Sarah has over 15 years of sharing and developing creative skills through workshops and tuition and enjoys observing the development of creative skills and exploring wellbeing through activities with different groups. She has worked considerably with children in activities exploring wellbeing, identity and voice. She has also supported schools, cultural organisations, medical organisations and community groups to develop arts and wellbeing practices.
Sarah has developed arts activities with school children and teachers, worked with galleries and arts organisations' creative learning teams, lectured in London's art colleges including the Slade School of Art, and facilitated workshops in workplaces and residential homes.
Child-led Early Years Projects
Co-creation of projects with children aged 2.5 to 5 years, responding to
- and led by - the passions, ideas and interests of mini creative geniuses
- and led by - the passions, ideas and interests of mini creative geniuses
I may bring a wealth of art materials, practical knowledge and methods into Early Years settings, but as a creative practitioner/facilitator who values co-creation I am truly at the mercy of the children's ideas! Working closely with the children in each case, we have explored numbers, concepts of night and day, learned about animals and their habitats, and co-created our own magical adventure stories. Creative products include exhibitions curated by the children, a whole-nursery story book, story walks for children and families set up by the children themselves, performances and shows.
Pictured: "A Magical Nursery Adventure" Story walk, 2024
Wellbeing and Art workshops for schools
Delivered for the Harris Academy Federation, in partnership with The Natural Craft
These day-long sessions are run for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 as part of the MAT's annual wellbeing week. The pupils design their own nature journals, creating the book cover with natural materials and constructing the books themselves by choosing colourful paper and binding the pages together.
"I can't wait to write in my book and show my mum!"
Wellbeing zine-making workshops
Delivered for/in partnership with:
Practitioners from the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Staff teams from Warner Music
The Ideal Home Show 2022 and
Individual adults and community groups
Practitioners from the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Staff teams from Warner Music
The Ideal Home Show 2022 and
Individual adults and community groups
The wellbeing zine-making sessions are drawn directly from my own studio practice. I started to develop zines and experimental bookbinding during lockdown in 2020 and found they are a powerfully tactile way to communicate through visual art and writing. Zines, small DIY books often made from one single sheet of paper, are a quick and effective artform and translate well into a wellbeing context.
These sessions are scheduled during the lunch hour or evenings where participants can take valuable time out for their own wellbeing. They attend online, from their places of work which included offices, hospital wards and surgeries.
First delivered and developed for Arts and Health Hub in 2021.
“This was very wonderful. It's been brilliant to focus in on something. Thank you Sarah and everyone for sharing such beautiful words and pictures. It has been great and something I will share with those I support.”
(Psychotherapist – wellbeing art workshop participant)
CPD - Creative curriculum planning and goal setting for teachers
Facilitator for a programme of arts-led curriculum planning and CPD sessions for senior leaders and teachers from across South London schools, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
In our sessions we explored different whole school problems and the different ways in which creative learning might support school priorities and curriculum needs.
Commissioned by A New Direction
Adventures in Learning
Adventures in Learning was an online teacher development programme with 35 teachers across 9 primary schools in London.
Co-development, along with 5 other creative practitioners, of a programme of online creative workshops and small group coaching. Together we developed 3 packs of creative challenge cards which were sent to every teacher for use across literacy, the arts and other curriculum areas. We developed 3 themes: adventures in time, adventures in space and adventures in wellbeing.
During the Adventures in Learning programme I developed a zine-making workshop which teachers did online and then took into their classroom. This was very well received as zines work very well across different curriculum areas. It had a great deal of positive feedback from the teachers after the classroom activity.
Managed by Nimble Fish and A New Direction
Key Stage 1 Art Club
Creative sessions for 4-7 year olds
Workshop leader for a termly art club in North London. Sessions include clay sculpture, graffiti, painting, drawing and bookbinding, and every week we work with an exciting range of techniques and materials.
“I can’t believe what my children manage to achieve in such a short amount of time at art club! It’s always really well thought out and lovely, thank you Sarah!” (Art club parent)
Year 3 creative workshops
Year 3 pupils in 100 schools across London
Part of Steve McQueen's Year 3, delivered in partnership with 11 other artists and creative practitioners.
Co-development, along with 11 other artists, of the concept of The Tate Vault for schools taking part in the Steve McQueen Year 3 exhibition for Tate Britain. Together we worked with Year 3 children across 100 London schools in an engaging range of arts workshops to develop their own archives filled with creative works that documented social and personal themes including their own identity, their community and their hopes for the future. This inspired a set of classroom resources called Learning Lenses, co-authored by this group of artists.
"The children were fully engaged and enjoyed every minute of the workshop."
"The sessions are extremely engaging and interesting. They are definitely ideas we will plan to use again with a different year group."
Delivered for Tate Britain and A New Direction
Newham Patrin
Audio exhibition with residents of a Newham Care home
Working with Brolly Productions as participation curator from 2019 to 2020, I facilitated creative workshops that encouraged place-based memory sharing where women residents at a care home were able to tell stories of their time in the borough of Newham and identify meaningful music.
Brolly developed an online exhibition of these stories and songs in celebration of the area, of womanhood and of the sensory connections between song and memory.
The Newham Patrin accompanies The Stopping Place, an online audio/visual theatrical piece by Brolly Productions
Brolly Productions | The Stopping Place
Eco Poster Campaign
Printing and Cinquain poetry workshops with year 5 classes, delivered in collaboration with artists at UP Projects
Annual printmaking and creative writing workshops with Years 2-5 in an Enfield primary school to create individual posters including slogan-writing and cinquain poetry about the natural world. The children consider an environmental issue that is important to them, then explore block printing to communicate their message visually and poetry-writing to communicate their message through creative writing. The day-long sessions end in an exhibition and discussion.
