PARK

PROMOTING ARTISTS | REDEFINING KULTURE

PARK is a network organized by a group of young Calgarian artists to promote and support fellow young artists in the community. The city is growing, and we are excited to step up and take an active role in helping and shaping how culture will grow in urban Calgary.

From outdoor art sales to indoor fashion and art events, we're making PARK an active verb. The organization of our events is non-profit, with the opportunity for 100 percent of the profit of sale going to the independent artists taking part in the PARKSALE and PARKSHOW.


website: http://ourPARKonline.com
twitter: http://twitter.com/ourPARKonline


check out past entries and features by hitting the archive button on the top right.

Jun 24 2009
(Roadsworth, Street Installation Shallow End Date: 08 Montreal, QC) While big and colorful tags can be eye catching, I’ve always been intrigued by street art that is simple: a pictographic or typographic work that surprises you by speaking right at you from an unexpected wall or curb.  I lived in Montreal for four years, and while I was there I was able to see for myself the street installation work of Roadsworth, aka artist Peter Gibson, who has been creatively working his stencil art into road markings around the city since 2001. While he initially got into trouble with the law for his art, since 2006 he has been comissioned by the city to do exactly what he was almost punished for— playfully and ambiguously using public spaces to challenge both the boundaries of where art should officially be located, and the leeway given to corporate images in society versus the persecution of graffiti art. I had personally little knowledge of the potentials of street art beyond what I’d seen in graffti tags, and had yet to hear of Banksy or Neckface before I saw my first Roadsworth piece on the street one day a few years ago. Stumbling across a crosswalk turned into a giant footprint, I was pleasantly surprised to see street art that didn’t declare the artist’s personal ego, but rather worked with its surroundings to look up at the passerby with an ambiguous wink. Either claiming or being given a space that is shared with the public is integral to the process of growing art and culture in a city. Just like guerilla gardens that pop up around cities beautify their surroundings without the complications of overhead costs and red tape, public art space is a chance to show that the beauty and provocative capabilities of art do not necessarily have to be contained in a sanctioned space. PARKSALE feels really strongly about this, and that’s why we purposely sought out a free space that the University of Calgary is generously letting us use to set up our art and designs. A park is the perfect place to play, wander, and take time out. So is art. Put them together and mix in the public, and you’re sowing the seeds to grow culture and new ideas in that space. Forging into new territories is one of the key functions of art. What Roadsworth’s simple yet whimsical and thoughtful art proves is that it doesn’t take a lot to mix up the way we see our everyday lives— we just need the space to do it. Hey, we have a park- come see what we’ve done with it this Sunday! (Ahhh, sooo soon!!!)

(Roadsworth, Street Installation Shallow End Date: 08 Montreal, QC)

While big and colorful tags can be eye catching, I’ve always been intrigued by street art that is simple: a pictographic or typographic work that surprises you by speaking right at you from an unexpected wall or curb.  I lived in Montreal for four years, and while I was there I was able to see for myself the street installation work of Roadsworth, aka artist Peter Gibson, who has been creatively working his stencil art into road markings around the city since 2001.

While he initially got into trouble with the law for his art, since 2006 he has been comissioned by the city to do exactly what he was almost punished for— playfully and ambiguously using public spaces to challenge both the boundaries of where art should officially be located, and the leeway given to corporate images in society versus the persecution of graffiti art.

I had personally little knowledge of the potentials of street art beyond what I’d seen in graffti tags, and had yet to hear of Banksy or Neckface before I saw my first Roadsworth piece on the street one day a few years ago. Stumbling across a crosswalk turned into a giant footprint, I was pleasantly surprised to see street art that didn’t declare the artist’s personal ego, but rather worked with its surroundings to look up at the passerby with an ambiguous wink.

Either claiming or being given a space that is shared with the public is integral to the process of growing art and culture in a city. Just like guerilla gardens that pop up around cities beautify their surroundings without the complications of overhead costs and red tape, public art space is a chance to show that the beauty and provocative capabilities of art do not necessarily have to be contained in a sanctioned space.

PARKSALE feels really strongly about this, and that’s why we purposely sought out a free space that the University of Calgary is generously letting us use to set up our art and designs. A park is the perfect place to play, wander, and take time out. So is art. Put them together and mix in the public, and you’re sowing the seeds to grow culture and new ideas in that space.

Forging into new territories is one of the key functions of art. What Roadsworth’s simple yet whimsical and thoughtful art proves is that it doesn’t take a lot to mix up the way we see our everyday lives— we just need the space to do it. Hey, we have a park- come see what we’ve done with it this Sunday! (Ahhh, sooo soon!!!)

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