As a child I was often deeply and bodily embedded in nature, getting my hands dirty, playing in mud, climbing trees, making dens in the corn fields and picking blackberries. I loved being on my belly, looking down into the small spaces to see what grew and moved about - they were places of fascinating ferns and fronds, of fairy tales and fantasy. These are my roots; deep established connections made with places.
As a socially engaged artist there have been many significant projects, including being commissioned for the Art in Manufacturing for the first National Festival of Making, as a Research Artist for Dementia & Imagination, working in-residence with many socially engaged place-focussed organisations, including In Certain Places, In-Situ, Art Gene and Heart of Glass. My artists’ book making skills, evident in the Tate and National Library of Wales collections led to work on the Homeless Library, a north west focussed project led by arthur+martha, which launched at the Houses of Parliament in 2016.
Since 2018 niggling phrases that really didn't make much sense kept repeating in my ears; 'climate change', ‘global warming’, ‘global heating’. Perfect in their description, yet imperfect in connecting with me in my day to day life; I became aware of something truly important and felt I needed to delve deeper, to research and to understand in a way that I could communicate with others too.
In late 2018 I was fortunate to be accepted for a two-year mentoring programme with Chrysalis Arts Development. Their Arts Council funded programme, Greening Arts Practice supports a group of artists to shift their creative habits and perspectives on life in a planetary emergency, to respond in an entirely new direction as we face an uncomfortable situation for all life. My practice is now totally focussed on this situation, using my creative ability to find ways to communicate complex interconnected subjects to engage everyone. It is a shift from a deeper conceptual work to something more accessible – a response to the crisis we are in where we cannot afford to exclude anyone.
NEWS
RECENT HAPPENINGS - Single-Use Planet?| a pop-up climate+more interactive space inhabited the old NatWest Bank in Grange over Sands, 8-29 Feb 2020.
PREVIOUS PROJECTS, EXHIBITIONS & MORE - I am delighted to announce that I have been selected for a two-year mentoring and professional development programme with Chrysalis Arts Development, find out more here...
- Exploring the Distaff Effect | Miss Isabel Walton at Gawthorpe Textiles Collection, Gawthorpe Hall, Padiham, near Burnley I will be staging curious interventions and happenings on the following dates: OCTOBER 17th, 21st, 24th, 25th and NOVEMBER 3rd, 2018