Project Art Works

Photography by Caitlin Lock

Project Art Works, an inclusive rights-based art organisation in our hometown supports people who have complex support needs in a way that not only helps give them a platform of communication they feel comfortable with, but turns the table on societal norms and is striving to change the generalisation and assumptions around people often invisible from public life.

We were lucky enough to be invited along to see for ourselves how this community is working together to engage, learn, and connect as human beings by embracing the unique differences of each individual.

He explains how, often, people assume the programme at Project Art Works is about the development of neurodivergent artists, but he says that’s not really the point. “It is part of what we do but actually we position ourselves as a rights-based organisation. We create a bespoke programme for up to 40 artists who come each week and we work with people over a long period of time and develop these trust-based relationships – we don’t just work with individuals – we work with their families and support teams and through all the areas that impact their lives.”

Katie Taylor joined the team four years ago as part of the Lottery funded projects and works alongside Patricia Finnegan to manage the creative programme. Katie explains that rather than see the programmes Project Art Works run as a progression of work with goals to achieve at different stages throughout the course, it’s more about understanding what each artist or maker is taking from and saying with their artwork. “I think sometimes people have a way of seeing all charities as the usual model of there being a group of people ‘in need’ and so this has been a shift in understanding the reciprocity in the way this place runs – here it’s more about just being human together. There’s a real give and take between the people paid to be here and the people paying to be here. It’s quite a special and unique environment in that sense. Obviously, it’s operating within all these different worlds – it’s a charity, it’s a social care organisation, it’s a cultural organisation, and we’re navigating all of those boundaries.”

The common theme as I talk to each team member, and actually during an insightful tour of the studios where we were privileged enough to speak to and spend time with the artist/makers, is that there is no ‘us and them’ mentality and no formal agenda other than to support and better understand each other. “Themes of human connection and what it reveals about identity and how we view each other remain central,” says Kate. “We seek to protect the rights of people with complex support needs, challenging paradigms of inclusion in art; responding to the functional and ethical structures of diligence and care; and respecting self-determination and privacy whilst working towards greater visibility, understanding and appreciation of neurodiversity in culture. I have never had a ‘forward plan’ or sense of career, so the way
in which Project Art Works has evolved has been a wonderful surprise really!”

She explains that the political context and awareness of disability and neurodivergence has shifted, which has led to more recognition of Project Art Work’s work through the Turner Prize shortlist and their inclusion in Documenta Fifteen last year – an international showcase of contemporary visual art.

Tim tells me more about the artist/makers who attend the studios in relation to what different individuals might be seeking from the art collective. “The work is made in lots of different ways,” he says. “We could categorise these in three ways: people for whom being here is more akin to a traditional art college in some ways where people identify as artists, who have quite autonomous practices and want to see their art shown in exhibitions; then there’s very instinctive art makers who actually might not identify as artists but have that relationship with materials and making and being creative; and then there are people for whom it’s very sensory and it’s actually about creating an environment around the ways we can reach and connect with each other. Lots of the work is collaborative between artist facilitators and people who access the studios and much of the work is created by people who might not necessarily be interested in a final product, so the artwork simply represents a moment in time being spent together.”

Katie adds, “The essence of the creative programme is really about being able to engage in the way you’d like depending on how you feel on a particular day and knowing you have a space to do that in. There’s no graduation point so there’s no sense that you’ll just be here for a year or three years and at the end of that you will have learned these skills because they’re on the curriculum. Some of the artists have been using the studios for 17 years – that’s the longest so far – so it’s very much led by what each individual wants. Sometimes there will be collaborative projects where there’ll be a proposition that everyone can respond to in their own way, it’s always kept open and flexible.”

They each tell me about the day-to-day running of the studios, which is just about to expand to merge the Linton Road bridge arches and Trinity Hall. “At the moment, in the context of increasing pressure on social care services, we have a growing list of people who are interested in working with us. We are seeking additional funding and developing a new space and models for partnering with other locally-embedded organisations so that we can continue to build and strengthen our community,” says Katie. “We are always happy to meet with someone and talk to them if they have an interest and sometimes you discover other ways you can work with someone outside the studio, or you might identify a need that only we as an organisation can address – because we are pretty specialist.”

Kate tells me how they not only build relationships with the artists and makers who attend Project Art Works, but the families and care givers for those individuals too. “As well as our studio practice Project Art Works has developed our Support Collective. This is a group of people with lived experience of disability, family carers, support workers, and representatives from health and social care. We collectively share the aim of working towards person-centred and inclusive models of support and care and protecting the rights of people with support needs. This is a group that is open to anyone to join and particularly relevant for local people. We offer training, advocacy, and coordinate meet ups.”

Walking around the studios and chatting to artists like Jack Goldsmith, Paul Colley, and Ellen Prebble about their work, it’s clear this is a space where individuals feel the freedom to express themselves both creatively and emotionally. Tim tells me he feels Project Art Works offers a place for the people who access it to feel in control of their environment, where the power dynamic is reversed. “We talk a lot about the non-hierarchical nature of the studios and I think people feel that their voice really counts. It’s a social space, a place to be heard. We run quite a specialist element to the programme, it’s aimed specifically at people who might present quite serious behaviours of distress – we would have called it challenging behaviour some time ago, but actually it’s more the idea that the behaviour is a sign that something’s not right in someone’s life, which is a challenge for people who are supporting them. Often when people do operate in that way, they find that their lives get shut down quite quickly because there aren’t places that can support them – so they might be excluded from a school or college setting and they become more isolated. We try to fix environments, not people, so we create the right space for people to be in. A weekly art session isn’t going to fix everyone’s problems, but we can be a part of that joined-up approach around someone’s life and that can actually be quite impactful on their wellbeing and the wellbeing of the people supporting them and those two things are completely linked.”

During our visit, I got to spend some time with artist Ellen Prebble, who specialises in wildlife and landscape painting. “I’ve done loads of commissions and I also paint birds, because birds are brilliant,” she says showing me a vibrant painting of an albatross. “That’s going in my exhibition,” she declares proudly. She tells me her exhibition is opening in January and running until April at Hastings Museum.

Ellen takes pictures first or is given a photo as a reference point and then creates her artwork from those. “This is Venice,” she announces, unveiling a colourful canvas painted from a photograph her mother took whilst on holiday. Ellen’s interpretation is exacting with focus on every detail – I’m immediately drawn in and start thinking about the commissions I’d like
to put to her myself.

Patricia Finnegan, the project’s Artist Development Lead, says she loves watching Ellen work as she starts with block detailing from one corner and works her way from there until the full canvas is done. “It’s like watching a jigsaw come together.”

Ellen tells me that painting makes her happy and makes her feel relaxed. She shows me the paintings she’s chosen so far for the exhibition and says she’s looking forward to choosing more. “That one is brilliant,”
she says unabashedly pointing to a painting she did of Kate’s garden – a commission that has been borrowed back for the exhibition, “I really nailed that one.” She’s not wrong.

Tim explains that in order for there to be real equity, it has to be reciprocal, “There’s something every day we learn or takeaway, something that makes us laugh, and that’s why it’s about us being together,” he says. “There are lots of ways in which people make work free from self-conscious restraint that holds a mirror up to the way in which creativity is often constrained by this idea of who’s this for, who’s going to look at it, how’s it going to represent me – and when you’re free from that you’re making work in a very different way and there’s a lot to take from that, there’s a lot to take from different ways of being in the world, which again reflects back the absurdity of the social constructs we live our life in.”

projectartworks.org ⚫