Community Arts

Since 2007, I've had the privilege of working as a freelance artist on many projects throughout Yorkshire. I've delivered group-based work across multiple art disciplines including textiles, painting (acrylic, watercolour etc), sculpture and story-based activities. I love celebrating people's creativity and encouraging folk to engage with their own creativity. I have experience working with people from many backgrounds and ages including older persons groups, refugees, vulnerable people, young adults and children.

Some of the organisations I have worked with and delivered workshops for include Leeds City Council, Leeds Playhouse, Playful Leeds, Leeds 2023, Pyramid of Arts, Swarthmore Education Centre, Basis, Breeze, South Asian Arts, Leeds Community Foundation, Kala Sangam, Feel Good Factor, Kentmere Community Centre, LS14 Trust, Shantona, Hamara, Rainbow Junktion, Burley Lodge Centre, Meanwood Community Centre, Artworks and primary schools including St Oswald's, St Edmunds Children’s Centre.

Since 2025 I've started offering 1-1 tutoring - with people of all ages and ability. I can travel within Leeds or work online. If this is something you are interested in, please get in touch

Pyramid (2010 - present)

Pyramid is a Leeds based arts organisation and charity that supports learning disabled and/or Autistic artists. Their goal is to help people to discover the arts, and develop their talents as artists. They disrupt the social and institutional barriers that prevent their artists from being recognised, supported and celebrated.

I have worked for Pyramid in many roles including artist facilitator for both groups and 1:1 support, as a core worker and delivering training to other staff. These roles entails responsibilities such as coordinating volunteers, managing budgets and funding, and working creatively with adults of all ages and abilities including PMLD. Pyramid has allowed me to work across many art forms including textiles, sculpture, light installation, storytelling, puppetry and exploring scale. Some of these projects have been installed as part of exhibition working at locations such as Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills.

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If Walls Could Talk (2024-2025)

I'm a supporting artist in the ongoing project 'If Walls Could Talk', exploring art and augmented reality in partnership with Harewood House. Under the lead of Dr Louise Atkinson, we're working to co-create contemporary responses to the historic Chinese wallpaper with Chinese-speaking and wider Asian diaspora communities in Leeds. Exploring collage, digital photography, 3D scanning and augmented reality in collaborative creative workshops, we're using art to express and celebrate the evolving identities within our community.

Funded by Arts Council England, Leeds Cultural Investment Programme and the Wallpaper History Society

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If Walls Could Talk (Uni of Leeds_Harewood House_ Beeston Village Community Centre)

Leeds2023 (2022)

I was the artist practitioner for the ‘My World, My City, My Neighbourhood’ project in collaboration with Burley Lodge Centre in 2022 (the run up to Year of Culture 2023). Working with Muslim women in the local area, home schooling groups and local Burley residents, our aim was to explore culture - locally and more broadly - using textiles as a method of sharing this knowledge. We went on trips around the local area to encourage people to explore their neighbourhood more, and used different sewing techniques to find out what people loved about LS6. We worked on a large textile map over a few months and had a joyful sharing party at the end where we invited everyone who’d participated to celebrate their role in the project. At the celebration we collectively created a mini fair for local artists to sell their work/ do henna/ sell food.

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HOPS (2022)

Hawksworth Older People's Support Services (or HOPS) is a Leeds based supportive service based in Hawksworth, LS5, dedicated to providing a range of activities and social opportunities for older adults. I applied for funding from Area Committee Wellbeing Fund and successfully financed the project, on which I worked as an Intergenerational Project Co-ordinator for 'HIP (Hawksworth Intergenerational Project)’. My role included matching and facilitating creative sessions that aimed to bring older members of the community together with the younger kids. As well as the creative sessions, a film was created to document this and can be watched here.

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Leeds Playhouse (2021)

I facilitated the project 'Reasons to be Hopeful' with a group of mixed age participants online. We explored a range of medium and techniques, culminating with a vinyl installation on the exterior of the Playhouse. There were several artists involved with their own groups, with artwork installed inside the Playhouse also. The project aimed to overcome isolation associated with Covid lockdowns.

'Reasons to be hopeful' was an intergenerational project by Leeds Playhouse that connected 100 people (aged 16 – 25 and from 50 – 92) with 10 artists for 10 weeks between February and May of 2021 – to support people through the 3rd Lockdown.