In 2024, I devised and delivered the Artist Development Programme, Pier Peers for Felixstowe-based arts organisation Pier Projects.

From June 2024 to January 2025, June Pier Peers supported the creative development of a diverse group of artists based in the East of England (Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire) through group activities led by guest artists, individual and group coaching with me, somatic workshops and writing workshops, all tailored to the participants’ interests and needs. 

Pier Peers foregrounded practices that support personal and community resilience. It prioritised a holistic approach to creativity with three main strands: embodied creativity, self-awareness, and collaborative dynamics.

In May 2024, a panel composed of artists Ruth Catlow, Carl Gent, Ruth Kathryn Jones, and Harun Morrison selected six artists to take part in Pier Peers:

Michelle Brace, Catalina Carvajal, Cath Cartman, Stevie Mackenzie-Smith, Holly Sandiford, and Rachel Wright

In July the cohort met for the first in-person gathering in Felixstowe. During the afternoon, we were joined by Harun Morrison, who delivered a workshop around The Artist’s Web of Needs (2011-ongoing), a self-diagnostic tool he first developed with Helen Walker as part of the collaborative practice They Are Here, and a series of ‘Speculative Telepathic Exercises’ (2024).

During the month of September, the Peers took part in a series of workshops anchored in specific techniques and concepts from yoga practice and philosophy, which I devised to highlight and explore the embodied aspects of creativity.

The second in-person gathering in Felixstowe took place in early October. It involved a group coaching workshop in the morning. For the afternoon, artist Anna Hart led a silent walk around Felixstowe, titled ‘Two Circles, Two Lines (It’s Alright Babe)’ (2024), which was specially commissioned for Pier Peers.

For the final in-person gathering inal in Felixstowe, artist Ruth Catlow delivered an Interspecies Meditation and crit session, and artist Sam Winston offered a Darkness Drawing workshop.

The in-person gatherings were hosted by Hamilton MAS, Felixstowe.

For more information, visit Pier Projects’ website.

Pier Peers was funded by Arts Council England as part of an 18-month programme of activity delivered by Pier Projects.