La Chronique de Marly of September 2021 talks about the Récup’Art workshops, led by Nicole King as part of her artist residency at the Excellence boarding school:
Boarding school: Récup’art with Nicole King – The eco-school of Nicole King, a recuperation artist
In a longère in its park, the Internat de la Réussite welcomed Nicole King, an ecologist artist, for a residency in a recuperation art workshop called “Nicole’s Eco-School”. This artists’ residency project, initiated by Heidi Labeau, director of the boarding school, enabled a dozen apprentice artists from secondary schools to learn about the plastic arts and ecology. and ecology. They made jellyfish out of plastic bottles, hedgehogs out of Japanese restaurant chopsticks, an albatross out of cardboard and a bottle of They made jellyfish out of plastic bottles, hedgehogs out of Japanese restaurant chopsticks, an albatross out of cardboard and a woolite bottle, a spider out of metal hangers, they painted fish on cardboard boxes, a bird flew out of a cage found on a pavement on the A bird flies out of a cage found on a pavement on the day of the bulky goods collection, a butterfly made of fabric samples lands on an old poster… The children also discover the painting and drawing techniques of the great masters: this year they were introduced to knife painting with Nicolas de Stael, and to prints with Max Ernst. For the end-of-year celebrations, they created art objects for their families by transferring works by Leonardo da Vinci and Odilon Redon onto recycled bottles and boxes. This innovative pedagogical project, combining science and fine arts, aims to raise awareness of the endangered beauties of art and nature that are no longer taught in the official curriculum. Nicole King presented her educational project “Art and Ecology” at her virtual conference at the World Youth Summit, which attracted great interest worldwide, and led to her being invited to present a Virtual Gallery at the Earth Action Hub (21-23 May 2021: https://fr.earthactionhub.org/profile/contact/profile), an international ecological and educational event. Nicole King’s work was presented at the World Conservation Congress, organised by the IUCN in early September in Marseille. This global event is held once every four years and for the first time in France in 70 years! Nicole King participated in the official programme with an exhibition of 35 militant paintings: “Plea for living water”, a large part of which was exhibited on the walls of the hall of the boarding school for two years. Nicole King offered a large oil painting diptych “Flight to Cyprus” to the Boarding School to thank Heidi Labeau and the whole team for their welcome during her two years of during her two years of artist residency. Her painting, which hangs on the walls of the hall, will continue to stimulate the interns’ reflection on the need to change our lifestyle to preserve biodiversity. On his canvas a seabird meets a polluting plane, their meeting on a coastal landscape of the island of Cyprus is a challenge. – Information: 01 39 17 27 70.
La Chronique de Marly, n°127, Septembre 2021, page 17
