Alice Walter's ‘End of the Rainbow’ review

This blog is a review for Alice Walter's exhibition, 'End of the Rainbow,' an exhibition that she created to display her artworks created on childhood trauma.

Alice Walter is a Worcestershire based artist. Her methods and medium used to produce her art are very varied, from collages to performance art. In March, I was lucky enough to visit her ‘End of the Rainbow’ exhibition as well as going to her artist talk where she spoke about her work and life as an artist. 

The theme of the exhibition was childhood trauma. She introduced her talk by explaining this and explaining some of the meanings behind her artworks. Two of her performance art pieces were displayed on old televisions and most of the rest were in frames on the wall. However, one piece was created on yellow duster cloths which I thought was completely unique and interesting. 

I have never seen live performance art before, but the television screens proved to be a particularly affective method of showcasing the work and immersing viewers. They made me feel as though I was watching it happen. In one of her performance pieces, she was dressed as a large gummy bear and playing with toys on a mat. This concept conveyed her childhood experience in a personal way and in fact, throughout the exhibition I thought that she was putting her vulnerable self on view to the public, which is something that I consider to be incredibly brave.

A sculpture made of baby cloths and other items relating to femininity or childhood was something that I found especially captivating. Walter explained that all the items it was made of were either bought from charity shops second-hand, or relics from her own childhood. She also mentioned that this aspect was very important to her because everything she uses or does in her art must have a story.

Later in the talk she spoke about her general life and career as an artist. She had an amazing education at top art schools and universities, and her artistic talent is highlighted by her top grades achieved.  One of the many inspiring things that she said in the talk was that living as an artist is possible. Many people have the view that working as an artist is not financially sustainable, but she completely debunked this stating that multiple of her friends have made millions from their artwork. Saying this was something that I admired because many young people have their artistic hopes and dreams crushed by the false belief that art is not a future-proof career path.

Overall, I loved the exhibition and thought that Walter did a fantastic job explaining the works and influencing people to be creative and not compare themselves to others. If you have not seen Alice Walter’s work, you must!

Author

freya hunt

freya hunt

Sixth form student, studying art, german and english. Currently completing my Gold Arts Award.

0 Comments

Post A Comment

You must be signed in to post a comment. Click here to sign in now

You might also like

Jean Joseph is one half of a creative partnership aiming to foster intergenerational relationships

Jean Joseph is one half of a creative partnership aiming to foster intergenerational relationships

by Sienna James

Read now