Queen Square is to be transformed into a magical “Forest of Imagination”, when a team of organisations and artists come together to stage a free 4-day contemporary arts event.
The Forest of Imagination will run from 15th-18th May 2015 and features a playful programme of installations, artworks and activities for all ages.
Designed by international landscape architects Grant Associates, The Forest of Imagination is a fantastical landscape and outdoor gallery – a ‘gallery without walls’ – showcasing a series of artworks and architectural structures.
Bath-based creative partners involved include children’s charity 5x5x5=creativity, award-winning architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, design studio Ideas of the Mind, Herman Miller Cares, Bath Illuminate, Carpenter Oak, Bath Spa University and The House of Fairy Tales.
Artists and designers already signed up to the event include Edwina Bridgeman, Jono Burgess, Jessica Palmer, John East, and students from Bath Spa University.
Alongside the outdoor gallery, “The House of Imagination” held at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution in Queen Square, will present a creative learning programme of workshops giving children and adults the opportunity to be immersed in creative enquiry alongside professional contemporary artists, designers and architects.
Penny Hay, Director, 5x5x5=creativity and Senior Lecturer at Bath Spa University, said: “We believe, and research shows, that creativity and imagination can enhance wellbeing and transform lives.
“The Forest of Imagination is an invitation to adults and children to come and explore their own creativity and imagination. We want to put Bath on the map as a constellation of creative activity.”
Andrew Grant, Director, Grant Associates, said: “The Forest of Imagination reinvents Queen Square as an artistic, playful world where the creative spirit of the city has fun with this familiar Georgian landscape.”
Chloe Richardson, Director of Product Management, Herman Miller, said: “The Forest of Imagination knows that everybody is creative, everybody is an artist.”
This is the second year that Forest of Imagination has been staged in Bath, after a successful debut in the grounds of Bath School of Art and Design, Bath Spa University on Sion Hill in July 2014.
Confirmed funders so far for this year’s event are Herman Miller Cares and Bath & North East Somerset Council.
The long-term intention of Forest of Imagination is to create a permanent contemporary arts space as a focal point for Bath.
This year the Forest of Imagination is partnering with the Save Childhood Movement to deliver a range of workshops and talks on National Children’s Day, 17th May 2015.
On Monday 18th May 2015 local schools are invited to take part in a series of workshops to support creativity across their curriculum.
For more information visit www.forestofimagination.com.