Blog

The Weather Report : Post 2

  

As a neurodiverse artist I often find that I miss out explanations about how to engage with my projects and invitations to share in my practice. In fact throughout the project I’ll be exploring my own neurodiverse ways of communicating, with artist Heather Peak who is mentoring me.

This is the first project I have applied for Arts Council England’s Access Fund, and it has made such a difference from the usual stress of bid writing – I would urge neurodiverse (dyslexic etc) artists to apply for bid writing support.  I went to DASH, https://www.dasharts.org/ for advice on this and in relation to the general accessibility of the project . Mike Leyward was brilliantly helpful.

Julie Hoggarth from Brass Tacks  (https://www.brasstacks.org.uk/), a long time friend and fellow artist, helped me hone the bid with her magical recomposing of words.

I would also recommend this podcast : https://www.movebeyondwords.co.uk/podcast to any one who is or thinks they might be dyslexic/neurodiverse or wants to understand links between creativity and neurodiversity.

The workshops for The Weather Report are dedicated to specific groups at the moment, but I would like people to follow and respond to the blog which will be weekly mainly visual snippets and will invite participation further into the project.

The Weather Report

 

I’m happy to be launching this Arts Council England funded project, aiming to facilitate connection and wellbeing in these difficult times and finding commonality through natural objects.

The Weather Report is dedicated to my lovely mum, Betty Impey, who struggled with depression, she passed away in November 2020, aged 90. We always talked about the birds and the weather. Sometimes it’s easier to talk about the weather, it’s a starting point, an ice breaker, we all experience weather who ever we are and where ever we live.

Workshop packs for volunteers and staff at Shropshire Supports Refugees, to create their own wellbeing toolkits

The online workshops start on Monday 18th. January 2021. Firstly I’ll be working with volunteers and staff at Shropshire Supports Refugees and later on with service users themselves. This will be followed by sessions with Age UK Plymouth, staff, volunteers and service users.

The outcomes from these two sets of workshops in conjunction with recordings made in New Zealand (Aotearoa) in 2019 will inform and become part of a new film work.

The Weather Report will explore existing and lost or hidden connections between lands and ancestors, migrations, impacts of colonisation and how we might develop a language to navigate prejudice and negative interactions.

Please do contact me if you want to be involved or join the discussion, thank you

Honouring weeds, wild flowers and seeds

Pussy willow, mono print on Japanese paper, 2021

Since June 2020 I have been running a weekly online studio, it’s a lovely social and creative exchange of ideas in difficult times, especially for those including myself in lockdown or shielding.

I have been honouring weeds, wild flowers & seeds, mainly from my garden, as mono prints, because of their importance to bees and the environment. I made over 60 of these up as postcards and sent them through the post as far away as New Zealand & Canada, to friends and family as Christmas & New Year cards, so far they have all arrived intact!