With 21 years’ experience of socially-engaged creative practice in visual arts & crafts/ mixed media, poetry & creative writing, Community Artist-Educator & Cross-Cultural Practitioner Jay, feels blessed to have returned to Medway, back to her roots.
In celebration of this Home-Coming, she is connecting with old friends & new, establishing innovative partnerships & breaking new ground, most recently in collaboration with Medway Diversity Forum MDF. Their Mental Harmony exhibition, inaugurated by Madam Mayor Cllr. Nina Gurung, at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, was the first of its kind Mental Health & Well Being project working with multiple, culturally-diverse communities across Medway.
After graduating from the University of South Wales in Communication Studies, Jay was employed by the London Studios, & the BBC, before retraining in Childcare & Playwork with Medway Council, to whom she is grateful for the first of many celebratory community art commissions.
Passionate about lifelong learning, her work remains child-centred & reflexive. In collaboration with universities & schools, Jay delivers customised, cross-curricular educational workshops, as a facilitator & creative trainer, photographer & designer. Her experience includes local & regional Artist Residencies with Children’s Centres, youth clubs, libraries, museums, galleries, trusts, councils, agencies & charitable organisations, bringing people of all ages, abilities & backgrounds together through a shared love of Creativity, Nature-Connection & Belonging.
In continuing to co-create with students, staff, governors & trustees on experiential, enriching projects to be featured in public spaces, she forges fresh partnerships & links. Current commissions celebrate Gillingham & Rainham. Last year, Jay initiated landmark collaborations at her secondary school, co-delivering projects featuring Pupil Voice, World Mental Awareness Health Week, Medway Print Festival & World Environment Day.
Jay’s interest in the embodiment & cultivation of Heart-Centred Leadership, & the conscious process of ‘Unlearning’, continue to fascinate her, as responsive explorations of heritage, identity, & indigenous ways of Seeing, of Thinking, of Being, unfold, collating narratives, dialogues & oral history along the way. She is training in Level 3 Counselling Skills for Children & Young People, in contribution towards Intergenerational Healing.
Workshop: Legacy of Community: Who Are We?
Celebrate this year’s KArtsCon 2024 theme of Legacy by joining Medway-raised creative, Jay, in building bridges, new connections & mark Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust’s 40th anniversary.
This experiential, process-based, mini-workshop will focus on our unique & collective sense of legacy, identity & community.
Jay’s invitation is for people to have fun with their creativity, be present in the present, to see how it feels to co-create spontaneously, solo or in groups, leaving a legacy of making & of being in the moment.
Through playfully engaging in mixed-media visual arts, space will be held for participants to connect with each other in real time & document how it feels.
Participants are free to share their creative process in a welcoming space, where their voices can be heard, where our work can be seen, where emerging connections can grow & flourish. Together.
Community Artist-Educator & Cross-Cultural Practitioner: j@jayata.co.uk