Beginning in April 2023, myself and drama artist Saffron Gillies worked, over the course of 4 weeks, with pupils at Orchard Brae Primary in Aberdeen to create an interactive performance as part of the Light the Blue Festival. Saffron and I hosted weekly drama and art making sessions with the pupils, which culminated in a performance for friends and family at the Music Hall in Aberdeen.
As the lead visual artist on this project, I assisted in creating some visual ‘set-pieces’ for the performance using artworks produced by the students in their sessions based on the theme of a ‘treasure hunt’, where the ‘treasure’ was our favourite thing. It was important, in keeping with the essence of the festival, for the performance and the sessions to be shaped and led by the young people and their interests.
In June 2024 I was invited back by the Light the Blue Festival to host a ‘family fun day’ zine making workshop. This session encouraged children and young people to making a zine about their ‘favourite thing’, using a mixture of collage and drawing. With a trove of materials to play with, a steady stream of families enjoyed a creative interval as part of the excitement of the festival weekend.
Playground (2025) was an ambitious and exciting project- creating a performance involving an entire primary school over the course of ONE WEEK! As one of the Lead Visual Artists on this project I was tasked with creating props (giant jellyfish puppet anyone?), and engaging with every pupil in the school to create artworks to be involved in performances and as backdrops to the action.
