OPEN CALL / REMOTE PORTRAITS

a project with Nelimarkka Museum - The Art Museum of South Osthrobothnia, Finland

Would you like to have a portrait of yourself painted by an artist?

Sign up for our fun project of Remote Portraits! The project is open for everyone and it is free of charge!

In our Remote Portraits project Francesca Vesprini, the current artist in residency of Nelimarkka Museum, will be painting remote portraits via webcam. Note: Instead of aiming at realistic portraits, the artist is interested in ”the energy” and “inner colours” of the person being portrayed.  See the way she paints here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B7BJdZPhxNf/?igshid=90bd4p258awz

One painting session will last 20 minutes. Portraits will be painted on the last two weeks of May. Reservations are taken until May 15th, 2020.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE?

In order to participate, you will need a computer or a phone with a webcam, plus one of the following programs installed: Skype, Messenger, or FaceTime. You may participate speaking either Finnish, English, Italian or Dutch.

1. Send an email to the address: vesprinifrancescapainter@gmail.com

In your mail, you should include:

NAME of the participant.

LANGUAGE you wish to use: English, Finnish, Italian or Dutch. (If Finnish, Francesca will redirect the email to Nelimarkka-museum.)

A QUESTION / A THOUGHT you wish the artist will share with another participant. (Voluntary)

The questions will be given randomly to the other participants and published anonymously

2. In return, you will receive an email with a LINK to a doodle calendar and your personal reservation NUMBER. Use the calendar and your number to book an appointment for a painting session.

Note: Reservations will be made for max. 50 participants, so please, act swiftly. A day prior to your painting session, you will receive an email to remind you of the date/time you reserved.

MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT:

Francesca Vesprini is an Italian-born artist living in Belgium who came to the residency of Nelimarkka Museum in early February 2020. Due to the coronavirus, her return back home has been delayed: returning to Belgium or Italy has seemed difficult. Due to the assembly restrictions, the workshops normally carried out by the Nelimarkka Museum and the artist in residency could not take place this spring.

Nelimarkka Museum is now organizing a project devised by Francesca, in which she paints remote portraits via a webcam. The project is open to everyone. However, its special regional target group is Southern Ostrobothnia: the Art School Eero (the Järvi-Pohjanmaa Citicens’ College) is involved in the project.

The project aims to create new connections between people during a coronavirus pandemic, when communication is limited - and many have become isolated in their homes. Establishing a connection here does not only mean a remote connection via the Internet. Painting a portrait is a way for an artist to connect with others mentally as well. Instead of a realistic portrait, the artist is interested in” the energy” and “inner colors” of the person being portrayed. Learn more about her thoughts for this project: http://www.francescavesprini.com/news

The project includes an exchange of ideas as well: the artist hopes that the participant will submit by email a question or a thought - arising from the corona situation or circumstances encountered - which the artist can share with another participant. The questions can be used to share and exchange experiences related to the situation, to reflect on differences and similarities in different cultures. NOTE: Questions, answers / reflections are voluntary - and the artist will publish these in her project only with the permission of the participant.

NOTE: A video may be made of the painting process, but the subject of the description is only the painting made by the artist - not the participant himself. The participant may, if they wish, paint a counter image of the artist in the session. The image can be included at a later stage of the project in an exhibition presenting the artist’s works. A digital copy of the finished portrait is made, which the participant receives for himself. It is also possible to get the original portrait for yourself. Prior to sending the paintings, the portraits will be displayed at one of the Nelimarkka Museum's exhibition sites: the exhibition will be presented on the Internet. The time of the exhibition and the method of publication will be determined in more detail later. The publication utilizes some of the museum’s channels, such as Facebook live streaming. Participants' information is disclosed in connection with the images only with the participant's permission.

The project has recived funding from The Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia.

About the artist: www.francescavesprni.com

About the works of Francesca: https://www.instagram.com/p/B7BJdZPhxNf/?igshid=90bd4p258awz

About Nelimarkka Museum and the residency program: https://www.nelimarkka-museo.fi/uk/index.html

Some impressions of my latest activities - click to enlarge

past exhibitions

Looking for a golden portrait?