Prototype Projects support artists working with communities to test, explore and develop new, innovative ideas and engage new audiences, or develop their own artistic practice. For 2023, we asked artists to respond to the themes in our autumn programme, A Sense of Green - a series of art events (25th July - 14th October 2023) celebrating our community’s love and appreciation of local green spaces.
About the Projects (2023)
Benjamina Albanese
Let’s Make Rubbish Art is an artistic play area where Benjamina challenged audiences to reconsider what we think of as ‘waste’ by reimagining waste materials as an opportunity. She invited people to make art from a range of materials she has accumulated over years of zero-waste living, as part of A Sense of Green at Incredible Edible.
Benjamina is a Liverpool-born, St Helens-based writer, performer and creative exploring themes of nature and identity fed by the roots of queerness, disability, and heritage. Sustainability and accessibility are held at the heart of her practice, as well as the importance of gentle activism.
John Maguire
John Maguire’s PARKLIFE was a series of creative workshops, which included shared reading, drawing, writing, meditation and discussion. The work produced by John and his collaborators explored the importance of the local environment, promoted climate awareness and how we can all help to look after our precious ‘green lungs’ (parks, gardens and fields), and the resulting poetry was shared as part of A Sense of Green at Incredible Edible.
John is a writer, playwright, historic walking-tours operator, community activist and Creative Director of ArtsGroupie CIC, which aims to make the arts accessible to all by taking theatre productions, heritage walking tours and creative workshops to communities across the North West.
Laura-Kate Draws
Laura-Kate Draws worked with a group of Buzz Hub St Helens members to explore environmental activism and sustainability through sensory drawing and printmaking workshops. Using plastics collected from beaches, woodlands and urban areas, they discussed the damage these items cause to the environment.
Laura-Kate is an illustrator, printmaker and workshop artist, with over 14 years’ experience working on a range of creative commissions as an illustrator and over 10 years’ of experience delivering workshops. Laura-Kate often works collaboratively on projects, most recently on a Historic England High Street Heritage project in Fleetwood with schools and communities over the course of a year.
Becca Rauer
Folklore, mythology and storytelling have been used for centuries to influence behaviour and instil morals in children and adults. Many of these powerful stories include environmental conservation themes that are so pervasive, they steer policy today. Becca Rauer hosted two embroidery workshops, inspired by discussions about the links between the environment and folklore. The sessions explored how folklore helps to shape attitudes towards green spaces, with audiences invited to share stories and knowledge whilst creating embroidered artworks.
Based in St Helens, Becca is an experienced embroiderer and crafter, who discovered her skills at University and has since shared her creative passion through her small business at makers’ markets and in her former career as a primary school teacher.
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