Audacity comes in handy when you’re making art – or setting up an artist space. Karen Fleming and Olivia Turner founded the DOK Artist Space with fellow ECA graduate Daryl Mckee, which houses exhibitions and offers studio space to up to nine artists at a time in Ocean Terminal.
We caught up with Karen and Olivia about the Death or Glory exhibition and art workshop they’re putting on as part of the Audacious Women Festival.
Q1. You’re putting on an exhibition during the Festival, and running a couple of associated art workshops. Can you tell us a bit about the idea behind the Death or Glory theme?
1/We thought the Audacious Women festival would be a great chance to get women into our studios in Leith to explore their own creativity . Perhaps these women enjoy art as a pastime but have never had the confidence to show work publicly that they have produced, maybe their friends and family don’t realise they have a hidden talent for drawing or painting. Perhaps showing work and being in an artists environment may encourage the women to continue with an art class or even fulfill a dream of studying Art.
Influenced by the exhibition Death or Glory, which covers varying art forms such as painting, sculpture, performance and sound, should excite and encourage the participants to be bold and adventurous in what they produce themselves.
Q2. Who are the artists who are going to be included in the main exhibition?
We’ll be showing work from the following artists:
- Lynne McBride
- Karen Fleming
- Emily Fong
- Mirja Kop
- Jen Ouson
- Rowan Paton
- Hazel Powell
- Aylson Stewart
- Jennie Temple
- Olivia Turner
Information about these artists can be found on our social media.
Q3. What was the brief you gave them? What kind of response did you get?
Death or Glory is an exhibition of artworks by professional female artists working to the brief of being audacious. The artists have interpreted the brief in their own personal way and we look forward to seeing the finished pieces hanging in the exhibition space.
Q4. What can people who come along to the workshops expect? What type of art will they get the opportunity to do?
The women that come along can do pretty much whatever they like. We will supply basic materials such as paper , paints, pencils but we also encourage them to bring their own preferred materials or even a piece of work they may have already started at home. The main exhibition will be open to the public for a week with the final weekend culminating with an exhibition by our “audacious women” who will have produced their own artwork with us.
Q5. Do women need any previous experience or particular artistic skill to come to the workshop?
All levels of ability are welcome and we would hope that we can encourage some participants that are just wanting to have a go at something new!
The exhibition is free for the duration of the festival. Sign up to the workshop here.