Students at Salem Visual and Performing Arts Academy in Virginia got a new teacher early this morning. Polish-born street artist Olek (featured in HF Vol. 29) known for her candy-colored crocheted installations, shared her talents with 30 lucky students in a special workshop hosted by Virginia MOCA. “It’s nice to be back in high school!”, Olek shared in an instagram post. “It was so worth to wake up at 7:15am to meet these amazing young individuals.” The workshop was held in anticipation of the artist’s free public workshop series as part of the “Turn the Page: Ten Years of Hi-Fructose” exhibition coming to the museum next spring. Olek does not shy from speaking out through her large-scale public works, most recently appearing in Santiago, Chile in support of gay rights. Her work at Virginia MOCA is part of a public art project supporting a new cause: to create awareness and inspire conscious dialogue about protecting our oceans and the animals within them. This massive, community charged project will be unveiled in Virginia Beach in conjunction with the opening of Hi-Fructose’s exhibition. As for the students at Salem High, they hope to continue their weekly workshops, and sneak in a Skype date with Olek from time to time.
Olek will be in Virginia Beach from today, October 13th through Friday, October 16th, and will host the first workshop at Virgina MOCA tonight at 6:00pm. For more information about the workshops and “Turn the Page: Ten Years of Hi-Fructose”, visit the museum online.
OLEK CHILE 2015 from olek on Vimeo.
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Originally hailing from Australia, now based in Los Angeles,