projects

Out & About 2017
Photograph by Nick Singleton

Karen's experience in education is broad, she engages audiences in creative processes, assisting participants in questioning, exploring, inventing and enjoying visual art. She works with a range of groups including schools, families, young people, adults and community. Karen's current DBS certificate is dated February 2022 and she has Public Liability Insurance.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUAD Derby 2024
Experimental Drawing Project - Horizons 6th Form, St Martins School
It's an absolute pleasure to work with the talented students from Horizons. The young people bought a curious energy and have-a-go attitude which was wonderful to get swept along with. It was fascinating to get to know the groups signature styles over our five week project, and I learned so much from their explorations in drawing. I'm keen to playfully expand what drawing can be and the group jumped right in: mark-making with Lego, capturing movement using sculpting wire and creating frenetic marks with spinning drawing tools (to name a few of our activities). The engaging and far reaching collections in Derby Museums provided rich opportunities for focused concentration and in-depth looking and we discovered comfortable corners in these spaces in which to work together, relax and dream.

To follow the project week by week, see my Instagram posts: week 1week 2week 3week 4week 5 ðŸ™‚

Thank you to Morgan and Mandy for the support in creating and sharing this experimental and exploratory project.

Drawing QUAD with Lego blocks

Mark-making, printing and drawing Derby architecture using Lego blocks

Crayon rubbings of 3D wire drawing capturing movement

Exploring tonal qualities by the River Derwent

Pencil drawing of The Museum of Making

Transforming drawing into pattern with Interlace, The Museum of Making

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUAD Derby 2023
Experimental Drawing Project - Horizons 6th Form, St Martins School

Was thrilled when asked to develop and lead 9 weekly sessions of experimental drawing with Horizons SEND 6th Form. St Martins School is located in Derby City centre, not far from QUAD - the perfect setting for the group to explore, interact and take centre stage in the city!


Activities were playful and varied, using outdoor sites and local museum spaces creatively. Each week we walked and drew, chatted and shared responses before returning to the participation space at QUAD to develop our drawings.

Activities included drawing with seeds onto compost and watching them grow, drawing while moving to music, making drawings on rice paper and leaving them by the River Derwent to melt away... The group were brilliant in giving every activity a go and a total delight to work alongside. Horizons 6th Form fed back that this was the standout project of the year at QUAD because of the impact it had on the students.

Thank you to Daisy, Catriona and Mandy for the support in creating and sharing this lovely project. 

Drawing trains moving through the model railway at The Museum of Making

Self-portraits planted among the tulips and daisies 

Considered pompom placement, framing the familiar

Framing and photography

Adding colour to rubbings made in the Market Place

Drawing on a postcard to send to a loved one

Visitor leafing through the fantastic sketchbooks

Sketchbooks at the 'A Celebration of Creativity' event at QUAD

Photographs by Catriona Kelly, Creative Education Producer
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUAD Derby 2022
Everybody Draw - The Big Draw Festival

All-day drop-in drawing event in celebration of The Big Draw Festival. Inspired by QUAD and it's historic Market Place setting, participants created a huge communal drawing, collaborating, responding and working with others drawings in sharing the beauty and wonder of the everyday.









------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUAD Derby 2022
Draw Together, GoldsQUAD

Series of playful drawing workshops for participants aded 50+ exploring line, tone, form, colour and scale.

Timed mark-making with word prompts like - squiggle, circle, dot, zigzag...

Exploring mark-making and tonal qualities

Suggesting form with directional mark-making

Capturing surface qualities with pastel
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUAD Derby 2021
Online content

Please click for vimeo: Rolling Print


Please click for vimeo: Crisp Packet Mono Print


Two videos created as online content for school and young people's programmes at QUAD Derby. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUAD Derby 2019
Q Club




Fabulous Q Club
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hepworth Wakefield
Out & About 2017 

 Misty Brimham Rocks

 Framing our wool drawings 

Using our bodies as sculpture and to tell stories

 This isn't sculpture! (participant comment)

 How has this project made you powerful?

Handmade sketchbooks covered in YSP mud
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hepworth Wakefield
Creative Practitioner, 2010-2017    

Clare Woods - The Unquiet Head 

Richard Long - Artist Rooms

Heather and Ivan Morison inspired puppets

Celebrating the Grand Depart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea
Creative Practitioner, 2016
  

Studio and view finder inspired by Fiona Banner's Ha Ha

Icosahedron still life slow geometry

Spinning full stop

Diamonds and Ha Ha 

Musical youth
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drew Primary School, London
Creative Practitioner, 2014-2016

Year 6
Ice Trap

Year 3 
Tales of Wisdom & Wonder

Year 1
Emily Brown and the Thing

 Year 4
I Was a Rat! or The Scarlet Slippers

 Year 2
One Night, Far From Here

Year 5
The London Eye Mystery
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agder Folkehøgskole, Søgne, Norway
Creative Practitioner, 2015


 Wrapped figure by Anton

 Colin spray painting

 Connie transforming her sculpture with paint

 Wrapped tin cans

 Max and Anton photographing their work collaboratively

The outdoor setting suited Frida's work
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hepworth Wakefield
High Light, 2013


A space to consider sound and mood

 Building with triangles

Light drawing

 Shadow of Emley Moor Transmitting Station (330 meters high!)

 Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Young persons metal and blue light sculpture
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hepworth Wakefield
A September To Remember, 2012


Intervention in local cityscape

Mark making with clay slip

Learning navigation skills from walk leader Pete

Creative hub

Until The Far Distance - featuring drawings made by GPS tracking device 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Art House, Wakefield
Sites in Sight Artist in Residence, 2012


The shop

Visit to The Hepworth Wakefield

French knit coster

My response to the residency - work in progress

Sharing event at The Art House for the Wakefield Artwalk
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Creative Partnerships, Luton 
Enquiry School, 2010


 Sun print

 Staff INSET

 Making reading room cushions from the children's fabric
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Future Creative, Kent
Landmark Link Programme, 2008


What does 50 meters look like?

Bluewater - pupils ask the public for their opinions

Site for the sculpture

Causing a stir
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------