A Portland-based art group promotes bad art

Grace Korman, a woodworker and artist, used a Sharpie to draw a bird’s nest in one corner of a large canvas cover draped over two tables. Under the Bad Art Maine tent in the parking lot of Hi-Fidelity Brewing, he filled the bird with many shades of gold.

“Do you want to spoil my bird?” he asked. Daniel Freedman was playing on the other side of the table and immediately said yes. “I know that’s your favorite part,” Korman said.

Freedman added red eyebrows and accents to make the bird angry, and the two laughed at the cartoonish result.

Hudson Gootkind, 6, walked up to the tent with shy confidence, followed by his two adults. He surveyed the flock of sweet pastel birds already crowded into the canvas. As the eight adults around him drew, he gripped the hard black pastel and boldly outlined what appeared to be a humanoid bird.

As he filled its belly, he proudly announced, “It’s a penguin.” When he finished, both of his hands were covered in pastel dust.

“Little kids are fearless,” Freedman said, smiling as he watched Gootkind work.

The Bad Art Club, hosted by Bad Art Maine, was dedicated to making art accessible and enjoyable for anyone in any situation. There are no rules, and everyone is encouraged to participate in the community pieces. Of course, the birds were the theme.

In group meetings, members create crafts that promote connection and emotion. Sometimes, they pass a piece of paper, each adding it in turn. Often, they will work together on a large canvas, using markers, colored pencils, pastels, watercolors, acrylic paint and sewing. Most art supplies are provided.

Freedman, who lives in Scarborough, says he started Bad Art Maine with anti-perfectionism as its ethos. He struggled with severe image block. He was fascinated by sculpture while growing up in the Orthodox Jewish world of Philadelphia, but by the time he graduated, he had lost hope in creating things. He knew he was not alone.

He said: “It’s sad when you see honest and kind people feel like they don’t deserve to express their opinions.

Freedman, 28, has spent the past seven years discovering his love for art. He described giving up art as a rare form of recovery. He said he “refuses to let the world take art” from him. During the summer, he exhibited more than 40 pieces – a selection of watercolors, oil paintings and mixed media works – at the gallery at Oak Street Lofts, most of which he created over the course of months. the last eight.

“I just pulled back a little bit,” Freedman said. “Part of it was Bad Art Maine. It gave me permission to sit down and make a picture without worrying about it.”

Struggling with his perfectionism, Freedman began leading a group he called Making Bad Art last summer to help others on their journeys. He framed it as an art rehab.

The group talked about art and did projects together as well as individual work. Freedman encouraged people to think of art “as a way to communicate and express yourself, not just for yourself, but for other people.”

“Art is the core of it,” he said.

He created the group to make that vision more accessible, he said. The idea was to have a free space for people to create.

The first meeting was held last September, and from October to May, the group met weekly, while Freedman taught Social Studies full time at King Middle School. Over the summer, the group switched to event-based gatherings, such as under a tent in the Hi-Fidelity parking lot.

Korman, a recent bird artist, said professional artists make up half of those who come. As an artist, he said, he appreciates the encouragement to make dirty art and experiment with styles.

ADDITIONAL CREATION

Gretchen Nelson, a computer science teacher at Portland High School, started going to group meetings when she moved to Portland last September as a way to meet people and get creative. He has traveled more than a dozen times.

He says: “I used to do a lot of art when I was young, but I fell into it.” The group reunited him with the idea that “the point of art is fun.”

Over the summer, Freedman added musicians to the mix, with the same basic idea: Just have fun. On June 29 and July 20, Bad Art Maine hosted the Really Good Summer Concert Series from 2pm until sunset at Congress Square Park.

“Musicians like to play music and have an audience, and people who like to make art like to listen to music,” Freedman said. At the event, musicians created art with Bad Art Club participants.

At least one member of the Bad Art Club crosses national borders to be a part of it.

Anthony Letts, who lives in Conway, New Hampshire, said he was “infuriated by the community,” has been to six or seven meetings and likes to see new faces each time.

“Anyone can feel at home there,” he said.

In the fall, the Bad Art project goes to Spain. Freedman will be teaching English and American culture part-time in Madrid, and when he’s not working, he plans to set up a tent in the square. In the meantime, the team’s loyal fans will continue to keep it alive in Maine.

“Some of it is universal,” Freedman said. “People are interested in creating.”

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