Today’s inspiration shares her experience of creating public art in Romania

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Welcome back to our Step it Up Campaign, where our aim is to inspire others to become more active in charity work by sharing stories of social responsibility.

Meet Claire Brewster

Claire Brewster of www.clairebrewster.com is an artist who uses old and out of date maps and atlases as fabrics to create intricate, delicate and detailed sculptures and collages that have been described as “exquisitely ethereal” by The Financial Times.

What you do for charity/charities?
“I worked as a Project Artist on a two-week placement in Romania in 2007. The project aimed to promote and develop the contribution that can be made using Community and Public Arts and Creative Industries to deliver innovative projects through work based vocational training.  Artists will work with a range of partners in Romania. The project was organised by the charity Free Form that specialised in public art projects. The exchange had funding from the Arts Council. The project was to design and produce public art in Turda, to promote the Turdafest street festival. The artwork was designed and produced by UK artists working with artists from Cluj and Turda and festival volunteers from schools and the surrounding area.”

How did this happen?
“I was invited to apply by Freeform and offered the opportunity to take part.”

Why is this a good fit for you?
“I had already spent a year working in Romania, teaching English to adults and children in a private language school in Timisoara. I was keen at the time to develop my skills running workshops and working in public art.”

What have you got out of it?

  • The chance to develop my practice within an international context.
  •  The opportunity to use my artistic skills in new and different ways.
  •  The experience of working within a team with other artists both from the UK and international.
  •  To get a different perspective on my practice and art in general though working and communicating with artists from a different culture.
  •  Furthering my professional development and developing my skills and expertise in combined arts/training which will enable me to use the experience to further my career and lead to new opportunities.
  •  To develop my own practice and find new ideas and inspiration from working within a different context.
  •  Developing a portfolio career, combining my artistic practice with community work and arts training.

What’s your advice to anyone thinking of doing this?
“Go for it, any chance to experience something new and deal with the challenges that working abroad will bring.”

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Please check back often for more Step it Up interviews,
and get in touch if you would like to share your own story!

Lisa

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