Building a Collaborative Partnership with a Learning Disabled Artist

6/ SUMMARY: JOURNEYING FORWARD

Our day in the studio was the first step towards what hopes to develop into a longer term collaborative partnership. Linda’s response to the day had shown that she was happy to work with me in this new environment, obviously enjoying the interactive process of developing artwork together. This certainly felt like the closest I had come to achieving a balanced, equal partnership with a learning disabled artist. The studio day had been an important part of the ‘selection’ process, empowering Linda to ‘choose’ through direct experience.

Earlier in this process, it had been important for me to meet many learning disabled artists, with the opportunity to learn more about their artistic development from their artist tutors, who showed both a care and understanding in helping them to further their professional practice.

Siobhan had given me a valuable insight into Linda’s daily routine, understanding how her background might influence communication, expectations and behaviour. The success of these initial stages also rested upon the support of the staff at Linda’s residential home. Siobhan’s role as pastoral care worker bridged the gap that can so often hinder an opportunity like this, with transport or carers failing to materialize on the day. While the residential staff member that accompanied Linda to the studio knew little about the activities proposed, it was important that they were there to attend to Linda’s personal care needs, leaving Siobhan and myself to focus on her social or creative needs, helping to maintain a balanced collaborative partnership.

Each collaboration is of course unique in it’s own right. The experience and skills of the individuals involved, and the environment they inhabit, both socially and creatively will influence the process of initiating a working partnership. While some non-disabled and learning disabled artists are able to get to know each other over a number of years, most professional collaborations operate within a fixed timescale. If learning disabled artists are to be accepted as professional artists in their own right, I believe that it is important to be able to collaborate on the same basis.

In looking to the future, there are of course many issues that will need further consideration when developing this collaborative partnership. How will working towards a specific exhibition or commission change the dynamics of this working relationship? How will I maintain a good level of interaction throughout the process to ensure that this continues to be a balanced partnership? Inevitably there will be times when we assume different creative roles, but surely this is the case with any collaborative relationship. The most important part of collaboration for me is communication with the ability to remain flexible, dealing with issues as they arise. Collaboration opens up a new and exciting potential, introducing an element of risk. It creates an unknown chemistry that can breath life into the creative process. I felt that my experience of working with Linda touched upon the very essence of this dynamic process. It has shown me how two artist’s perception of the physical world can come together, revealing something new to them both. Where words were no longer a viable method of communication, interaction was everything. This experience has raised my levels of awareness both in term of the nature of my own creative input as well as building a greater sensitivity towards the input of my collaborative partner.

As Linda left the studio that day I was able to at least say thank you with one of the very few Makaton words I know. I was happy that she understood.

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5/ BUILDING A COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP: A DAY IN THE STUDIO (part 3)

Following a well-earned lunch break, we resumed work, adding some contrastingly soft wool fibre into the spaces within the frame. Returning to the predominantly yellow, free standing structure that we had worked on earlier, we followed the colour theme, adding cellophane to the top. Not sure quite what to add next, I encouraged Linda to choose from the selection of materials on the tactile table. She decided to glue some of the blue rubber rectangles to the front of the structure, cutting more of the same shape from a sheet of the thin rubber. Her inspired choice of colour worked well, set against the yellow background. Siobhan suggested that Linda might have chosen to cut this shape because the one’s that she had chosen earlier had been a similar shape. If there had been a selection of different pre-cut shapes it would have been interesting to see which shape Linda would have chosen to cut herself.

There was a good sense of energy in the studio as the sculptures were taking form, with Linda and I working alongside each other, at times standing back to admire our collaborative efforts. During this process and throughout the day we had avoided assuming different tasks, e.g. one of us cutting and one sticking. There was a continued interchange, which helped to maintain a flowing ‘conversation’ with the materials. Siobhan, having removed herself from the creative process up until now, began to join in a little more, giving the final stages a sense of celebration.

With the day drawing to a close it felt like a good time to move the artwork outside, to see how a change of environment might influence the process of collaboration. We sandwiched the ringed frame within a large metal drying rack outside to discover, to our delight, that if we dropped materials through the square layers, they would tumble to the ground. After a little encouragement, Linda obviously enjoyed throwing the wool into the frame, finishing the day off weaving materials in and around the large square structure. It had felt like a lovely way to round off the day, with smiles all round, having both enjoyed the freedom and spontaneity of our collaborative journey together.

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4/ BUILDING A COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP: A DAY IN THE STUDIO (part 2)

With no clear plan of how to begin and where it would all lead, the collaborative day at last arrived. Siobhan and I had previously considered ways of communicating to Linda where she would be going and what she would be doing on what was normally her gym day. Rather than showing her photos of the space and of myself prior to the day, which may have been rather confusing, it was decided that it might just be best to welcome her to the studio with Siobhan’s familiar face, adhering to her normal studio routines as much as possible, to make her feel at ease. I knew that Linda occasionally had periods when she would suddenly become sad and cry for no apparent reason. Usually showing concern and comforting her would allow these moments to pass but there was really no knowing how she might feel on the day.

To my relief Linda immediately looked interested in the materials, and, following her usual cup of tea before starting, was keen to take a closer look. While she often needed prompting, as if giving her permission to do something, it was clear when she made a choice of her own. I wanted to avoid feeling as though we needed to create a finished, quality artwork that in some way validated the process. This was an opportunity to focus primarily on the way in which we could interact, each of our choices and actions ‘leading’ the other. I was conscious that as a facilitator or ‘artist tutor’, I would have focused on Linda’s material choices and established a method of working that she was happy with to enable her to work independently as much as possible, only intervening when necessary. I felt that it was important to continue this ‘conversation’ with the materials, to build a confidence and understanding that could feed back into the process itself.

There was quite a lot of passing materials backwards and forwards, with Linda pointing at me to do something and me pointing back at Linda, encouraging her to do it herself. I wanted our interaction with the materials to be playful which Linda obviously enjoyed although it was clear when a process or material did not receive her continued interest. I had some very tactile wools and threads that she had been interested in using from the outset, which we kept returning to, with other materials such as rubber, chain and coloured foam matting also clear choices.

After initially moving from one area to the next, experimenting with a range of different processes, some more successfully than others, we sat together at the table, adding a selection of materials to a circular polystyrene block that I had mounted onto a frame. We seemed to have settled into a more fluid method of working, with Linda gaining more confidence, happy to add materials of her choice. Having both enjoyed working within this tight focus, I felt that it was time to open up the process, to enjoy the freedom of the space, exploring a wider range of materials. I looked for Linda’s approval, when connecting the multi-layered frame to the vertical perspex rods, which we began to weave with a selection of colourful fabrics and transparent acetates, wrapping them around the base and interconnecting structure. We flattened some pie tins by playfully jumping up and down on them, glue gunning them onto the back of the structure. While engaging, it was obvious that Linda wasn’t interested in doing more, so we moved our focus to the frame made of acrylic rings that she had shown an interest in when first coming into the studio. We chose a colour roll of cellophane that we stretched between us, twisting it around to weave through the rings, adding some of the tactile wool and steel chains.

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3/ BUILDING A COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP: A DAY IN THE STUDIO (part 1)

Linda Bell is an artist who I had worked with briefly a number of years ago, standing in temporarily as an artist tutor for the South London Studio Project. Her artwork uses repeated forms, often set within a grid like structure. She enjoys interacting with her work, especially if it has an element of movement, very much relating to my own work. She had apparently enjoyed working collaboratively within the studio and had not as yet had as many external exhibiting opportunities as her South London studio peers. Possibly remembering me from years past, I had enjoyed meeting Linda again on my visit to the studio, engaging in a ritual of hand touches that she had initiated.

Since Linda lives in a residential home, it was initially important to find out whether logistically this collaborative day could work. Reliant on the support of care workers within her house, it was important that they understood the nature of what was proposed to support a change of routine for Linda. Working with Action Space’s pastoral care worker, Siobhan Stewart, who had already established a good relationship with staff at the home, everything was put in place.

Siobhan knew Linda well, having monitored her care needs as a member of the South London Studio Project. Siobhan acts as an intermediary between families and carers to co-ordinate the care needs of Action Space artists, both during their time in the studio as well as at external events. Talking to Siobhan gave me an invaluable insight into Linda’s needs and how they might affect our collaborative partnership. As an artist that is both deaf and non-verbal, Linda’s use of Makaton is limited. She had previously responded well to a high level of interaction, making clear, considered choices that reflected her strong personality and creative flair. While I was interested to see how we would establish an effective method of communication, I was confident that Linda was able to make herself well understood when she needed to be.

A studio run by Acava at Blenchynden Street in central London was found and two days allocated to set up and host the collaborative day. As an artist who works from home, this was an exciting opportunity. A large, clear studio opening out onto a bright and, hopefully, sunny outdoor space, to do as we liked, felt like a real treat!

I had allowed one day to prepare the studio, considering the sculptural potential of the large selection of materials that I had gathered together. While I in no way wanted to plan the collaborative day, it was important that the space was visually exciting, with materials laid out or assembled in a way that reflected their potential, encouraging interaction. Initially I constructed a series of frames, using off-cut acrylic circles and tubing, suspending them along the centre of the studio. I knew that Linda was interested in weaving and I thought that these forms might work well weaving collaboratively. I laid out a series of tactile materials on one table, loosely dividing the other materials into plastics, metal and fabrics. I had a few basic tools including a glue gun, with some marker pens set to the side in a tin, to pull out if all else failed. After a long period of creating wrapped and woven sculptures, Linda had been begun working on very detailed pencil drawings, partly inspired by a new member of her studio project. Always keen to make the most of the surrounding environment, I detached the top of a sculpture stand to create a base for some transparent tubing. Knowing that Linda enjoyed an element of movement in her sculptural work, I imagined that these might work well in the outdoor space, flexing in the breeze.

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2/ RESEARCH : MEETING THE ARTISTS

It is here that I start my search for an artist who might be willing to work with me, visiting the studio projects to meet the artists and introduce myself. Each artist tutor has built up a strong relationship with the group members, facilitating their working process, often over a number of years. They are instrumental in identifying opportunities outside the studio projects, supporting artists to further establish their professional practice.

The studio artists work is far ranging, both in it’s form and content, including large, abstract multi-layered canvases, intricate mixed media sculpture, finely drawn portraits and landscapes, public installations and ‘happenings’ as well as some thought provoking text based work. Some of the artists attend more than one studio project, creating very different work on each of the days, often inspired by the other artists in the group. While many artists could easily fill a studio of their own with all the work they produce, the inevitable limitations on space and materials are the only restrictive factors that influence the work produced.

Of course the term ‘learning disabled’ includes an incredibly diverse level of ability, with moderately learning disabled artists often able to discuss and analyse their work while more severely learning disabled artists may be more limited in terms of verbal communication, unable to develop an idea conceptually. This in no way defines the quality of the work itself but does raise additional issues when supporting artists to make decisions in terms of the development of their own practice.

It was clear that for many more severely learning disabled artists process was paramount, often loosing interest in the work once it had been completed. However, exhibiting opportunities had shown that this sense of connection could be strengthened if the artwork was experienced in a different context, allowing artists to re-engage with the work on a physical level.

During this research I had a number of really interesting conversations with the artist tutors supporting these studio projects, all of whom I respected greatly in the skills and understanding that they brought to each group of artists. While it was evident that there was some element of collaborative working within the studios, often with artists working alongside volunteers to support the development of their process led work, the balance of the relationships were always clearly defined. The artist tutors and volunteers were there to facilitate, providing creative guidance when required, both in terms of materials and processes. The artists were clearly the recipients in this relationship.

I was keen to see if a collaborative relationship could be formed on a more equal basis, with each artist leading the other in terms of process. I wanted to find an artist whose practice might benefit from the opportunity of working in a one to one partnership, whose work shared common themes with my own practice. Having discussed the feedback that I had received from the studio artist tutors with Sheryll, I proposed a collaborative trial session, based within a non Action Space studio. I believed that it would be important to be in a neutral space, new to both collaborative partners so that we could engage with each other as much as possible on equal terms. Following discussions with the artist tutors a potential partner was chosen. It was hoped that the trail session would enable this artist to make an informed choice of their own to determine whether there might be potential in establishing a collaborative partnership.

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