Feilding invited to participate in collective work and Take a Line For a Walk

Take A Line For A Walk is a new initiative at the Feilding and District Art Society.

The entire community of Feilding and its surrounding districts have been invited to take part in a series of inspired art works.

Take a Line For a Walk was the brainchild of Feilding Art Centre secretary Eris Newson, an experienced art tutor who has studied in art therapy, and there was an open invitation for the whole town to participate as a collective.

The concept was that there was no concept, other than picking up a pastel or a brush and see what happens next. No planning, no prescribed technique. No rules. No expectations. No themes. No limits.

Anything could happen, and you get the feeling that's the whole idea, to discover what the collective has produced when the final whistle blows. The only objective was to fill the canvas.

Feilding Art Centre manager Karis Evans said Take A Line For A Walk also filled a gap available in their exhibition calendar. Rather than hurry or rush in an exhibition, it made sense to use the space creatively and involve the community.

And it created a community-focused space where whole families could enjoy art, an objective at the heart of the gallery itself.

Artists were encouraged to work side by side, at the same time. The idea was to let your arm guide you across the canvas. It could be totally mindless: "a squiggle here and there" and she had found the experience meditative.

"You just let your arm guide you across the canvas ... pick a colour that makes you smile and let it flow on the canvas," she said.

There would be six canvas works in total. There was a whole suite of tools at the artists' disposal, but the most common medium would be pastel.

Take A Line For A Walk would be open to anyone to participate, every Saturday from now until April 9, when the finished works would go on display.

There would be a silent auction of the works on April 14. All proceeds would go towards more community art programming and initiatives.