NPA Lab | 2022
Ilsa Brittain + Amy Dury + James Robert Morrison
Ilsa Brittain has travelled, calling over 30 places her home in 14 different countries. She describes herself as always ‘a guest, an outsider, an observer’ and this feeds in to her work. Now back in the UK she says she is ‘early in career, later in life, out of sync – a female phenomenon.’ As a painter she deals in the simplicity and complexity of psychological layers.
Amy Dury is a painter working with found and vintage imagery. She constructs narratives using figure, gesture and colour to speak to our history, our present, our identities. Having studied printmaking and only come to painting five years ago, she found herself starting a lifelong journey into understanding and loving paint.
After graduating in 2002, James Robert Morrison worked in a central London art gallery for three years, following this, he moved into the public sector where he has worked for the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, Arts Council England and the UK Government Art Collection. In 2019, after a 17-year break, he went back into the studio to continue his art practice.
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Reflections on peer to peer mentoring
Ilsa Brittain
Putting together the proposal really helped me focus on what it was I could offer, how best to curate it, and how to present it persuasively. And I felt motivated to find galleries that would suit the proposal. When we came together to hear each others’ pitches it was really informative to see how the different ideas were received, and to dig in with how each could be improved. This was a really welcome chance to gain important information, and constructive support from fellow artists who understand the difficulties of the process. Really wonderful – I’m so grateful for the opportunity!
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Reflections on peer to peer mentoring
Amy Dury
Presenting my proposal to the group was entirely beneficial – in fact the conversation led me to feel that it was entirely insufficient and that I would like to restructure it completely. The conversation also sparked some new ideas for how and where my work could be presented and I now have a specific project I would like to pitch. Both artists in my group were helpful, interesting and pro-active which gave me a much needed push and guidance.
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Reflections on peer to peer mentoring
James Robert Morrison
Peer mentoring is an essential, but often overlooked aspect of an artist’s working life – upon returning to my practice after 17-years away, my artist network needed growth after being reduced to only two people. Personally, I find networking, meeting, reaching out to, and maintaining relationships with new people difficult. This led me to apply for the 2022 np.a professional development programme in the hope it might help, and I am glad to say it exceeded expectations by enabling me to undertake valuable peer mentoring and establish a new, large and diverse network of artists for the future.