Artist Statement:
I am a multi-disciplinary artist, activist and somatic dance practitioner. I am interested in how my inherently choreographic practice manifests into performance installation, poetry, movement, drawing, walking, spoken word and video. My work is about embodied processes and the body. I make work through a process of investigations using improvised movement scores arising from site specific spaces; then translate these responses into installations and performances, often with a live audience.
Artist CV:
I am a freelance multi-disciplinary artist, working in performance installation, poetry, drawing and somatic movement, with over twenty five years experience of making my own performance, visual art and working in participatory settings.
Work practice history, three recent examples:
July 2015 – Lead artist for ‘Walking Together’ project, Bensham, Gateshead, for Ben Jones CIC project ‘Dingy Butterflies’- see: https://ben-jones.org.uk/2015/07/09/walking-together/
March 2016 – Performance Poetry for ‘Art and Activism’ conference at University of Warwick, see: https://activism2016.wordpress.com/
Feb 2016 – Live drawing for ‘Take Your Seats’ performance project at the Shipley Art Gallery for Liz Pavey University of Northumberland, see:https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/news-events/news/2016/02/ladies-and-gentlemen-take-your-seats-1/
Creative Broker for Arts Connect, Newcastle City Council: aims to connect children with learning disabilities in Newcastle upon Tyne to inclusive creative and cultural activity. As a Creative Broker I work with a child/young person and family to find inclusive activity that suits the family and young person; from July 2013 to present.
Freelance Artist and Facilitator for: The Learning Team – BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, 2005 to present. Running visual art and performance workshops for the under fives, families, children, including children with disabilities, autism and visual impairment; leading professional development training for teachers re how to use exhibitions as stimuli for further work with children.
Awards and membership of professional bodies:
In 2003 and 2005 I was awarded two Professional Development grants toward eight Body-Mind Centering courses, in the USA and Germany by ACE – Arts Council England
an: Artists Newsletter, 2010 to 2012 – Council Member for AIR, A Voice for Artists
A member of Equity since 1992
Founding member of Artists Union England 2013 to present
Founding Member of d.i.n.e: http://danceimprovnortheast.wordpress.com/ A collective of independent dance artists interested in Improvisation. 2011 to present
Qualification description:
Leeds Metropolitan University: B.A (Hons) Creative Practice – Fine Art (2i) 2006-8
Sunderland University: Diploma in Fine Art 2001-5
Middlesex Polytechnic: B.A. (Hons) Performance Art – Choreography (2i) 1983-6