Creative Workshops for Mothers

"The beginning is perhaps more difficult than anything else, but keep heart, it will turn out all right"

Vincent Van Gogh

Nikki Bovis-Coulter

 

Community Artist

I have a background in Art and Design , specialising in Illustration, and for years I worked in publishing, as well as running a design and production company with my husband which included sign-writing, web design and events management, but my real heart is for community art and helping people discover the creativity in themselves, which is there in all of us – we just sometimes need help expressing it or finding an outlet for it.

 

I’ve included below some examples of current and past work…

I have worked on various local history projects with community groups, previously in Portsmouth and now in Coventry. I am currently finalising a booklet I’ve designed for the Tile Hill People and Places project.

This was a huge wall piece in the dinner hall at Isambard Brunel School in Portsmouth where I worked in collaboration with dot to dot community arts group – it was an all-inclusive school project with every child taking part. The idea was a picnic mat with each square holding a ‘dinner plate’ and the frieze around the edge was made with fruit shapes made out of pieces of fruit and veg at various sizes. Never mind 5 a day – more like 500…! After each child had made a segment of pattern I ran a computer workshop where they could learn to copy and mirror their piece of work to create a whole circle.

This was my Book of the Garden – literally a growing piece of artwork, combining sketching, photography, poetry, painting, collage and actual plants growing from under the pages.

Personalised placements designed from baby and toddlers patterns (with a bit of help from their grown ups).

Some temporary floor art made with primary school aged children in Coventry Cathedral at the Wounded Planet conference – thinking about conservation and pollution.

“The Plus Side of Life” was a piece of community artwork designed to celebrate the positives of life in Coventry and involve the community of Spon End. “The Plus Side of Life” is also a catchphrase used by Radio Plus 101.5fm which is a community radio station broadcasting from inside the building to which this artwork is attached. Over 100 patterns were made at local toddler groups, mental health befriending groups and community drop-in sessions. The flowers were made at a community allotment open day. The artwork features a circular representation of the junctions around the Coventry ring road, as well as the River Sherbourne which runs through (and in places beneath) the city, and alludes to some iconic structures as well.

 

Meet the other artists: