Art Project - welcome stranger

At the draw_drawing_2 exhibition at the Foundry Joe Schneider did my face sketch. This is what it was all about (see below). Also check his blog http://pagesfromtheeveryday.blogspot.com/

welcome stranger
welcome stranger - now open for invitations and collaborations
welcome stranger is an ongoing drawing project that invites strangers to have their portrait drawn. The simplicity and openess of this initial invitation creates the basis for an enjoyable and relaxed exchange. This simple hospitality also creates a space to dwell on the complexity and ambiguity of our relationship to strangers and the ideas of knowing and wanting to know the other. These meetings produce a gallery of strangers that are the evidence of this brief meeting. They testify to the value of this brief exchange and leave up to the viewer the question of whether they are more than superficial renderings of a face seen for a few minutes. They also allow a questioning of our philisophical, psychological, social and cultural responses to the ideas of otherness and strangeness.
welcome stranger will take place in any space where it is possible to create a sense of invitation to strangers. This invitation is created by the display of a sign reading welcome stranger and a selection of drawings from earlier sessions. The drawings that are made in that session are gradually displayed with the sign. The sitters are offered a reproduction of their portrait via email.
I am open to invitations for places to go and people to draw (weddings, farms, cities, offices, shops, hairdressers, carparks, benches). Please contact me with suggestions and collaborations.