Mentoring ON Land and WATER

Artist in residence, commissioned mentor, and guest speaker on cultural history, writing, and art, on board of ships and on land, from the Black Forest to the Black Sea, on desert sand and on Northern seas.

From life to idea, from idea to artistic concept. Talk for artists, printmaking students and teachers, Florence, 2022.

Research seminar about creating opera, writing for the stage, King’s College.

polar self portraits

Mentor for climate-change and sustainability art course, Franklin University Switzerland (2021).

Inside the Polar Artists’ Mind

Scott Polar Research Institute Polar Museum University of Cambridge. International panel convened by Z. Ardó. (2021)

BIG Freeze Festival

Created concept and text for the Big Freeze Challenge: Polar self Portraits international project. Festival launch video speaker (2021)

seenunseen

Large scale public land art installation with mixed age and ability group. (2021)

Noah’s Ark

Large scale public drawing, 12m long, on the highest part of London. Mixed age and ability group. (2020)

Rape of nature

Teaching through interactive public installations along the Seine, Paris. (2019)

UNesco art Camp, Andorra

Teaching colour theory through drawing and painting landscape and self-portrait to school children in the Artists' Atelier of the UNESCO Art Camp, in Ordino. (2018)

Featured speaker and Mentor at the XI Florence Biennale

Invited to talk about sustainability and creativity to the visitors and artists, curators of eARTth, the XI Florence Biennale. (2017)

Polar Self Portraits at the Florence Biennale

Polar self Portraits invited to the XI Florence Biennale. Screening, talk, discussion with artists, scientists, the general public. (2017)

Four land art installations on the top of the Arctic glacier

 that carved out London and the Thames Valley.  Polar self Portraits: landscape turned self.. Climate change through art, with public engagement.  

Polar self Portraits, the article

Mentoring through writing and publishing. Article published by openDemocracy.net in December.

The curious case of the Vanishing ice caps

A selection of my Arctic expedition photos and an interview  published by Adore Noir, the fine art photography magazine.

polar self portraits: Hudson Valley self

Public engagement through my work as the artist in residence of the innovative C4 Ensemble, featuring paintings from my Hudson Valley Self and Therianthropic series, and three concert cycles premiering three of my poems set to music by contemporary composers. C4 Ensemble auctions some of my paintings to support contemporary creativity and music making in June. (2016-17)

from posed selfie to polar self-portrait

Following the series of Polar self Portraits workshops in North West England, workshops continue in various settings in London including the Art Museum in Bloomsbury, Camden Central Library, and the O2 Centre right next to the edge of the Polar glacier during the last Ice Age. Screening of Polar self Portraits the film at Bristol University. Polar self Portraits has also engaged audiences beyond England: Arctic gallery in Greenland, research stations in Antarctica, art festival in France, venues in New York and Washington, an art gallery in Morocco and universities in the Balkan.

POLAR SELFIES IN THE NORTH West OF ENGLAND

Connecting spaces and faces of water through art and climate change. Art workshop, flash mob, pop up by the Irish Sea and the Lake District. Some of the venues include museums such as The Ruskin Museum, the Wordsworth Museum, the Kendal Museum, and the Fleetwood Museum as well sea promenades, market, forest, ferry and the 15th century Red Lion Inn.  Public feedback about these public engagement activities about climate change and art include statements from participants, curators and museum directors.  Press reports about these workshops and land art installations along the Fylde Coast and in the Lake District. (2016)

an artist in search of vanishing polar caps

Illustrated talk and pop up art. Two public engagement events at the Art Museum, University College London. (2016)

Would you like to create a sea in the Garden?

Land art installation with school groups. Flash mob and mentoring about art, climate and change – to jazz. (2016)

il castello e la carovana

Commissioned by local organisations and Buccinasco Council in Milan. Public engagement and mentoring through art workshops, installation and exhibition in Milan. A series of six drawing workshops at the invitation of Barbara Polesel and the Istituto Comprensivo Rita Levi Montalcini and Scuola Primaria di via 1° Maggio. Exhibition including a series of digital art work based on photography I worked on at the local castello and carovana site, and an installation at Buccinasco Castle.

Polar (self) Portraits

How about a self-portrait? How about a landscape? And how about blending the two, stretching their genre boundaries? Public engagement includes exhibitions, online material, talks, workshops and flash mobs in both usual and unusual spaces.

Venues, partners and sponsors are welcome to get in touch via the Contact Page.

Leaves, Lives

Leaves, Lives is a Creatives without Borders flash mob project, involving schools and the public in France, featured by Boz'Art. Leaves, Lives creates a series of flash mob and teaching events. (2016)

Coding You, Coding Me

Coding You, Coding Me is an installation of coded self-portraits, including art workshop about portrait drawing.

Africa, Europe, America

Africa, Europe, America is an international curatorial arts project about the historic triangular relationship between Africa, Europe and America, and its profound impact on the present. I devised the project before going to work twice in the Caribbean as an interactive installation that brings on board 55+ artists and engages the public on several levels. During the two weeks of the exhibition, featured as part of the Boz'Art en Baz'Art art festival inFrance, I worked with several school groups in the gallery of the Château du Bost and with local schools. I very much enjoyed working with the French students and teachers, and the feedback was thrilling. My article about this curatorial project and process – The Calm before the Storm – was published in openDemocracy. AEA in Ateliér Ardó reviewed by the art critic of the largest North London paper. More under Curating.

Arctic Mediterranean at the Nature after Nature public debate, Festival of Ideas, Watershed, Bristol

Arctic Mediterranean, a photo essay from my Arctic water and Arctic underwater photography was invited by Nature after Nature, a public debate about the value of being natural in the age of marvellous technologies. This event was hosted by the Festival of Ideas in Bristol's Watershed. The looped screening of my photo essay about the Arctic was screened to engage the public with visual interpretation of nature before diving into the sea of words. 

Arctic on Trafalgar Square, by the National Gallery

Street-turned-gallery session on Trafalgar Square Sunday morning. It turns out that although people may prefer to spend time outside the National Gallery but that does not necessarily mean they do not want to look at and discuss art. Quite the contrary. 

Arctic at the Duke of York Column, by the Institute of Contemporary Art

Comparative street-turned-gallery mentoring sessions in the afternoon at the Duke of York Column, right by the Institute of Contemporary Art. Conversations about figurative versus abstract art, the Arctic and climate change -- while having a closer look at the canvases 'framed' by the Column. 

Here There, Now Then: Switch Me On

Part of the Here There, Now Then solo exhibition at the Royal Institution about nature, technology, the Arctic and climate change. Supported by an Arts Council grant.  Artist-led tours and discussions. Teaching drawing workshops for art students.

Nature's Skin for Lunch

Paintings from the Nature's Skin series exhibited during the lunchtime rush hour in the restaurant, perched on one of the highest points of the Heath, carved out by Arctic glaciers. Part of the The Here There, Now Then arts project, supported by an Arts Council grant.

Imaginary Landscape: Lo and Behold, an Olive Tree in the Arctic!

Talk, Q&A and mentoring workshop for arts students at The Royal Institution. Part of the The Here There, Now Then arts project, supported by an Arts Council grant.

But still try for who knows what's possible (Faraday)

Devising and facilitating a flash mob performance with a group of artists on board of the expedition in the High Arctic. Part of the The Here There, Now Then arts project, supported by an Arts Council grant.

Creatives without Borders installation and exhibition at the British Parliament

Artist-led tours of and discussion about the installation throughout the time of the exhibition.

Lecturing, public speaking

Lecturing about aspects of art and cultural history, in various contexts and different audiences. Speaker assignments. Ongoing.

The Collaborative Cool: London

London is a magnet for millions of us – and counting. Let's collaborate on a list of really cool and free things to do in and about town. Email your suggestions via the Contact Form on this site for The Collaborative Cool, including the nature of the activity, the location and any other relevant info.

In the heat of the Caribbean sun, in the shade of a Caribbean park

Portrait drawing and painting techniques. Teaching and mentoring art workshops for groups of children and young adults in the park. Port au Prince, Haiti.

We Are More

Invited to give an illustrated talk about my work at the European Artists Conference in Essen, Velbert, Germany (2014)

Why Photography, Why Painting

Illustrated talks, teaching and mentoring workshops for school and adult groups. Beaux Art Festival, Bellerive, France.

Tears, Apples and Stones

Teaching through walk-through talk about my large-scale installation exploring the act and nature of memory, featured by the Contemporary Art Centre Somorja/Samorin by the Danube in Slovakia. (2012)

And There Was Light

Sculptural installation about our assumptions about energy and nature. Sculpture Biennale of Graz, Botanical Gardens. Mentoring through interactive art. (2012)

Transcultural exchange

Featured speaker and mentor. (2011)

Allegro Barbaro: a visual poem about memory and creativity

Talk and Q&A about my short film, Allegro Barbaro, at the Institute of Contemporary Art, ICA, London.

Public engagement as part of the Here There, Now Then arts project was supported by an Arts Council grant.

Satellite television series for Eurostep, from the TV studios of King’s College London.