Creative ID: 177
I am incredibly interested in being part of the creatives in the education programme and will be willing to travel to all locations. At present, I am based in South Canterbury.
My arts or creative practice (including details about my specific focus within that art form/practice and my strengths)
Part of my process involves walking a stretch of rough South Canterbury coastline that I have become very familiar with throughout my life. The ecology of the beach is exposed and is very vulnerable to a combination of human-induced and natural erosive forces. The erosive forces reveal long-forgotten human detritus, allowing the past to open up to the present. The beach will eventually itself become a memory. I have an ongoing project that attempts to communicate the seemingly incomprehensible human-made and natural forces at work in the Anthropocene and their effect on the environment. I am trying to visually explain these forces through my ongoing engagement with the site-specific location of this beach, using a variety of experimental approaches, at times giving over control to the environmental elements, and employing indexical trace, moving image and the found object. The ubiquity of charcoal acknowledges the instant visual response to the environment through the physical act of drawing. My work hopes to trigger a felt response to vast and complex environmental issues making the art more understandable to the audience.
My track record of experience and success - or the track record of experience and success of the creative or artist that I will partner with
I returned to tertiary education as an adult student and have just completed five years of intensive study culminating with a Master of Arts (distinction). I am a practicing professional artist, I have had a Solo Show at a gallery space in Dunedin, and my work was exhibited at an Auckland gallery space as part of a group of five emerging artists in November through December 2019. One of my images was personally brought by Sir James Wallace in 2017 and is now part of the national collection at the Wallace Trust.
Describe the experience you have had working with children or young people, teaching or facilitating creative processes
I returned to tertiary education as an adult student and have worked alongside a broad age group of young and old. I respond well in an educational role. I have also volunteered my creative skills at children's charity foundation Christmas functions in Timaru.
Why I want to be part of the Creatives in Schools programme and how my involvement will link to my creative practice
Having just completed a Master of Arts (Distinction), I believe I have a current knowledge base from my research and also that of international thinkers that examine new ways of approaching climate change. My creative practice finds connections with nature in ways that do not need to rely on text or hard data; it is a means of expressing the felt experience of the environment without becoming over-analytical and confusing.