Monday was my first day as an intern in the Street Art Museum of Amsterdam, and what I can say is that... It was pretty much a rollercoaster of events at SAMA! Let me tell you more about what happened…
As you might already know, the wall from the Speeltuin Square in the Nieuw-West neighborhood is repainted around every 4 weeks by the new artist that come from all over to refresh the area and give a new interesting touch to the square that has a playground and the Dock, an organization for local projects and activities. Last weekend, the museum was pleased to welcome two talented artists from Sardinia to create a new work on the wall: Daniela Frongia & Kikiskipi. This is how it looks :
A COMMON PROJECT:
These two artists came to work with the Street art Museum of Amsterdam as part of a project they already had called : CONTINENTE CREATIVO.
This project conceived and created by the Urban Center of Sardinia. It aims to enhance the artistic expression of the island linked to muralism and urban creativity. This project created several different activities to promote the contemporary artistic heritage present in the territory in order for it to become an instrument of storytelling and enhancement. It also develops a series of promotional actions locally and internationally, like they did at SAMA, with different Sardinians artists.
The two artists took around 3 days to realize this two-in-one piece. This was the first time when they have collaborated as well. Which was interesting because just before they began on Friday, SAMA had contributed to research by Utrecht University on street art and collaboration, which is a connection with Viennese Urban Art Festival "Calle Libre".
Last Monday, 9 March, was the first time people got to see the finished work, and the returning now for 5 years the annual visit from the Sothebys Art Institute in London had the chance to see the artists sign their work on the spot.
After the tour around Nieuw-West's collection of the street artworks, the students got back to the museum to have a traditional lunch, which SAMA prepares with local volunteers, and had the opportunity to have Q&A session in a friendly and sharing atmosphere with the artists and SAMA crew. It was very pleasant to be able to talk with the artists in a close way.
The day was not over yet!
After lunch, the two artists and their crew were invited to participate in a workshop with children in the Dock Community Center. DOCK is a place where children have the opportunity to access different kind of activities. The artists sat around a big table with numerous children and drew, painted and created all together. It was a real sharing and kind moment between both children and artists. Even though they didn’t speak the same language, it didn’t prevent us to dialogue with each other through the universal language of art.
A little resume of the workshop :
Meet the two artists :
Meet Daniela Frongia :
Daniela Frongia is a Sardinian artist using textile for art. Her process is to use yarn that she crafts herself to turn it into pieces. What can be surprising in Daniela’s work is that she grows her own cotton for example. Using this slow process of transforming raw materials into art is basically her art form.
Meet Kikiskipi :
Kikiskipi is an illustrator and wall painter based in Bologna. She quickly realized that drawing and painting could give her the opportunity to throughout all the different aspects of her personality. One characteristic of her work is that she does not draw or paint any faces details on her characters, which makes her work pretty unique.
The Street Art Museum of Amsterdam would like to thank you these two talented artists to have come in Amsterdam and have shared their talent with us, and Europe, Regional governments and professional enthusiasts who support and create Urban Art Centres that make knowledge sharing and culture exchange such as this - possible!