Projects

Photo collage of Alex: “Calling Syrious” ©MJHodge 2019*   Art and parenting often overlap in my world, and no where more powerfully than in listening to, engaging with, and supporting my son's big imagination. And, if it's true that a self-employed creative must wear 'all the hat's - this is multiplied for those of us balancing creative aspirations with caring roles. As an example I've spent the last week balancing my creative hats (quilt making, painting ideas, conceptual artist, marketer, stockist, stationer, web designer, reader/ writer and unreliable Instagrammer) alongside my caring hats (administrator, chaser/ reminder-er, organiser, diary coordinator, emotional regulator,...

 Originally founded in 2014, I am relaunching my Creative Carers offer in time for this year's Carers Week, 7-13 June. Directly inspired by my experiences as a Parent Carer struggling to find time for creative projects around my caring responsibilities, I am now able to offer the kind of Creative Coaching and Mentorship I most wish I had had access to earlier on.  Please visit Creative Carers online for more information.

  St John's at Christmas has been a very special project for me. Just over a year ago I was talking to the Burgess Hill Town Council about a possible collaboration between them and the local arts group I chair, the Burgess Hill Artists. As we discussed the project I realised that the only image I was interested in submitting was of our parish church, the Church of St John the Evangelist, known locally as St John's - and definitely at Christmas time. I am not a member of the congregation, but the Church stands at the end of the town's High...

As many of you know, in 2017 I began developing an idea for a touring exhibition bringing British and Croatian Naïve* artists together. Working with the Croatian curator and art historian, Elizabeta Wagner, I made a visit to Zagreb last June to develop the idea further. As a result of that visit, the project shifted course to include Outsider** as well as Naïve artists. This shift came about as many of the issues contemporary naïve artists face are common to outsider artists, and vice versa.  From working in isolation, to not having the self-promotional skills demanded by the arts world today, I believe that...

In June I travelled to Croatia where Elizabeta Wagner - art historian, curator and tour guide extraordinaire - arranged for me to visit several Croatian naïve artists and the Hlebine Gallery of Naive Art over four very busy days. During that time I also enjoyed catching up with friends from my Zagreb days and practicing my newly-revived Croatian language skills with Ivica and Katarina. In addition the British Ambassador to Croatia and his wife, Andrew and Aline Dalgleish, hosted an evening event for artists, curators, collectors, and the Director of the British Council at the Residence which introduced me to new friends and contacts. As...