My Work With Fabrica

Second Sight

 I first came to Fabrica as an artist resource volunteer in 2002, by this time I had a fledgling practice of predominantly drawing work and gained a bit of experience in delivering workshops for galleries with children. I also had a desire to research and carry out workshops for visually impaired and blind people. My interest in this area came out of research for my B.A dissertation ‘The Unseen Perspective’ a few years previously. This had been an exploration of making and experiencing art without focusing on the visual, something I was drawn to as my own work had developed multi sensory elements. Though I had not been focusing in particularly on opportunities available for visually impaired and blind people it did not take much time at all to realise this was a shockingly lacking area within the arts.

Second Sight

I recall having a 1-2-1 with Liz Whitehead Fabrica’s Co – Director, taking with me a list of everything I wanted to do as an artist. Thinking back to that list I am now doing most of those things, and the majority of it I can attribute to Fabrica’s support. Fairly swiftly Liz and I established Second Sight, then an exhibition tour and discussion workshop for visually impaired and blind participants, now it is open to all and still attended by some of the same people who came to the first workshop. Liz and others at Fabrica also acted as advisors on ‘Elephant Project’, which I established, with Arts Council Funding in 2003 (and a further grant in 2006). ‘Elephant’ enabled me to provide workshops across the country in galleries and community centers for visually impaired and blind adults and children. I employed other artists to run workshops for the project and established myself in the field.

Second Sight

In 2003 I was also employed by Fabrica as Front of House Manager and volunteer Coordinator, this in itself had a profound affect on my practice as a whole and the way in which I chose to engage with audiences and speak about art in workshops. Front of House could also be called ‘front line’ you know each exhibition from it’s delivery, installation and then through the eyes of each gallery visitor, and the volunteers. My fascination for the audience’s response to art, really started here.

Second Sight

Second Sight /Working with Diverse Audiences

In 2005 Fabrica gave me the opportunity to really explore these interests, and develop my workshop methods. I was Animateur in Residence during two shows that year, the purpose of this commission is to explore an exhibition through the perspective of another artist and their practice, and through doing this provide gallery visitors unique insights and new opportunities for engagement with the work.

Animateur in Residence

Animateur in Residence

Animateur in Residence

In the same year I accompanied others from Fabrica to Avignon and then Paris, where we lived with and learnt from Cemea France, an incredible team of artists from across disciplines who through their example and participation taught me the most important element of my socially engaged work to date - that My role is to provoke others to discover and respond to work for themselves, not to dictate how and in what form that response should materialise. Essentially that working with others in the context of a workshop and beyond is an exchange, collaboration rather than a transfer of a set knowledge from one party to another. Cemea also taught mean great deal about having a sense of fun and play in what you do, and to make use of the breadth of disciplines art has.

Cemea, Avignon

Cemea, Avignon

Cemea, Paris

Second Sight will soon be in its 10th year and it continues to shift and develop as new participants join us. And Fabrica continues to support my practice and most importantly give me the space to pursue and push new aspects of it - Most recently through ‘Working with Diverse Audiences’ and the commissioning of my work ‘Drawn to the Beat’. http://deadrabbit-ablog.blogspot.com/2011/06/drawn-to-beat-fabrica.html

Second Sight & A Multi Sensory Approach

Drawn to the Beat