Artists to harvest community connection

VISUAL artist Ryan F Kennedy is looking to explore rural life through the creative process with his new project bringing together art, expression, community, and the environment.

As part of his free initiative called Radical Fieldz, he’s looking to attract artists from what he calls the “golden triangle of creativity” between Ballarat, Woodend, and Bendigo to take part in co-creative sessions held monthly at Glenlyon.

The first session took place late last month with the program expected to run on the third Saturday of every month until March.

Kennedy said the project is all about giving participants a greater appreciation for their surroundings.

“I felt like there was space for an outdoor program like this, one that takes an approach that better represents the landscape and how we live our rural lives,” he said.

“I want to fill those gaps between the artist, the audience, and the work. I’ve tried to match the idea with a growing season as well.

“Every Saturday it’s artists just casually exchanging their ideas and skills and then there are some co-creative events based around our everyday environments.”

Radical Fieldz sessions will begin concurrently with the Glenlyon Market at the Glenlyon Town Hall from 9am to 1pm with a different artist presenting their work and practice each month.

Art installations will run from 12pm to 3pm that same day at the Glenlyon Community Dam and Park, the first of which saw attendees build a spider habitat made using nearby wood.

The program’s final session in March will see all the works created throughout the run displayed as part of a public arts festival.

Kennedy was inspired by avant-garde installations, Indigenous placemaking, and Japanese rural performance happenings from the 1960s when crafting the project.

He said the program isn’t just about involving artists.

“This is meant to draw in and cross pollinate with both artists and community groups,” he said.

“We’ve got Castlemaine Zen doing a meditative walk during the harvest day. I’m working with a gym in Daylesford and we’ll do a rather physical tractor pull that day too.

“As much as this is crosspollinating with artists, it’s also crosspollinating with the community. There’s an essentialness to art in our everyday life and that’s how we act, and view, and have abstract thoughts.

“It’s about instilling that into the community and empowering ourselves to be creative.”