Rubber ducks on display as East End artists showcase their work

Mile End art pavillion

The BAT Pack II art exhibition in Mile End Art Pavilion, Mile End Park, which began on June 29, includes a range of creative events, from live art and music to a large rubber duck display.More than sixty artists from around the East End are taking part in a major new exhibition in Mile End, designed to showcase the strength of artists on a LiveWork scheme in Bow and Poplar.

Organisers of the exhibition, which continues until July 10, said they wanted to provide a platform for artists on the Bow Arts Trust LiveWork scheme to showcase their work – whether painting, film, sculpture, design or installation.

Pic: Ollie Harrop. Corinne Felgate installing rubber ducks

Corinne Felgate, an artist who worked on an individual piece called “Nature vs. Nurture”, involving a mass of rubber ducks and based on a memory of hers said: “Much of my work explores the idea that one small change can transform something banal into something totally magical, or other worldly.

“This intervention is about nothing more complicated than a temporary transformation that as a minimum will prompt a smile or bewilderment and perhaps prompt visitors to the park and gallery to re-engage with their own latent mythologies and memories,” she added.

Matthew Krishanu, an artist and co-curator of the exhibition, said: “The LiveWork scheme helps artists to form new communities, and share skills and ideas. The low cost of the LiveWork studio flats allows artists to spend more time developing their own work”.

When asked what makes the Art Pavilion so significant, Krishanu said: “It is unique, beautiful, and an asset to the community. It’s a place that encourages artist-led exhibitions, and it is generating a dynamic programme of work”

As well as the LiveWork scheme, Bow Arts Trust also offers many programmes for children and young people, such as the “Creative Primaries Exhibition,” and is working in collaboration with Futureversity, an organisation that helps young people get new skills, with two art projects planned.

Krishanu added a word of advice to young aspiring artists: ‘“Organise your own exhibitions – there are many great spaces to show in. Believe in your projects and use the internet to promote them as widely as possible.”