Projects
Growing Art
Willoughby Road Allotments
An Arts Council England Funded Project
As part of the Growing Art project, I am one of two professional, socially-engaged artists—alongside Kathleen Smith—funded by Arts Council England to embark on a year-long residency at Willoughby Road Allotments in Boston. Our mission is to assist the allotment and its community in achieving their goals through creative means, thereby demonstrating the value of artistic activity within communities.
Following discussions with allotment holders and local residents, Kathleen and I, from Making Up Your Street, have developed a list of activities aimed at supporting the community's objectives. Our overarching goal is to cultivate a more welcoming and relaxing atmosphere at the allotment, encouraging diverse participation. Throughout the residency, we will host free workshops and creative events, create signage, trails, and murals, and work towards attracting more visitors through market stalls and transportation services.
We are collaborating closely with allotment holders, conducting workshops and creative and functional installations. Additionally, we are sharing allotment stories through a monthly podcast and an augmented reality trail, providing insights and facts about the growing environment.
Art Power
Mansfield Museum
Art Power is a socially engaged project currently underway at Mansfield Museum in the East Midlands of the UK. Supported by the Esmé Fairburn Foundation for its initial two years, the project has involved forty-four women with lived experience of trauma.
The project organized five groups, each meeting every two to three weeks, utilizing the museum’s collection of social history, which includes ceramics, paintings, jewelry, and taxidermy, to spark creativity, curiosity, and a sense of belonging. Various freelance artists, including Laura MAbbutt, have been enlisted to bring expertise in creative activity along with an art therapist. As of December 2023, one hundred and fifty workshops have been conducted culminating in an exhibition opening on International Women's Day 2024.
Nature Machine
Level Centre - 2023
A Brew Projects collaboration in "Nature Machine," the exhibition featured "Cabinet of Curiosities," a large wooden structure housing smaller artworks for visitors to discover through touch, sight, and sound. This immersive experience combined our expertise in craft and design with our experimental approach to digital technologies.
Inspired by trips to Derbyshire's landscape and Bakewell House Museum, "Nature Machine" celebrated the region's biodiversity and local history.
The project was also an opportunity to pilot our 'Exhibition in a Box' which was designed to allow those who could not visit the exhibition, an experience close to that in the gallery with handlable objects, sensory elements and a mini projector to experience all elements of Nature Machine in a chosen space.
We hosted a series of free workshops and special events, inviting the public to create their own artworks to be added to the exhibition alongside the work of Laura and Beth, creating an evolving, collaborative installation.
We included a small accompanying display, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the exhibition's creation and providing sensory samples for exploration.
City Centre Stories
Lincoln City Centre - 2023
City Centre Stories was an outdoor exhibition of crafted augmented reality artworks that could be found at various stops around Lincoln’s City Centre in 2023. Each stop explored a Lincoln business and portrayed the stories from its past as well as its present. Visitors could scan the QR codes placed at each destination and experience a combination of visual art and poetry. I created 7 augmented reality artworks triggered by the locations that were inspired by and worked in collaboration with poet Georgia Preece, to create audio-visual experiences at each stop. See the images below and watch the videos to see them in action and hear the poems by Georgia Preece that accompany each.
Fun Machine
Level Centre Residency Lab - 2022
Under the theme of play and accessibility, Beth Lambert and Laura Mabbutt collaborated on an artwork with input from LEVEL centre visitors during their Residency Lab project. The resulting interactive installation at the LEVEL Centre was a playful fairground-inspired artwork featuring audio, tactile features, and scent. Visitors used the Fun Machine to play fairground-inspired games that helped them create unique abstract artwork to take home with them. Additionally, the Fun Machine incorporated elements of augmented reality, allowing it to be viewed using smart devices like phones or tablets. Public engagement was essential, with participants invited to contribute to the creation of the Fun Machine through online prompts. Participants selected colors, shapes, and methods for creating the machine. View a film explaining the project here.
Reinvent
Lincoln Museum and Bridge Community Hub
Reinvent was a collaboration with Kathleen Smith, commissioned by Lincoln Museum for Bridge Community Hub and Foodbank. We led workshops with community members to create clay artworks. Each participant's artwork was digitally scanned and manipulated into curated scenes in augmented reality. 2 interactive artworks were created; 'Flora' for the Foodbank and Community Library, and 'Fauna' for Bridge Community Hub. iPads were given to each venues to allow visitors to interact and view the augmented reality artwork which were triggered by real-life artwork in metal by Kathleen Smith.
AR Lincoln
Brew Projects Collaboration
Funded by Arts Council England
AR: Lincoln presented an outdoor exhibition of Augmented Reality (AR) artwork by myself and artist Rachel Olin. As well as being an exhibiting artist I also so-curated this outdoor exhibition alongside Beth Lambert.
Utilizing their own smartphones and electronic devices, visitors engaged with AR artworks inspired by the city itself. This public exhibition was free and inclusive to all, strategically located in the city center to ensure accessibility and bring art out of the confines of the gallery to those who may not usually visit. Audio elements were integrated into the exhibition to enhance the experience for visitors who are blind or visually impaired.
While the exhibition at its Sincil St location has concluded, an online exhibition version has been developed for continued access. Follow this link below to explore the exhibition.
Street Seekers
Commissioned by Transported Art CPP for Spalding
I designed the booklet and puzzles that formed this street game. The objective of the game was to locate objects 3D printed by Kathleen Smith, that were scattered throughout the town. Some objects were kept by players and formed a 3D-printed medal, while others aided in solving bespoke sight-specific puzzles to unveil the next location on the journey. Participants worked through the booklet sequentially, as each page contained a puzzle that required objects found in the town to solve. We worked in collaboration with local businesses to host the puzzle objects.
Spalding Stories
Commissioned by Transported Art CPP and South Holland District Council
During the 2020 lockdown, we invited residents of Spalding to send us their memories and stories of the town and turned a selection of them into handcrafted booknook artworks. I created 7 booknook artworks for this project, which you can see below.
The book-nooks were displayed in the empty shop windows of Beales in Spalding. The trail helped brighten up the high street and share the stories of the local people. Once the display was over, the book-nooks that have been displayed were gifted to the story submitters to take home to keep and add to their own bookshelf for them and their families and friends to enjoy.
Create On: Craft Catalyst Club
Commissioned by Transported Art CPP
This project was was developed in response to the Covid-19 restrictions that challenged our usual methods of staying creative. During the lockdown period, we aimed to encourage newcomers to explore creative activities. We aimed to make the project as accessible as possible allowing participants to engage without internet access via telephone or letter/post. The project comprised two main elements:
Community Craft Postcards:
Participants provided their details and received a free postcard kit with easy-to-follow instructions and materials for making a postcard using various techniques. We then forwarded the completed postcard to another member of the Craft Catalyst Club. Subsequently, participants received a surprise postcard in return from another anonymous club member.
Prescribed Craft Kits:
This more substantial part of the project involved participants signing up and answering questions about their interests. Kathleen and Laura designed and selected a craft kit tailored to each participant's preferences and delivered it directly to their homes.
Curious Keepsake Machine
In partnership with Design Nation funded by Arts Council England
The Curious Keepsake Machine was a collaboration between eight Lincolnshire members of Design-Nation, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. I created 3 miniature interactive, game-inspired 'keepsakes' for the project.
At a time when much of our interaction with the arts was conducted virtually through a screen and even when we were able to return to galleries, the pandemic meant tactile arts experiences were limited. This project aimed to tackle this by allowing members of the public to take home a small-scale artwork created by the Design Nation members, and at a cost of just £1.
The concept of the Curious Keepsake Machine allows anyone the opportunity to own a unique handmade artwork delivered via interaction with a vintage vending machine that was decorated in a retro style designed and customised in collaboration with the artists. The project toured to multiple venues.