MK Gallery is pleased to announce the selection of artists Alicja Rogalska and Teresa Paiva to deliver its Frontline schools engagement programme over the coming 12 months. Frontline forms part of the wider Great War MK project, conceived and managed by the Arts & Heritage Alliance MK, to mark the centenary of the First World War and is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
During the coming year Alicja and Teresa will work with pupils from Hazeley Academy, Lord Grey School, Oakgrove School and MK Academy in Milton Keynes via workshops and visits to national museums and galleries to explore the question ‘How have artists used the visual arts to depict and interpret military conflict, historically and in the present-day?’. The project will culminate in an exhibition of their collaborative artwork in MK Gallery’s Project Space in June 2015.
Speaking about the project, MK Gallery’s Formal Learning Manager, Hannah Gaunt, said: “We are so delighted to have Alicja and Teresa on board with this exciting project to commemorate the centenary of World War One. We received many strong and impressive applications from artists wanting to be involved in ‘Frontline’ and the wider ‘Great War MK’ programme, but we are certain that we have selected two candidates with significant experience and knowledge of the subject area who will be able to expertly guide and develop the artistic outcomes with the participating school pupils.”
Alicja Rogalska has over 8 years of experience working in arts education and gallery settings, including interdisciplinary and research-based projects. Her practice encompasses both research and production, with a focus on social structures and political undercurrents. Many of her works and projects are context-specific, collaborative and have educational elements. She has an MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College (2011) and an MA in Cultural Studies from Warsaw University (2006).
Teresa Paiva is a multidisciplinary artist with over 10 years’ experience working with diverse communities in London on arts education projects, as well as working across galleries and museums to deliver artist-led programmes and projects. Her current practice explores the cross-over between new media and more traditional artistic mediums. She has a BA in Sculpture from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto.
The Frontline project coincides with MK Gallery’s autumn exhibition An My Lê (19 September – November 2014). Lê (b.1960) now recognised as one of the most significant photographers working in the world today, is a Vietnamese-American artist whose images explore the experience and culture of conflict, drawing on her personal history as a political refugee from the Vietnam War.