#laf2019

Creative Experience - presentation at Escuela de Arte Pancho Lasso  

Over the past few weeks Sarah-Jane has been in touch with the fabulous team at Escuela de Arte Pancho Lasso, the Lanzarote School of Art. The discussions between them led to Sarah-Jane delivering a presentation to many of their students, lecturers and alumni last week.

The presentation topic was about Sarah-Jane’s ‘Creative Experience’ to-date, and her artistic journey so far. It also provided an opportunity to talk about The Lacuna Studios and what we intend to bring to the island.

Sarah-Jane was introduced by Carmen Miranda a lecturer from the college. Sarah-Jane talked about her formal art education from GCSE through to her PGCE. The progression initially led to Sarah-Jane being a secondary school teacher in Leeds. However, after five years, she decided that this wasn’t the career choice that best suited her and she moved to Cyprus to undertake her Masters Degree with the support of artist and educator Stass Paraskos at the Cyprus College of Art. Stass had a huge influence on not only her art but also on her vision of her career and indeed her whole life for the future.

Sarah-Jane returned from Cyprus and set up as an Artist Educator, working creatively in many varied locations. Some examples are The Tetley Art Gallery, Leeds Museums, Cannon Hall Museum Park and Gardens, Arts Council England, The Arts Council Collection, The National Arts Education Archive, The Marks and Spencer Archive and National Portfolio Galleries such as the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Sarah-Jane has developed her own publishing house Next Generation Publications which has been able to publish a number of books created by participating children and relating to projects she has delivered over a number of years (these books are now available from the British Library).

The final section of Sarah-Jane’s talk explained about how her past experiences and teachings from Stass have led to the creation of The Lacuna Studios. She explained that how, along with Simon Turner, they aim to create residential art studios on the island of Lanzarote to provide facilities for both local and international artists and art students to learn and create in relaxed surroundings with no obligations.

Sarah-Jane talked about her experiences with other influential artists and her involvement with The Frozen Academy, an arts collective headed by Josef Danek.  She also spoke of her regular involvement in the Larroque Arts Festival, directed by Professor Kenneth G. Hay from the Gallerie la Vielle Poste in Larroque. This is an international Arts Festival based in the rural village of Larroque in the South of France. The Lacuna Studios is proud to twin with for 2019 and deliver the Lanzarote Arts Festival at the end of July through to the beginning of August.

Sarah-Jane opened up the floor for questions from the audience with some very interested students keen to find out more about The Lacuna Studios, the Lanzarote Arts Festival and also about Sarah-Jane’s history.

The Escuela de Arte Pancho Lasso presented Sarah-Jane with a copy of the book telling the History of Escuela de Arte Pancho Lasso, to mark the occasion. The book is now a part of The Lacuna Studios Library which will be based at and accessible through the studios.