Rolf Harris takes on John Constable
live from Trafalgar Square in Rolf on Art - The Big Event
Ìý
Â鶹ԼÅÄ ONE, Sunday 26 September
2004, 7.00pm
Ìý
It took John Constable nearly five months to paint The
Hay Wain in 1821.
Ìý
Now Rolf Harris and hundreds of artists have just one
day to recreate the famous painting currently on display in The National
Gallery, London.
Ìý
But that's not all. Multiply the size of the canvas
several times to a gigantic 30 ft by 20 ft – the size of a London
double-decker bus - and you start to get the picture.
Ìý
Join Rolf Harris live from Trafalgar Square as he hosts
one of his biggest art challenges yet, Rolf on Art – The Big
Event.
Ìý
Broadcasting on Â鶹ԼÅÄ ONE on Sunday 26 September, Rolf
on Art – The Big Event launches a new series of Rolf on Art, focusing
on Great Masters.
Ìý
The Hay Wain was painted by John Constable, an artist
who spent his career creating poetic expressions of his native Stour
Valley.
Ìý
Over the course of programme, Rolf will provide an insight
into the life of this great painter and find out how a sketch of a horse-drawn
cart in Flatford, Suffolk led to one of the country's most famous and
well loved paintings.
Ìý
With live links from Flatford itself, on the river Stour,
local artists from ConstableÂ’s birthplace, and three generations
of the Constable family will make their contribution to this modern-day
Hay Wain.
Ìý
Back in London Rolf will lead nearly 150 artists including
school children, doctors, train drivers, botanists, and a few famous
faces, as they race to re-create Constable's masterpiece.
Ìý
The teams of artists have only a day to complete their
canvas – which will all come together to make the 144 piece jigsaw,
revealed at the end of the live television programme.
Ìý
During the course of the day, visitors to Trafalgar
Square will also be given the chance to get involved in the creation
of the painting and help Rolf by trying their hand at painting some
of the canvases.
Ìý
Rolf himself is relishing the prospect of picking up
paintbrushes with hundreds of others: "Art is something for everyone
to enjoy in one way or another.
Ìý
"All you need is passion and inspiration, and I
hope that through this event we will pass that on to the viewers watching
at home.
Ìý
"I can't wait to join artists of all styles to
work on one of the most ambitious paintings I have ever attempted in
my career."
Ìý
The complete painting will be unveiled just before the
end of the programme in its special frame outside The National Gallery.
Ìý
Viewers will have to tune in to Â鶹ԼÅÄ ONE to see whether
Rolf and the artists succeed in their mission.
Ìý
Rolf on Art – The Big Event forms part of Art on
the Square, a collaboration between the Â鶹ԼÅÄ, the National Gallery, the
National Portrait Gallery, the Mayor of London and the Campaign for
Drawing's Big Draw.
Ìý
In a day of free activities and events there will be
plenty to inspire everyone to paint and draw.
Ìý
Sunday 26 September also sees the launch of the Big
Draw 2004.
Ìý
This – The Campaign for Drawing's annual centrepiece
– is now the biggest free art event in the UK.
Ìý
In a carnival atmosphere, leading artists, architects,
illustrators, cartoonists, dancers and unicyclists will join forces
in a drive to get the nation drawing.
Ìý
The Â鶹ԼÅÄ will be hosting its own free events with a chance
for young and old to paint their own postcards of Trafalgar Square inspired
by Turner, add their self-portrait to a gallery of visitors' faces inspired
by Rembrandt, and create their own version of Bruegel's The Peasant
Wedding Feast.
Ìý
There's even a chance to adorn Botticelli's Venus with
seashells and seaweed as she stands in all her splendour in one of Trafalgar
Square's fountains.
Ìý
Over in The National Gallery and the National Portrait
Gallery there will be free events for all, including talks on Constable,
silhouette workshops and themed guided tours.
Ìý
There's plenty of time as well to visit the original
Hay Wain with extended opening hours at the National Gallery -
doors stay open until 9.00pm on Sunday 26 September.
Ìý
Finally, after the people's Hay Wain is revealed in
its entirety, the new version will be projected nightly, along with
the original, onto the front of the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing
for one week.
Ìý
Will Rolf's recreation of The Hay Wain match up to the
original?
Ìý
There's only one way to find out... watch Â鶹ԼÅÄ ONE on
Sunday 26 September. Paintbrushes at the ready.
Printable version