Jump to content Jump to main menu Jump to toolbar

Katie Goldfinch - Introducing the Young Artists

3rd June 2021

Back in February, I had the pleasure of announcing our Young Artists Development Programme – a new and exciting opportunity for disabled artists in the early stages of their careers, to develop and experiment with their creative practices. We’ve now selected the artists who we’ll be commissioning, and I’m excited to introduce them to you.

We were so impressed by the standard of the applications that came through. Everyone who applied had such thoughtful and imaginative ideas, and it was a pleasure to see the passion each applicant had for their projects. It was fantastic to have this insight into the next generation of disabled artists, but narrowing down our selection to just ten people was very difficult!

We’ve chosen artists who use a range of different practices, and who cover different ground in terms of their subject matter. Experimentation is a big part of the YADP, and we’re excited to see the different techniques that will be used in each artist’s project. This is a brand-new programme for us, and we’re really looking forward to seeing the work it helps create.

A silver and blue round logo for Touretteshero's Young Artist's Development Programme Logo. The abbreviation YADP sits in the centre of a comic book style jagged bubble with stars coming from each corner.

 

Keep reading to learn a little more about each artist, their creative practice, and how you can keep up to date with their work.

Imogen Johnstone

Pronouns: she/her or they/them

Imogen Johnstone A digital drawing of a light skinned person standing against a blue, paint splattered blurred background. The person has blue hair with shaved sides, and is wearing a black jacket with bright badges on it over a coral coloured t-shirt with a broken heart graphic on it. They have fish net tights underneath ripped black skinny jeans and combat boots. They are standing with their hip slightly popped out, and their elbow bent behind their head. Their other arm is outstretched upwards.

Imogen is a keen and eclectic artist who derives inspiration from anything and everything – from comic books to more conventional artists. Being home-schooled has allowed Imogen to develop her artistic interests and style – which she does with both digital and traditional methods.

Imogen was recently diagnosed with Tourettes and autism, and finds that art and music (particularly rock, punk and grunge) help her to relax and alleviate her anxiety.

Rylan Gleave

Pronouns: he/him

Rylan Gleave Rylan sits in front of a grey background, looking at the camera and smiling. He is white with a short hairstyle and a grey coat, with a cream collared shirt.

Rylan Gleave is a Glasgow-based composer and vocalist whose music addresses intersectional identity, re-contextualised natural situations, and quiet, furious resistance!

His compositions tend to focus on both personal and political matters, with recent exploration of navigating gender/neurodiversity and seclusion, acceptance of trauma, and the shores of Scottish archipelagos.

Rylan’s piece winding through seaweed involves a soprano saxophone playing over a sea of pre-recorded saxophone sounds. There are lots of special effects added, so it sounds as if the music is underwater.

Born2bDifferent

Pronouns: he/him

Born2bDifferent An illustrated logo drawn with pen. Big bubble lettering of the number 2 and the letter B are coloured in horizontally, with red, blue, orange, purple and green diagnoal stripes and pink accents. In graffiti font, it says 'born' and 'different' inside of the number 2.

Anton Campbell, a.k.a. Born2bDifferent, is a 15-year-old who produces videos using iMovie and iPhoto. In 2016, he started using a stop motion app to create videos for his YouTube channel. This has helped develop his speech and language skills and reduce his anxiety.

For the YADP, Born2bDifferent is producing a stop motion about urban art. This has been inspired by numerous visits to art centres, museums and a skateboard park in South London.

You can see some of Anton’s previous work on his YouTube channel.

Emily Heather Bower

Pronouns: she/her

Emily Heather Bower Emily is a young woman with medium length curly brown hair, white skin and green eyes. She is wearing a flower garland and a black gingham dress with a collar.

Emily Bower is a young illustrator and writer.

Her work is largely inspired by experiences of autistic people such as herself and the struggle for a sense of place in a neurotypical world.

Her work mostly takes the form of comic books, poetry and art zines, writing their scripts and poetry as well.

You can see more of Emily’s work on her Instagram.

Sorcha Pringle

Pronouns: she/her

Sorcha Pringle Sorcha, a white woman with blonde hair wearing a black top and trousers, stands with a golden retriever guide dog.

Sorcha Pringle is a musician, composer and disabled activist based in Dundee. Her work is largely in the inclusive arts sector in Scotland, where she delivers accessible music workshops, and advocates for equal access to musical and creative experiences for all.

Recently her work has become more closely linked with her activism and she expresses this through poetry and song. You can also find her drinking good coffee or on walks with her dog.

Beth A. Greenwood

Pronouns: she/her

Beth Greenwood A white, brown haired girl with blue eyes in a purple dress with birds and flowers on it, is looking up and smiling in front of some blinds and leaning on a windowsill with one arm.

Beth is a visual artist who regards art as a form of activism. As a swimming teacher and sports student, Beth combines her activism with physical and mental fitness.

Beth is aiming to build a collection of thought-provoking pieces. Beth’s project for the YADP will be a visual exploration of her experience with Tourettes, premonitory urges and Tourettic OCD thoughts.

Helena Ascough

Pronouns: she/her

Helena is a blonde, blue eyed, twenty two year old woman. She is wearing a black top and is against a white backdrop.

Helena is an actor, theatre maker and teacher with an extensive range of performance experience.

She has performed her solo spoken shows at The Lancashire Fringe Festival and Frontline Festival. Her spoken word performances have been commissioned by The Harris Museum, Lancaster arts and Brewtime Collective.

Helena teaches acting at EGG Performing Arts alongside TV actress Ella Grace Gregoire, and is an assistant teacher at The Pauline Quirke Academy.

You can keep up with Helena through her Facebook page.

Maiya Leeke

Pronouns: she/her

Maiya Leeke Maiya is a white female with brown and blonde shoulder length, wavy hair. She is sat backwards in her white active wheelchair, balancing with her front casters off the ground and leaning on her foot plate with her elbow. Her other arm is twisted across her body and

Maiya Leeke is a Contemporary dance artist. She is developing her movement style combining the use of her wheelchair and her musical background. Taking inspiration from a quote by Amanda Gorman, ‘There is always light, if only we are brave enough to see it, if only we are brave enough to be it.’, Maiya is creating a short film exploring finding light in darkness. She’ll be combining sounds of her voice and sounds her wheelchair makes to create the sound score she will be moving to

Liam Alexander Burke

Pronouns: he/him

Liam Burke Liam, a white man with brown hair, is smiling and holding up one of his digital art pieces - a 2D line drawing of Scarborough spa with bold block colouring. There is text below it reading 'The Scarborough Spa'. He is inside in an arts studio.

Liam is a young artist based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Inspired by the love he has for his town, he has been doing a project looking into Scarborough landmarks, and using Photoshop to create detailed artworks from his drawings.

His line drawing of Scarborough Lighthouse was recently shown as part of the Scarborough Arts Trail.

Maria Bradley

Pronouns: she/her

Maria, a smiling young white woman with long brown hair, is sat down in a wheelchair with an old fashioned building behind her.

Maria is a 14-year-old artist, author and illustrator. She’s currently writing and illustrating a book to help educate people about Tourettes syndrome.

‘Tickles’ is the central character of the work Maria is creating. He’s a cuddly purple and blue monster who always wears a smile, with happy little horns and a striped tail. He’s drawn to do different movements, like vocal and motor tics. Maria hopes to help people with Tourettes to feel more included and confident.

Comment

Leave a Reply

Login Register

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Important Message

This site contains an extensive record of genuine Tourettes Syndrome vocal tics which may be sexually explicit, contain strong language or may generally be on an adult theme. It may include material which some may find offensive. For that reason, we do not allow anyone under 18 years to enter our site. Nor should you enter if such material might offend you.

Touretteshero offers a SafeMode filter that removes swearing and adult content from the site. To do this it is necessary for us to place a ‘cookie’ on your computer. We also use ‘cookies’ to link to Twitter, to remember your login preferences, and to record how many people have visited the site. By clicking a button below you are agreeing to cookies being used. For more detailed information on the use of cookies please read our privacy policy.

…