Community, Learning, and Education projects

This page is under development

General information: I regularly work with creative organisations and educational establishments developing workshops for participants of all ages. I'm happy to discuss project ideas and concepts for workshops and engagement activities.
  • I hold a current, enhanced level DBS check, and have £5 million public liability insurance.
  • I hold a post-graduate qualification as an artist working with schools (Institute of Education, UCL)
  • I am a trained Arts Award Advisor (all levels, from Discover to Gold)
    For more details, please contact me here

2018

- Bow Arts:  Cross-school partnership focusing on SEN & digital engagement (details to follow)
- Children & the Arts workshop leader (Richmond Avenue Primary) for Focal Point Gallery
- Silver Arts Award leader/advisor     Focal Point Gallery

2017

- Art/Science day & teachers CPD for Northwick Primary School, Canvey - images & text to follow
- Guest Artist, Open Arts: Creative wellbeing sessions for BAME participants with mental health referrals - images & text to follow.Open Arts
- Mixing old and new tech        Teacher’s CPD session for ROH Bridge
- Silver Arts Award leader/advisor     Focal Point Gallery
- Home Education Group - session artist   Focal Point Gallery

2016

Harbinger Primary School (for Bow Arts Education)
“A Map of the Isle of Dogs”; collaged drawings converted to a digital map of the iconic river loop
“A Map of the Isle of Dogs” - digital imagery on dibond, 119 x 168 cm 2016
This project involved working with two Year 6 classes and teachers from Harbinger Primary exploring the history and identity of the Isle of Dogs. Using explorations built around different aspects of mapping; exploratory walks, drawing, cut-ups and collage, stories and poetry, the project gave students the opportunity contribute to a collective artwork leaving a visual legacy as they make the transition to secondary school.

“I have learnt and realised that there are small things on the Isle of Dogs that we see every day but we don't realise how special they actually are until we leave them”

The map incorporates layers – of history, children’s personal journeys, of contemporary life on the island, text and image. Now installed in the school's dining hall, it provides new pupils with an opportunity to explore their environment through someone else's experiences. The project was featured in the article The Art of the Island on the Bow Arts website.
Family Art Day; Focal Point Gallery (June 2016)
'The Peculiar People’ was an exhibition and event series tracing the history of ideological and social-political communal living experiments in Essex throughout the 20th Century to the present day. Building our own model Utopia was therefore an appropriate response.
To coincide with "The Peculiar People" exhibition, I collaborated with fellow artist Nastassja Simensky on sessions using drawing and cardboard construction to create an alternative vision of Southend - our own utopia. Bunnies, underground trains and ice cream shops proliferated amongst parks, houses, restaurants and schools.

Manorfield Primary School, for Bow Arts Education

I worked with Year 5 pupils to ask ‘What does it take to master an art?’ with a focus on glass. To better understand everything they could about glass they made camera obscuras, water microscopes, a stained 'glass' window from sugar, sandblasted patterns onto drinking glasses, bent glass rods using a candle, and fused real glass pieces in a microwave to make a large artwork for the school. The group also worked with glass artist specialist Shelley James at her studio and visited a glassblower’s workshop.

If you want to become a master at art, you need to focus, use your imagination. Also you can be happy when you make a mistake, because your work might be more interesting. (Daniyal, year 5)

2015

"Schools (not quite) out for Summer" for Random Dance (July 2015) - details to follow

Bow Arts/Chesterton School Art week

Working with eight year groups for half a day for each class, this project supported the Chesterton Primary School art week. Years 3-6  worked with an art and design technology focus, linked to the Art and Design Skills map and ‘mechanisms’; the children looked at kinetic art, and created their own ‘drawbots’ – mechanical drawing machines, which created abstract marks.
"..the Chesterton Project...was brilliantly fun, inventive and expertly delivered."
Rob Smith, Bow Arts

"I learned that old things aren't always old enough to be thrown away, you can use them in different ways"

The sessions gave the children ways of linking their knowledge (about maths, science etc) to a real life scenario with a goal to reach (getting their machines to draw).

"This is the best art class ever!"
River Crouch Festival - work with Riverside School, Hullbridge, and Collingwood School, South Woodham Ferrers (April-July '15). See separate project page via link above.
Daylight Light Graffiti - Library Fest (April '15)

This technique was initially developed for work with deaf young people, but proved so successful it has been extended - in this case for 6 workshops across West Berkshire for Library Fest 15, working with over 100 participants to achieve Light Graffiti imagery on some very sunny days.

2014

Family Day - Focal Point (Nov 2014)

Drawing on Hannah Sawtell’s exhibition ‘#STANDARDISER’, this workshop referencing the virtual world using physical materials, including repurposed toys for drawing and mapping.
QEOP Summer School

A partnership managed by Space Studios and the Legacy List.
More details to follow
Click to set custom HTML
WYWH digital workshops for LibraryFest in West Berkshire; working with adults and young people we created our content using photography, video, collage, image manipulation software, and storytelling to create the history of the Theale Library Band - "the hardest working band in showbusiness", with the toughest (and most surreal) riders. Mixed with music and animated in Popcorn Maker, you can follow the band to find out more about it's members, outrageous demands, and the notorious stage-diving incident....(you can play from the file on the right or follow this link).
"Dyspraxic Me" workshop

Held at Shape's Westfield Gallery during October, this workshop co-incided with Dyspraxia Awareness week. Members of the "Dyspraxic Me" support group created images relating to their experiences of dyspraxia, which can affect co-ordination, planning, and motor skills, amongst other impacts. The images below were selected by individuals to demonstrate how the most seemingly everyday of objects can become an obstacle requiring time and energy to negotiate, or which can support and liberate.

2014 (continued)

In the Band for Focal Point Gallery's Family Arts Festival
Inspired by Jemima Stehli’s exhibition ‘Endears me, yet remains’, participants were transformed into members of our model band by mixing collage, digital and photographic techniques (with Alan Hockett).

Get Creative with Photography: for NDCS at Sedgehill School. Lewisham

2013

"Southend Sunshine" workshop for Focal Point Gallery's Family Arts Festival, mixing sun printing, relief printmaking and sound (with Stuart Bowditch and Lee Sullivan)
Get Creative: 3-day residential for NDCS
Rochford Art Collector Series - workshops with Great Wakering Teen Cafe, creating the seventh artwork for the series  - TrailR - using a mix of digital (GPS, scanning, photography) and traditional techniques (drawing, collage, tracing).
Play Southend - Targeted workshops within the larger Play Southend project, developing a collective vision of Southend created by its communities, that can then be entered and played by people all over the world.
Driving Inspiration - workshops for Creative Bucks project linking Paralympic sport, the arts, and diversity
On the Line  - The Lost Property Office, developed with Treetops School (see project page)
NDCS Family Fun Day: Hybrid animal puppet making. More images here
Catalyst: Teacher training day for the Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts; workshop for KS2 teachers focusing on engaging children in visual arts.

2012

Georingtones: Workshop element of the 'Sparks Will Fly...' commission, a digital treasure hunt based on the popular geocaching game. Caches are planted at three locations across Essex; as well as behaving as normal caches, inside Geocachers will find a code. This can be used to help play and create ring tones made up of sounds recorded as part of the project.
Intergen East: Intergenerational project for Studio 3 Arts
intergen_east_small.pdf
File Size: 8267 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
NDCS Art Taster: One day experimental art workshop for young D/deaf people, hosted by ZINC for the National Deaf Children's Society
2011
- Project 2013, Southend High School for Girls: Linked to their 'Project 2013' centenary I worked with students over three days to develop and record interviews with old girls, culminating in the creation of the Locker Listening post, a prototype installation to stimulate project development. The installation contains extracts from the interviews focusing on social and attitudinal changes which paralleled uniform change.

  "…Although it never happened to me it was rumoured that Mr Senger would measure the length of your skirt when you were kneeling down, it had to be so many inches above the ground or something…they had to be long enough, there were no short skirts...

    "...I used to have to wear a green and white stripy shirt, and the students next door used to call us 'Pacers', because you used to get these green and white stripy spearmint sweets that looked the same in those days...
Exhibited at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff and also at Essex Record Office
-  Launchpad sound and Music day for deaf young people (Z!NC)
2010/11  Intergen Intergenerational photographic project across four London Boroughs, for Studio 3 Arts

2010
- Double Trouble film project, Grove Wood Primary (Creative Partnerships). Six week project with Stuart Bowditch to make a stop-motion animation and soundtrack with year 2 and 4 students at Grove Wood school in Rayleigh, Essex. You can see the full animation here
- Artist of the Future ECC one-to-one mentoring project with young artist Emmie Hubbard. Read more here
- Drawbots & Music Interactive toy & music workshop for RAD (with Ruth Montgomery)
- Projection Mediabox  funded project with deaf teenagers (Focal Point Gallery)

2009/10 Tillingham Borrowers, St Nicholas Primary, Tillingham (Creative Partnerships)

Puppet in car
Design/construction project working with two classes (years 1 and 2/3) from October 09 to March 10. Drawing on the Mary Norton book 'The Borrowers', children explored the school outdoor environment using photography, design, camouflage, construction, and team working to look at their world from the perspective of tiny borrowers. The project also allowed staff to draw on concepts of recycling, communicating, reading and writing.
              
"I didn't know we were actually learning because it was so much fun."


2009   City of Culture Bid Participatory facilitation project for Metal’s consultation exercise
2009  Crossover Project  CP media/science project, Colbayns High School, Clacton
2009 Out of Africa  CP partnership with musician Matt Smith building a musical modular sculpture, St Clare’s, Clacton
2009 Discover Arts activities for children with disabilities and their siblings

2008/09    Breaking the Rules MediaShed workshops with teenagers exploring youth subculture

2008  Being Connected  Video Sniffin’ workshop with Stuart Bowditch, (Science Museum)
2008  The Story of Circe  CP project with artists Rob Lee & Bea Owen, Shorefields Clacton
2008  Essex Here and Now  Creative art and media workshops for 14-19 year-old refugees (Theatre Resource)
2008  Discover 13  One-day arts event for 5-13 year-olds with disabilities
2008 Living with Less, Building More Partnership with scientist Karen Hansen at St Josephs, Dovercourt, for Creative Partnerships; project focuses on building creatively from discarded and recycleable materials
2008 Play it Safe Four-day Drama/visual arts workshops for young people in and around Basildon (for Theatre Resource/Family Mosaic)
2008 Get Going Workshops for metal health service users (for Theatre Resource)

2007 Change my World Digital art project for young deaf adults with learning difficulties (Theatre Resource)

2004-06 ‘Being Here’ (Southend) 3-year social inclusion/regeneration project

2003 The Big D Digital art/drama for young adults, Theatre Resource, Essex

2001 Getting Noticed Lister Community School (for NDAF; evaluation CD available)

1998 Picture This Video discussing BSL gallery talks (Whitechapel)

1998 St Paul’s Way School St Paul’s Way School, Mile End Collaborative project with Hew Locke (Whitechapel)

1998 Blanche Neville School Blanche Neville School, London 12 week digital media project (Photographers Gallery)

1998 Photographers Gallery Digital art day workshops/evening classes.

1997 Fortismere School Fortismere School, London Private Language, Public Places’ (public art project).