy-day weekends. Whatever the next phase of their joint art making entails, they will always have this body of work to look back on as a reminder of their shared creative experience.

Images: Paula do Prado & Tomas Marinangeli Playdate AIRspace Projects Inc 2018

Making Time workshops:

Saturday 4th and Saturday 11th August 10am-12pm

Facilitated by visual artists, Alex Falkiner and Paula do Prado, the Making Time workshops will expand on the concepts of play, collaboration and building mutual respect through creative exchange. The workshops aim to provide an opportunity for parents/carers and their child* to “make time” for each other and connect through art making. These workshops focus on experimentation, engagement with materials and non-tool based techniques such as wrapping, taping, knotting, threading, assembling and arranging. Rather than working towards a pre-determined outcome, participants will be guided through a series of process based strategies and techniques to create a memento of their shared creative experience.

Each workshop limited to 4 adult + child pairings (total 8 participants).

Bookings essential via Eventbrite, tickets $20 per pair (one adult + one child)

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/making-time-tickets-48297972536

*this workshops is intended for mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nannies, adult siblings or cousins and any other carers who have a close relationship with a child between the ages of 4 and 12 years of age.