WORKSHOPS

I’m an experienced and enthusiastic workshop artist working across the age range (pre-school, care homes and hospice), specialising in using junk and surplus materials, with clients of every ability and hue of outlook. I love this work because it combines creating, experimenting, sharing and learning.

I’ve worked for most councils, education authorities and art galleries in Yorkshire: Leeds City Art Gallery (as a  member of their art team), The Mercer (Harrogate), The Manor House (Ilkley), Cartwright Hall (Bradford ), Piece Hall (Halifax ) and also at National Trust venues. 

Please get in touch for more information on my workshops.

CHILDREN'S WORKSHOPS

I have worked with musicians and story tellers to provide an across the board creative experience for whole schools. I have taken school assemblies on my various  work -methods  (exploring  and experimenting  with media - particularly discarded materials); demonstrated art techniques  (e.g. for  staff inset days) & mentored other artists. 

Time permitting I make props and prompts to illustrate a theme or technique.

Examples of workshops : (using junk resources so little waste) Art lab-stage sets; Massive mask making; OTT badges; illustrated recipes; interactive murals and playground paintings. Customising and transforming of clothing and interiors including soft furnishings.

I have Enhanced DBS full PLI and NSPCC child Safeguarding training.)

ADULT WORKSHOPS

I particularly love working with intergenerational groups and also with adults in rehabilitation. Classes resulted in brilliant junk sculpture. I have worked within mental health settings and with sensory impaired clients. I taught art and design at The Cathedral Centre, Bradford (2006-8), with possibly my most mixed age and interest group of clients ever. The group included pensioners with cancer, a teenager with Asperger’s and a drug dependent man who had just come out of prison. He was a whiz at sewing and graphics. Finding something that suited all of their diverging interests was a brilliant and fulfilling challenge indeed!

Further Information

DRAWING in my case means  using  a myriad  of  experimental materials   ,alongside  more  traditional media.I have been  an artist on Big Draw  projects including at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park  ,Wakefield and at Cartwright Hall ,Bradford ( National  Children’s Art day).
I I loved  working on The Campaign for drawing (Active Learning / Power Drawing ) professional development  programme,  for Artforms , Leeds  ,2009.A brilliant project to promote and celebrate using creativity (and  humour ) right the way across the primary school curriculum.   The outcomes are collated in a  Q-Art book and CD.

I was one of the artists involved in ‘Story Quest’  with Quentin Blake , 2004 ( funded by The Millennium Commission) and  ‘In The Land of Illustration’ , 2005, for The Prince’s Foundation for Children &  the Arts.

 I  have worked on Gifted and Talented initiatives  for : Sheffield Arts Education in ‘Art Enrich’ which involved 5 High Schools  at Sylvester Works , Sheffield ; at Leeds Art Gallery (using  the Victorian RA  exhibition as a starting point for amazing mixed media collages) ; for  the Arthouse, Wakefield  at McAuley High School , Doncaster (models of futuristic  interiors ) in the  ‘Message in a Bottle’ project.

I have been artist in residence on Surestart  initiatives  at :The Seacroft Art Project ;Parklands Children’s Centre and Leeds  Art Gallery. Other residences include: at Rufford Park Primary ,West Yorkshire  (exterior 3D  installation  using discarded plastics ) and  ‘Construct and Deconstruct’ and  ‘Extraordinary Buildings’  with 12  Primary schools at Wakefield Art Gallery .

I devise  whole series of after - school art  clubs  which includes 60 +  workshops   at Bramley  Primary (for  The YMCA ,Leeds ); many S.P.A.R.K.S  sessions  in Leeds and Bradford  (sometimes working  to  QCA documents) in Primary schools,  where I was employed by the West Yorkshire Playhouse  and sponsored by Provident Financial. 

 I‘ve  worked on several  pilot  art projects ,specifically around dementia and reminiscence  in care homes    and hospices :’Taking Time’  ,2003 ,Bradford and ‘2nd Bite’ ,Rotherham,  2006 and work-training by The Age Exchange Theatre Trust, London in  2003.

Other   art workshop  highlights  include working for The Equal Opportunities  commission on a project named ‘World of Prejudice ?’  at Firth Park High ,Sheffield and in  2003 for The Kings fund I was commissioned to inspire  33 NHS executives  to  express themselves via art using recycling ,in quick fire sessions , Oulton Hall, Leeds.

Please get in touch for more information on my workshops.