I'm a qualified architect, with Art Foundation, Master of Arts in Architecture from the University of Cambridge, and a Master of Science in Architecture, winning several awards.

I have sold artwork and made commissioned pieces.

I have led in-person design workshops with 6 to 600 people, aged 8 to 80, and taught on Outschool since 2020.

I have designed many schools in and around London, specialising in "SEBD" alternative provision, for children with "Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties" (now called SEMH, Social Emotional and Mental Health support.)

My Early Years - or, How I Lost my Love of Making Art... at Art School!

I was a prolific creator as a small child, I loved to make, and this continued into my teen years where I built up an amazing portfolio of work and even sold some of my pieces. I longed to go to art school. 

However, once I was there, I was completely confused by the teaching and my work was judged to be "wrong". This knocked my confidence hugely. Then again at Architecture school, I felt crushed by the negative judgments of the tutors, with stand-up presentations every 1-2 weeks for 5 years. Despite gaining a good degree and winning awards at postgraduate level, I still had a big dent in my creative confidence.

The problem, I realised many years later, was that I had constantly felt judged as a person, by well-meaning adults who critiqued my artwork. Even when they said it was "good", that created internal pressure to "keep making good art". I carried this desire to impress other people - and internalised fear of letting people down, not fulfilling my potential, or being laughed at or judged harshly - until I was in my 40's. I still had to draw, design and create for work in my architecture business, and I loved collaborating with artists, but I felt very self-conscious. It didn't help that I was hanging out with top-level artists and designers, who I judged to be "much better than me". 

I would often start my own art projects, but give up as my self-confidence withered and I didn't want to show anyone my artwork.

It was having my own children that made me come back to art as a free, exploratory activity. They had fun with it! I encouraged that in them and to not let other people's reactions to their drawings influence them too much - even the praise. As Carol Black says in her brilliant essay "Children, Learning, and the 'Evaluative Gaze' of School", "a watched pot loses the desire to boil". A child praised for their artwork can become very self-conscious and afraid to make "mistakes".

I've worked a lot with drawing, professionally. But the pressure of people judging my art work was so strong that I lost the desire to make art and to be creative. 

Now I make ugly art on purpose (as well as some beautiful things) because it helps me to be more creative. It helps me to be free to explore things that I don't have to worry about what it's going to look like. Sometimes it does end up looking really nice, or it gives me an idea for a new texture or combining different art materials. Mostly I just enjoy the freedom to "make a mess", ruin the paper, let a line take itself for a walk across multiple pages... 

My daughters and their teen friends enjoy the freedom they feel to explore with art, music, film, creative writing etc. Often they think what they've made "isn't very good" or "isn't how I hoped it would turn out" - but when they go back to it later, they see it with fresh eyes.

I'm delighted to be able to share the love of creativity with children and teens in a friendly, encouraging, fun, non-evaluative learning experience.