Tamsin Williams Artist
What I do…
- Artist residencies, working with communities
- Work to commission on site-specific light installations
- Provide workshops for young people, adults and older people
- Performance work
- Artist mentoring
- Presentations on residencies
Residencies
I am keen and energetic in encouraging people to participate in creative projects on my residencies. Hearing people’s stories and personal experiences about places helps me to gain a better understanding of the relationship between a community and particular place, be it a school, a church, a train or a youth club. Through personal observations we start to see a microcosm that often reflects the bigger picture, the macrocosm, the world.
Site-specific light installations
These installations are often an element of a residency. I have worked on installations in churches and more recently in a highland town on a restored building. My images are inspired by the buildings and surrounding area. For example in Guildford Cathedral the doves and angels in the Nave, and the architecture inspired by an aircraft hanger, led me to research images of ‘flight’ and how we perceive flying in aeroplanes.
Work with young people, adults and older people
I have an intuitive ability to recognise an individuals needs, combined with an enthusiasm about art and a strong desire to provide people with creative opportunities. I adopt an imaginative approach to facilitating art, technology, video making, Photoshop and physical theatre for a range of age groups in commuity centres, schools, youth clubs, art centres and festivals. This can involve game playing in order to ease nerves or simply to get to know one another on a course.
I believe that patience, encouragement and sympathy is required when facilitating new skills, especially since people often lack confidence in being creative or are perhaps elderly and anxious about working with new materials, especially computers. I teach Photoshop with visual games, such as consequences, to encourage people to relax and laugh whilst learning.
During the Shambala festival in August 2003 I taught fifteen people Physical theatre techniques to create a shadow performance inside a huge lantern. These people had no previous experience of performing and were surprised by their confidence and the results after a two hour workshop.
Performance work
During a Physical Theatre course in 2002 I realised the potential to break through creative blocks with movement and games. I also began my most personal work to date, Work in Progress with physical and powerful visual metaphors. It is a moving celebration of life, creating universal metaphors with diaries. I’m currently developing and exploring it’s boundaries: as both performance and honest presentation of my artist self to a befriended audience. I hope to perform the work in the near future once I find a suitable venue.
I have introduced physical theatre to enhance my video workshops. This includes games to loosen people up, exercises encouraging people to work together and giving people more confidence in front of the camera.
Artist mentoring
During my residency in Wick Youth Club I mentored a New Deal trainee, Jonny Broad, an English graduate with little arts training. I delegated administrative duties, such as researching digital equipment, timetabling use of equipment, written and photographic project documentation, as well as researching local stories and images for inspiration. I gave him one-to-one training in editing with Final Cut Pro. We planned video workshops together and he eventually led the video group with demonstrations in low-tech special effects with the camera and Final Cut Pro. He also worked with the young people technically assisting them in completing their own videos. The workshops continued through the summer once my residency was complete in June 2004.
Currently I’m mentoring Freestyle, a group of three young artists. I’m leading a series of learning sessions on working interactively and professionally with community groups on arts projects. This is a project organised and overseen by the Brighton gallery Fabrica.