Workshops and Residencies:

Clay workshops for schools, plaster casting in care homes, ink work in museums or huge dragons at festivals, for nearly 20 years I have been running award winning Arts workshops across the country for all ages and all levels of skill.

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When designing a Public Artwork I will regularly spend weeks over the course of a commission running creative workshops for young and older people, developing reminiscence sessions, creative writing and talking workshops for adults and teenagers, curate exhibitions, running drop-in contribution sessions and myriad other initiative based engagements that are bespoke to each community and the unique histories that they imbue.

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I have also always worked as an arts practitioner running creative sessions, residencies and mentorships predominantly with young people, this is possibly the most rewarding part of my career.

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The communities that I work with are often from diverse backgrounds, due to the ethics of my practice I tend to work with under-represented communities. This means that I have a great deal of experience working with cultural minority communities, families and children from deprived backgrounds or in care, people with learning disabilities disadvantaged young people and young people with behavioural challenges. I also am from an LGBT+ background and have a great deal of experience working within LGBT+ communities with the sensitivity and pride that this requires.

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The reason for my continued success within these areas is my real passion for creation and my ability to share that and to encourage it with others, especially younger people from a working background such as myself.

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I have grown up in an area where many young people are disillusioned with their identities, this can come out in some incredibly negative ways, from toxic masculinity to racism, an ignorance of the weight of the patriarchy to a complete misunderstanding of the vital role of diversity. My professional life and in most respects my social life have evolved into an activism directed to the creation of a discourse about who we are why that is, and where we hope to go.

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In many of my workshops, I engage with young people who rarely make anything with their hands. It is my key role to channel the feelings of these kids and give them the tools to be creative, to feel agency and empowerment to go into any space and feel entitled to be there.

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My work within the community to date has received the awards: Black Country Masters, Local Hero at the BCU Festival, Alumni of the Year for Birmingham City University and the Cultural Champions Award presented by the UK Minister for Culture.