PORTFOLIO

FACILITATING WORKSHOPS FOR HERITAGE2HEALTH

Beci continues to work with Heritage2Health and created an art challenge for participants at this years event at Ham House and Marble Hill House, Richmond.

The initial idea for the workshop stemmed from group discussions in which we discussed how a cultural aspect could be incorporated into the challenge. We then noted that the houses each had artefacts in them from around the world. We then discussed the story of Anansi, which is a spider that comes from the Caribbean. I thought it would be an interesting slant to have the spider central to the art challenge activities. I came up with the format that the spider would leave clues for the participants to find out more about the house and the objects within.

HERITAGE2HEALTH

Heritage2Health promotes wellbeing through supporting individuals, families and communities to access heritage sites with support from students and staff from health and social care and from creative industries such as arts, drama and music. It is a unique volunteering programme as it supports people of all ages and with a range of disabilities to undertake a challenge. The challenge events create an opportunity for a ‘shared learning’ experience between generations, cultures and between paid and unpaid carers. Participants work together in teams to share the challenge and support each other, so the focus is on the challenge not limitations or disability. These experiences are recorded and evaluated using filmed interviews, photography, written questionnaires and artwork.

I was employed to document this journey through illustration but ended up experiencing a lot more. There were people from many different backgrounds and abilities and the main aims were to unite and overcome the challenges that were set.

The main theme that runs through my work is the idea of accessibility. This might not be immediately obvious but I wanted to make my illustration something everybody could relate to. I concentrated strongly on documenting recognisable locations that people experienced on the journey and I also combined these individuals within these images.

Once the work was completed I presented it at an evaluative event. I produced the images in a variety of scales especially small scale, a similar format to a photograph. This further highlighted the accessibility of my work as it was a visual reminder of the journey as well as a souvenir people could take away with them as a reminder of the experience. The small scale reproduction meant it appeared as a snapshot almost photographic, a theme that runs through a lot of my work.

I experienced a lot on this trip as I ended up working very closely with the young children. We were able to create games inspired by the location we were in. This made the journey very fun and something they could relate to. I incorporated movement and simple actions that we could do throughout the trip and I was able to draw on my past experience of performance and dance to make the games imaginative and energetic, but at the same time catering for the individual and making sure everyone was involved. It was a very inclusive experience and this was highlighted further by including them in the illustrations as well as involving them in the actual drawing process.

All of these images are owned by Heritage2Health. Please do not replicate or use them without their permission.

BLACK AND WHITE

These Black and White images are inspired greatly by my subconscious.

I am interested in repetitive patterns and detailed drawing. I work impulsively but the shapes can appear concise and angular at the same time. These are like extended doodles and free drawing. I think the materials used highlight the strength of the shape and images within.

Hopefully each time you look at the images you'll notice something different about it.

ARCHITECTURE AND MOVEMENT

Throughout my work I have been very inspired by the relationship between architecture and movement, and I have concentrated a lot of my studies within the city of London.

I work in a free and spontaneous way, impulsively creating a snapshot in time. This is interesting as although my works are largescale (A1) they also lend themselves to smaller reproduction. This highlights the snapshot element more. The way in which I work and the unpredictability of the materials (especially bleach) mean that there is always a sense of movement within the majority of my pieces.

I am also very interested with how people move within the city (commuters) and how they relate to each other and the architecture around them. I am interested in pace and direction, and how my drawings can inspire movement based work; for example collaborating with dance companies and choreographers.

CREATING A SENSE OF TIME AND PLACE
AND FIGURATIVE WORK

These images involve depicting people, but also concentrate strongly on creating atmosphere.

Many of these images are stills from a sequential image making project which were strongly inspired by the poet Allen Ginsberg, especially the poem First Party At Ken Kesey's With Hell's Angels. I am very interested in creating narrative and each image appears like a snapshot telling another aspect of the story.

I am inspired by popular culture and combining images I've found in magazines and newspapers in an unusual and detailed way.

MOVING IMAGES (YOUTUBE)

These examples of my work are very simple but try to achieve a strong sense of movement. I tried animating in this way to describe and trace the routes that people take within the city, each of the lines are symbolic of a different person. I used a mirror image effect to make it more hypnotic and abstracted.

The materials used, bleach on black Quink ink, are quite unusual. This is a vibrant media to use and the luminosity of the bleach works really well. I have used repetitive motifs of glitter balls as they have many connotations of nightlife and dancing but are also a nice shape and pattern to build up through the animation. Creating light within the piece has also been an important aspect of these moving images. I have also experimented with making objects move, and the shoes lend themselves well as you can really entwine the ribbons as if they have a life of their own.

Obviously the techniques could be improved for my animation, but I have used it as a medium to purely express a sense of movement in quite a low fi way.