Art Harvest
2020
A cooperative art drop installation distributing more than 300 art prints to the university community.
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Curated and coordinated by Angela Budden, in collaboration with participating student and staff creators. Art Drop was one of three projects that I delivered for CREATE, a festival celebrating creativity at the University of Newcastle, Australia.
Participating creators: Keighley Bradford, Harsimranjeet Singh Brar, Angela Budden, Sophie Elinor, Bea King, Alice Kjoller, Tara Louis, Phoebe Metcalfe, Beau Preston, Wayne Thompson -
CREATE, Callaghan and Newcastle campuses, University of Newcastle, Australia
About the project
Art Harvest was a collaborative installation where students and staff shared printed versions of their artwork with the University of Newcastle community during the 2020 CREATE Festival.
Building on a similar project from the year before, Blind Lucky Charms, this project focused on giving away free art to brighten people’s day. The gardening theme was chosen as a simple way to reflect how a university helps people learn, grow, and develop.
The installation presented individually packaged art prints arranged in rows inspired by cultivated garden beds. Over five days, visitors could encounter the installation, walk through the rows, and select a blind-packaged artwork to collect free of charge.
Collaboration:
Art Harvest made it easy for more people to be part of the festival without needing to create a full project themselves. I invited staff and students to donate digital artworks through an online form.
In total, 10 artists (including myself) contributed 15 original artworks. Each work was reproduced as a limited run of 20 high-quality A4 prints. Every print was credited with the artwork title, artist name, and contact details, helping to promote and provide visibility for each contributing artist.
Installation Design:
A total of 300 prints were produced, each individually sealed in blind packaging to create a sense of surprise and discovery for collectors. The works were presented in four ‘garden bed’ style arrangements, referencing the project’s growth theme, and enhanced with subtle green lighting.
To maximise visibility and engagement, the installation was relocated daily to different high-traffic areas across campus. This rotation allowed new audiences to encounter the work each day, with all prints consistently collected by the end of each installation period.
