Refractive Pool is a project exploring contemporary painting in the Liverpool area through events, exhibitions, print, and an online presence. The Project is led by Liverpool based artists Josie Jenkins and Brendan Lyons. Check out the website here www.refractivepool.com
Refractive Pool has spent many months carrying out studio visits to local artists, featuring conversations on its blog and earlier this year the project delivered a ‘Contemporary painting in Liverpool Symposium’ in partnership with Liverpool Hope University.
Refractive Pool is now going into print and has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help make it happen. Head straight over to the Kickstarter page for great rewards to suit all budgets. Or read more about the book project below.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/refractivepool/refractive-pool
Refractive Pool needs your support!
The aim of the Kickstarter campaign is to produce a book that will not only act as a snapshot and lasting document of Liverpool’s current community of artists, but will also be an exciting, creative collaboration between the different disciplines of painting, photography and poetry. As artists themselves, project leads Brendan Lyons and Josie Jenkins are passionate about sharing the vibrant art scene in the City with a wider audience; revealing what a diverse group of people these artists are and equally, just how varied and wide ranging their output is, while still remaining under the umbrella heading of contemporary painting. The book will not only help to strengthen the sense of community amongst artists, but also allow the general public to find and acknowledge this important part of the cultural fabric of their city.
The Book
Refractive Pool will be working with over 40 artists to produce a dynamic and creatively executed book, showcasing Liverpool based artists who make painting a significant part of their artistic practice. The book will present a diverse range of artists at different career points, who are working in and around Liverpool at this moment.
Each artist is producing a new painting for the book, which will be combined with a photographic portrait of themselves using an innovative technique to produce a single image that will represent them and their work in a unique way. This will give the book a common theme that will run throughout, yet at the same time use the individual creativity of each artist to give every image its own visual character, enabling the variety of painting styles and personalities within the group to be exhibited.
Although the content of the publication will be heavily image based, putting an emphasis on the visual, it will also include original writing. Most excitingly it will include a new text by Liverpool born poet Paul Farley. He will be writing on the dual subjects of painting and Liverpool. Paul is currently in the process of writing this exclusively for Refractive Pool and it will take the form of poetry and/or a prose essay and will add a new chapter to the catalogue of works by this award winning writer.
Why make this happen
This project aims to raise the profile of the City’s contemporary painters, strengthening their networks, career pathways and sense of identity. It will raise public awareness of the breadth of painting practice taking place in Liverpool and will be the ‘go to’ document for anyone looking to explore the artistic fabric of the City. It will also provide a visual record and legacy that has often been missing from the recent history of the area. It will increase opportunities for these artists, contributing to their career development, highlighting them to local and national arts professionals, including curators, as well as potential buyers.
Supporting artists’ communities is not just about directly funding individual artists to produce work. Support is incredibly effective when it takes the form of encouragement, recognition and appreciation; making artists feel that they belong to a community and acknowledging that they have an important role to play in the cultural fabric and identity of a place. If you want to show artists that you are interested in what they do and appreciate what they bring to life, then backing this project will do exactly that. When a place shows pride and interest in its artists, it is hard to overestimate just what a positive impact it can have on those artists moving forward.
Through the Covid-19 pandemic, artists have been unable to organise events and exhibitions, with limited platforms to show their work and engage with the public in a safe way. Bringing together a large number of artists in collaborative action, while at the same time reaching a larger public audience, is needed more than ever at this time. Refractive Pool’s book exploring Liverpool’s contemporary painters is the perfect antidote to help rejuvenate the City’s local art scene.
Help Refractive Pool to make this book happen and be an active part of the project, with your name printed in the book as a thank you.
CHECK OUT THE REFRACTIVE POOL KICKSTARTER PAGE with great rewards to suit all budgets, including small works donated by artists at very special prices.