Anne-Marie Atkinson West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
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Visual artist based in Leeds. My interdisciplinary practice includes photography, installation, drawing, & digital media, with a socially engaged focus. Organisations I have worked with include: Pyramid, Leeds (2015-present); Venture Arts, Manchester (2018-present); Creativity Explored, San Francisco (2020-2021); East Street Arts, Leeds (2014 – 2017); Yorkshire ArtSpace, Sheffield (2014).

My interdisciplinary practice includes photography, installation, drawing, and digital media, with a socially engaged focus. I collaborate with people from all walks of life, including those who are underrepresented in the arts, and proactively address a wide range of access needs to enhance inclusion. I meet people where they are, scaffolding their experience by providing engaging materials and techniques that build confidence and facilitate self-expression.

My practice explores questions such as: how does art function in the world? How is art related to, and distinct from, other forms of social and cultural production? Is it possible (or even desirable) for art to create social change? And crucially, what makes someone an artist? I am currently researching how learning disabled artists are informing contemporary art through a practice-led PhD supported by a VC Scholarship at Manchester Metropolitan University (2018 – 2024), with partner organisation Venture Arts, Manchester. Additionally, I have recently become a studio holder at Assembly House, Leeds, where I am establishing how the material/aesthetic strategies in my personal practice – such as layering, erasure, and duplication – provide a distinct visual answer to the collaborative motivations behind my work.

Significant works include: • Mentoring a group of young people at Manchester Art Gallery (2022) to research the themes of British Art Show 9 and create artworks in response. The group gained knowledge of professional practice and cross disciplinary collaboration to support their career development. • Collaboration with a learning disabled artist for over 3.5 years through Pyramid, Leeds (2015-2019). Over this time we presented in several group exhibited and were awarded a £15000 grant from Leeds2023 to create a large-scale photographic installation during the BEYOND Festival (2018). His confidence grew visibly and as a result, Pyramid followed our model to focus on 1-1 collaboration. • What didn’t you do to bury me? But you forgot I was a seed (2016). Residency/commission from East Street Arts, with funding from Leeds Inspired. Collaborating with a dancer, we held workshops at a black elders society and local primary schools, gathering stories to develop an outdoor performance. East Street Arts stated that they were better embedded in the local community as a result of our work.

I have also worked with/exhibited at: Manchester Art Gallery (2022) ; Rogue Studios, Manchester (2022); Abingdon Studios, Blackpool (2021); Creativity Explored, San Francisco (2020-2021); Paradise Works, Salford (2019); Islington Mill, Salford (2019); Leeds 2023 (2018); BEYOND Learning Disability & the Arts in Leeds (2017 – 2018); East Street Arts, Leeds (2014 – 2017); Yorkshire Dance, Leeds (2016-2017); Leeds Playhouse (2017); The Rocket Artists, Brighton (2016); North Yorkshire Libraries (2015); The Tetley, Leeds (2013-2015); Yorkshire ArtSpace, Sheffield (2014); Yorkshire Visual Arts Network (2014); Leeds Art Gallery (2009).

Qualifications: BA (hons) Photography (2011) – Leeds Arts University. PG Cert Inclusive Arts Practice (2016) – The University of Brighton. MFA Collaborative Practices (2018) – Manchester Metropolitan University.

Academic conference presentations include: International Journal of Art and Design Education Conference, March 2021; International Union of Anthropological and Ethnographic Sciences Congress, March 2021; University of Leeds PGR Conference, July 2019; University of Sheffield PGR Conference, July 2019; European Outsider Art Conference, Stockholm, May 2019. Journal article: https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12326

Teaching activities: Lecturer: BA (hons) Fine Art and Unit X, Manchester School of Art/MMU, March 2022 - ongoing Associate Lecturer: BA (hons) Art Theory and Practice, BA (hons) Fine Art, and Unit X, Manchester School of Art/MMU, March 2019 - Feb 2022 Graduate Teaching Assistant: BA (Hons) Interactive Arts and Unit X, Manchester School of Art/MMU , Sept 2017 - June 2020

Projects and exhibitions

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The Dark Light, in collaboration with learning disabled artist Andrew Towse

01/03/2016 — 30/04/2016

Six A2 digital collages, printed on Perspex and mounted on light boxes. The image gallery includes two close-up images.

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