Meet the Artist: Kathryn Hanna
Remembering Together: South Lanarkshire have appointed their artist to co-create memorials with communities. Meet Kathryn Hanna.
Graduating from Glasgow School of Art’s Sculpture and Environmental Art Program in 2017, Kathryn has undertaken several community and public engagement projects with organisations such as arts institutions, prisons, local authorities and charities. Kathryn has been awarded commissions such as ‘Pathways’, a public artwork to give recognition to key workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, commissioned by South Ayrshire Council. Kathryn works from her studio in Blantyre and creates sculptures, installations and text-based work. She use material processes such as willow weaving, woodwork, casting, laser cutting, stone masonry and letter cutting.
Kathryn Hanna
Kathryn’s engagement approach is focused on Rhythmical Making. Activities such as weaving, spinning and textile crafts bring together movement and making, which research has found to bring wellness and recovery to participants, including: a sense of calm, improved cognitive function and enhanced mental and physical health. She has found that participation in a shared, meaningful activity enhances community connections and participants are more likely to engage in conversation and share stories or experiences while their hands are busy. Kathryn will be running co-creation workshops which will invite communities to engage in the tactile making processes of wool spinning, finger weaving and willow weaving. Participants will be introduced to these making skills and supported to explore their experience of the COVID-19 pandemic through conversation, written reflections, and individual and group activities.
Kathryn says: “This programme is a unique opportunity to work with communities to explore and capture their experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. As my artistic practice explores the complex relationship between people and place, particularly how a place can make you think, feel, and become a space for reflection, I thought this community led project was the perfect fit. I am committed to working in and developing a public participatory practice as I have seen the benefit this has made to individuals and communities alike. am fascinated by how, together, we can rejuvenate our communities’ interest and connection to the community around them and reimagine our public spaces.”
“Participants will have the opportunity to share their experience and creative outcomes through a community exhibition and will work together to explore their ideas of what a COVID-19 public artwork/memorial could look like and the themes it will address. This project engages communities in the arts and helps to break down barriers to participation through an informal and welcoming programme, supporting participants to feel comfortable engaging in groups again. It gives participants agency to take control of their own wellbeing and social recovery through a relevant and aware programme of activities to explore the communities’ experience of the COVID-19 pandemic with honesty and sensitivity”