Variety and Diversity in Art at Anima Event to save Biodiversity

Variety and diversity are the watchwords for the Anima Event at the Brockenhurst Community Centre New Forest on Saturday 30 September. This is most certainly true of the elements gathered together for the art exhibition which is an integral part of the event.

Digital artist Paul Windridge

Paul works in moving image and sound. He is a short film and music maker, exploring what we perceive to be reality then presenting it as something completely different. His visual work is centred on the atmospheric distortion of time and space - on ambiguity, experimentation and abstraction, in order to open up the possibility of multi-dimensional filmic universes, and to suggest there may be more to the world than most people imagine.

Having started his creative life as a painter he is as much concerned with the still image as the moving, and his desire is to be able to stop his films at any point and for that single one twenty fifth of a second still frame to be good enough to stand as a still image in it’s own right.

One-man exhibitions include: The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, The Barbican Centre, London and The Mermaid Theatre, London. Selected exhibitions include: Lancashire Artists, The Laing Collection and Manchester Academy.

His moving image work has been shown in various film and arts festivals, and galleries, including: Paris, St Petersburg, Berlin, Dublin and Zurich and in special events at Tate Britain, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and on BBC Big Screens nationwide, Big Screen Project Manhattan and at BBC Electric Proms.

Paul has created a number of very special digital images from photographs he took on a recent trip to Zambia. These will be available to buy as cards, posters and print with all proceeds going to No More Dodos. He has also created a film celebrating the work of a number of the contributing exhibitors at the event. This will be on continuous display in the foyer. As well as this he will be presenting an environmental film show at 3.30 p.m in the stage area.

Beau Townshend Patrick the Animatronic Sumatran Elephant

Beau Townshend is a free-lance SFX artist from Norwich, Norfolk with a BA Hons in the degree of Special Effects for Film and TV; majoring in animatronics, from Southampton Solent University.
He has worked on such films as Christopher Reith’s “Chain” and Darren Wards “Beyond Fury” as well creating various animatronic installations for music festivals across the UK, such as “Boomtown Fair”, “Symmetry Festival” and “No man’s land festival” to name a few. Beau is currently running a crowdfunding campaign to build a life-size fully functioning (walking) Sumatran elephant he calls Patrick. Beau plans to take Patrick on walk’s through various cities such as Brighton, Bristol, Norwich, London, Southampton, Cambridge and many more, to raise awareness for the plight of the critically endangered Sumatran elephant, whose numbers are rapidly declining due to loss of habitat and poaching.
Beau built the head of Patrick for his final major project whilst at university in 2016, and now looks to build the rest of him with help from public donations. Patrick will be working closely with the Born Free Foundation next year. He will be running a workshop to show just how Patrick was created and to allow young people to take the controls.

Geoff Francis - Dissing the Planet
In 1986 Geoff Francis set up and ran Animaline for Linda McCartney, Carla Lane and Rita Tushingham. When he resigned as a director four years later he resolved to commit his concerns and feelings about what we are doing to the planet and animals to canvas and paper.
Since that time he has published 10 books and has been shortlisted in Saatchi showdowns on five occasions. He has also had photographic work exhibited in the National Maritime Museum. This current collection has been drawn together specifically for the Anima Event. It is called 'Dissing the planet'. He takes an abstract expressionist eye to the theme using discarded materials (including paint) to create paintings and sculptures. Geoff is a co-founder of No More Dodos.

Elephant enthusiast, Susie Laan, will be launching the first two volumes of her children's books Eleph Ant and Queen's Birthday with profits going to the David Sheldrick Fund in Kenya to help orphaned Elephants and anti poaching initiatives.

In addition there will be video programmes celebrating the work of wildlife filmmaker Eric Ashby and playwright and poet Heathcote Williams. Eric’s photographs and Heathcote’s books will be available to buy.
There will also be a number of elephant themed images by several artists.
All the art and a huge range of animal artefacts and books will be on sale at affordable prices.

As well as the art exhibition there will be nearly 30 stalls, workshops, talks, films, and lots of good eats which won't cost the earth.
If you are in any way interested in animals and the planet we live on, this should be the day for you.
Put it in your diary right away!

The Anima Event will benefit the environmental charity No More Dodos, which uniquely uses Art and Sport to inspire individual action to bring about change for the good of the planet.

Entrance to Anima is a very affordable suggested donation of £2.50 per person and £5 for a family.

For all press and other enquiries please call Geoff Francis on 07581221462
Photo reference available.