Covent Garden Market and TVDSB Collaborate on New Outdoor "ARt" Project!
Emily Stage and Andrew Gunn of young & free press visited Covent Garden Market in downtown London recently to highlight a new collaboration between the Market and Thames Valley District School Board.
Professional mural artists are set to work with local Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) students to paint a series of picnic tables for Covent Garden Market in downtown London! Over the next six weeks, London-based artists Evond Blake (MEDIAH) and Hawlii Pichette will paint one table each, and guide elementary and secondary school students to paint six others. The tables will be returned and placed outdoors at the Market later this spring.
As an innovative twist, London-based EXAR Studios has been engaged to build an augmented reality (AR) experience for the setting, bringing to life elements of the picnic table-top designs in their AR app Engage ARt! This is exciting not only for the artists and TVDSB students who will be painting the tables, but also for the young people who built the tables through the skills training program at Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) in London.
Coordinated by TVDSB Innovation and Experiential Learning in collaboration with Covent Garden Market, Andrew Gunn Consulting and young & free press, this project is the culmination of a series of recent community-connected learning opportunities for students.
“We are thrilled to be able to make this opportunity available for students,” comments Laura Briscoe, Coordinator – Innovation at TVDSB. “The pandemic has prompted a lot of adjustment and innovation in how we deliver education and experiences for students. With the support of community partners, we have been able to organize a series of inspiring collaborations, all aiming to connect locally and empower students to help shape the future.”
“We are so excited to be a part of this wonderful community collaboration to showcase the beauty and talent within our City!” notes Amy Shackleton, Coordinator of Communications, Social Media & Events at Covent Garden Market. “Despite the challenging times, this proves that once a community stands together, great things can happen! The picnic tables will become a part of the Market and integrated in the many different experiences that happen here, from our weekly Farmers’ Market to community events and festivals once COVID allows, or simply our customers enjoying the artwork as they meet up with a friend for lunch or coffee! We are thankful to Andrew Gunn for welcoming us to be a part of this project. We cannot wait to see the works of art by the TVDSB students and London-based artists Evond Blake and Hawlii Pichette.”
“Our team has thoroughly enjoyed the process of working with TVDSB staff to generate meaningful learning opportunities for students,” adds Andrew Gunn, President of Andrew Gunn Consulting and young & free press. “We are extremely excited to have MEDIAH and Hawlii Pichette work directly with students through virtual sessions to imagine designs for the picnic tables and assist with the painting process. The team at EXAR Studios will activate elements of the designs in augmented reality, building a brand-new experience for visitors. We are deeply grateful to the staff at Covent Garden Market for working with us to make this special project happen! This is a wonderful example of community collaboration in difficult times.”
Evond Blake is a Canadian multidisciplinary visual artist who has worked under the pseudonym MEDIAH for more than 25 years. Based for a long time in Toronto, he moved recently to London where he has continued his practice blurring the lines between post-graffiti and dynamic abstraction. Blake’s work consists of weaving traditional street art forms with painterly techniques and mixed media printmaking using many forms and approaches found in digital art and design. Heavily inspired by avionics, mechanical engineering and schematics, the artwork glorifies and captures the essence of speed, motion, dynamism and force to create movement on the image surface. Blake’s artwork provides the viewer with not only the glorification of speed relating to the thirst for a faster and more streamlined world, but also the unavoidable repercussions of collision, disaster and chaos. Last year, he completed a series of spectacular murals in St. Thomas, part of the ongoing ‘Track to the Future’ mural project.
Hawlii Pichette (or Urban Iskwew) is a London-based visual artist whose practice includes painting, contemporary and traditional forms of beadwork, and more recently large-scale, mixed media sculptures. She is of both Swampy Cree and French-Canadian ancestry. Her work is deeply influenced by her culture and reflects her experiences and perspective as a First Nations person, and is identified as having a Woodland style. Pichette is one of three artists who painted stunning murals last fall in Market Lane, the alleyway that connects Dundas Place to Covent Garden Market downtown. This project kicked off the ‘Forest City Playground’ in London, a series of new public artworks in the city inspired by the Carolinian Forest ecosystem.
London is one of the largest urban areas within the distinctive Carolinian Forest region of southwestern Ontario. While London is regularly referred to as the ‘Forest City’, the connection between the urban core of the community and the surrounding natural environment does not always feel tangible. The potential is there to emphasize this connection by blending traditional and contemporary media, events, arts, culture and recreation, and making the whole process a lot of fun! The picnic tables at Covent Garden Market will continue the Forest City Playground theme, emphasizing the Carolinian Forest zone and inviting viewers to consider the role of human beings in shaping the culture of cities within the wider ecosystem.
For additional information, please contact:
Andrew Gunn
e. gunn@andrewgunnconsulting.ca
c. 519.709.5227
Notes on EXAR Studios
EXAR Studios is a digital creative technology company dedicated to improving cities and communities. To learn more about EXAR Studios, please visit www.exarstudios.com
Engage ARt is an augmented reality app showcasing local arts and culture and sustainable, smart tourism. Website: https://engage.art
Notes on Covent Garden Market
Established in 1845, Covent Garden Market is a 7-day a week Market located in the heart of Downtown London offering an abundance of food, services, a local farmers’ market, and an array of cultural festivals and events. Find more details at https://coventmarket.com
Notes on Andrew Gunn Consulting and young & free press
Andrew Gunn Consulting focusses on connecting private and public sector partners to support community projects that transform the culture of urban and rural areas in southwestern Ontario. Our in-house media outlet, young & free press, features teenagers who report on local news and events, contribute ideas for new projects, and then share all the stories continuously on social media. Recent public art initiatives include the $300,000 ‘Track to the Future’ mural project ongoing in downtown St. Thomas, as well as the ‘Forest City Playground’ murals in downtown London. For more information, please visit www.youngandfreepress.ca
