“Just thoroughly enjoyed it it made you really observe your space your surroundings in quietness to hear feel see and reflect in a way that was peaceful and opening” Workshop participant feedback.

What session did you find most useful? Why?
“The one where Josef came in because it was fun.” Young Leaders program participant

Arts and Crafts workshops

As a workshop leader, I can offer a wide range of off-the-shelf and bespoke workshops to cater to the creative needs of your organisation or specific event. I work with all ages but with a specialism with children and young people. As a full-time Primary School Art Teacher, I can offer a wide range of interactive and hands-on crafts on a repeated or drop in basis. Just some examples of the workshops I deliver:

• Paper Marbling
• Zine and small pop-up book creation
• Quick portraiture
• Small model making
• Pots and bowls using air dry clay
• Collaging (any theme)
• Collaborative pieces (painted banners, wall art, large shared canvas)
• Simple block and screen printing
• Badge making
  

Writing and poetry workshops

As a poet who has been commissioned to produce writing for Bury Council’s Year of Culture and Manchester Metropolitan University to celebrate their 200 year anniversary, I can work with groups to access and articulate their own thoughts and create a poetic response. I have worked with adults, teens and school groups to respond to

• Museum Collections and archives
• Historic events or moments
• Personal and social histories
• Key life moments

Exploration of place “walkshops”

A key part of my writing practice is exploring specific geographies and responding to them in situ. This is great way to spark creativity and to get individuals to view their familiar spaces in a new an interesting way. I call these experiences “walkshops” as they combine the key element of walking and exploring to elicit a creative response using a toolkit I have developed and used several times. These walkshops always have a mix of collaboration and individual work and are designed to provide a framework allowing people of all levels of experience and confidence to fully engage. The final work can be collated into a publication or shared verbally and can be general or be designed to focus on a particular aspect.

Co-creation and project development workshops

I have experience working on several large public engagement project that have all involved aspects of group co-creation and co-curation to create a final event, publication or exhibition. I can work with your group to facilitate a co-creation project that will ensure the needs of all members of the group are fairly represented, helping to deliver a final event, exhibition or publication that meets the needs or participants and funders alike. Do you have a project that you wish to develop but are unsure where to start? Book me to lead a session with your group where we can explore what is possible.

Work I am more keen to do

I am really keen to continue to work with communities and groups to explore their individual places and share their unique stories. I mean communities in the broadest sense of the word to also include working communities, groups within or part of larger organisations and the communities we choose to be part of. I also love to work with museums, art galleries and archives to respond creatively to their collections either as an individual artist and poet or as a workshop leader helping to create new responses and interpretations of existing collections.