An Introduction to Public Realm Art

Louise and Laura from FrancisKnight and artist Rona Smith will share their experiences of working in public art and discuss how an artist’s practice can be adapted for the public realm. They will look at the following:

• How and where to find public art opportunities
• What kind of language is required to present a proposal e.g how specific, vague, expressive, straightforward etc
• Submitting ideas for competitions that do not offer a fee (working for free)
• What is the best format to use for presenting an idea
• How to work with fabricators for the first time
• How to navigate health and safety and maintenance requirements, particularly when they compromise the artist’s vision

The workshop will be participatory rather than a talk or lecture. The style of the workshop will be fun, candid and hands-on and ideas will be elicited and discussed.

ABOUT FRANCISKNIGHT:

FrancisKnight is an award-winning public art consultancy, commissioning professional artists to create bold and ambitious artworks for the public realm. They partner with housing developers, architects, design teams, social housing providers and local authorities.

Founder Directors Louise and Laura first established FrancisKnight 19 years ago, following a career as Arts Development Officers curating a varied visual arts and education programme. Based in the South East, FrancisKnight continues to work nationally, collaborating with diverse artists and specialists, bringing new inspiration to clients and communities and sharing experience through their ever-growing public art portfolio.

ABOUT RONA SMITH:

Rona Smith is a London based artist living and working in Crystal Palace and knows the borough of Croydon very well. Her practice lies in sculpture and installation. She draws on her interest in heritage architecture, period design and sacred geometry to create works which reference to the history of their locations and the purpose of the buildings they inhabit.

Rona has completed several prestigious, permanent commissions across London including An Age, An Instant for The Crown Estate in Regent Street, Abeona at JCDecaux’s HQ in Paddington and North Elevation for the Lumen Centre in Bloomsbury.