By colin and sarah | Email to a friend | Digg |
Published: Thursday 18 Dec 2008
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Hi, I am Colin

Having sacrificed art as a subject I loved at school for a ‘real’ job I roamed the world as an industrial gypsy. I contributed to many engineering and fabrication projects on my travels but the thought of what I really loved to do still echoed in my mind. I began experimenting in the media I was working with at the time creating design objects in cold steel and using other fabrication techniques.

I gained an appreciation of other cultures and peoples and acquired new life skills that travelling the planet can give. I then chose to follow my heart and undertake a degree as a mature student in 3 Dimensional Design at Northumbria University. As an independent designer I have undertaken bespoke commissions to design for both large corporate companies and individual clients.

I now lecture at Northumbria University on the 3 Dimensional Design and Product Design Technology Degree courses helping others to explore their creative talents.

Hi I am Sarah

My father was in the Navy and as a child I moved around the country, I have enjoyed many areas of this green and pleasant land but still return with a gladdened heart to the North East.

On leaving school, I studied for a degree in Fashion and Textiles at Leicester Polytechnic and spent my formative career as a creative fashion designer in London. After 18 years in London I moved back to the North East to be with family and raise my 2 boys, Callum and John. I then put my art and design skills into teaching. I have taught at all levels from primary, secondary through Further Education and University lecturing. In my present job I lecture in Fashion Communication and Fashion Marketing at Northumbria University where I help students in nurturing their creativity.

We both love the North East and its picturesque, industrial and fishing coastlines from Bamburgh to Redcar to Whitby and the Towns and Rivers that make this area unique and individual together with the people and its expressive culture.

We have a love of art and any creative means of expression and how this impinges on all aspects of our lives. Mark made art accessible, a ‘have a go it is achievable’ attitude that encouraged people to take control for themselves. It is his approach that we hope we can work towards for young people in the North East.

We talk and communicate to each other through so many visual cues in our world that embracing and making a way of talking through our own images must be a positive thing for both young and old.

Whatever your age, skills and abilities if you have some time and ideas you want to share with us in finding new ways to help young people get involved in Art and Creating then please do not hesitate to contact us.

These events and facilities need not only people who can work with young people directly but also those who can research, fundraise and organise to make the process happen.

Colin and Sarah