Workshop for fine art students from Newcastle UniversityThe projects detailed below were all fairly large in scale; for example Florescence was over 18 months in duration from initial sessions with patients at the Queen Elisabeth Hospital through to project completion.
Fat Bird was one element of a twelve month long project working with a residential home, a day centre and two schools. The other projects outlined here range between one and four months in duration.
I am equally happy facilitating smaller scale workshops such as a weekend making processional sculptures for a festival, a day creating hanging mobiles for windows, or a week making a really big cumulative installation.
Although I often use unusual materials such as see-through PVC or polyethylene foam, I research and select materials that are easy to cut and shape. I believe a successful workshop is one where participants can be active in all aspects of the creative process.
Simonside, Northumberland, 2008
This artwork celebrated 90 years of the Northumberland Women's Institute, who in collaboration with Northumberland National Park, supported the laying of 90 flagstones to halt erosion along a beautiful path at Simonside. The 90metre long 'art-path' includes over 250 'footprints' from WI members and pupils from 5 local schools.
Seed-heads from local heather were incorporated into the work, the intention being they would fall during the artwork's processional journey, thus helping to re-seed heather along paths where erosion has taken away this natural cover.
Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead, 2006
Over 100 patients and staff from four wards of the hospital were involved in this 18 month long project.
The brief was to create sculptures for two bland/featureless courtyards that the wards face on to. The result, is a sculptural ‘garden’ filled with polyethylene foam flowers and insects designed and created by the patients working alongside the artist.
The project was managed by Equal Arts.
Holywell Dene, Seaton Sluice, Northumberland, 2003
Fat Bird was commissioned by three agencies: Equal Arts, Age Concern and the RSPB. This 3m x 3m sculpture was created by suspending slabs of suet from pea and bean netting, with nuts, seeds and berries embedded in rings.
The sculpture was created for birds to eat and - depending on which 'food' was most popular - to be gradually reshaped by the birds. The site was chosen for its visibility from an Age Concern Day Centre involved in the project.
Whitby Hospital, Yorkshire, 2001
Parents attending the baby clinic and elderly people from the Day Hospital were involved in making this artwork for the windows of the Clinic Room.
The piece comprised of the babies' footprints and the signatures of the parents and the older people. The footprints were mounted onto spirals of PVC that twisted upward toward sections of corrugated PVC that included the coloured and enlarged signatures.
Lessing Gymnasium, Bochum, Germany, 2000
The school wanted a hanging installation for its entrance hall. After two brainstorming and sketching sessions the six pupils came up with the idea for three hanging structures: a quarter, half and full sphere.
The pupils then decided on colour schemes for the three and made all the polyethylene foam 'modules' that form the installation. The only tasks remaining were to keep the project practicable and to make the aluminium frames.
The Haworth Gallery, Accrington, 1996
The Gallery houses the largest collection of Tiffany Glass in Europe. The intention was to create an installation that reflected the bright, translucent colours and intricate designs of the glass.
The 3metre diameter structure took on a vase-like shape, but was constructed from 900 sheets of A4 tracing paper. Each sheet was individually collaged by workshop participants - a special needs group, a school group and other sessions open to the public.