Your Community

Karen's work includes developing a board game for drug rehabilitators, designing public seats in the shape of flowers and mosaics representing cultural and religious ideas of Birmingham communities.

Karen's art is important because she insists that anyone can get involved. She also makes sure her art is something that the community will find useful, as well as being pleasing to the eye.

Clutching at straws

"I like to work with as many people as possible so they have a sense of ownership," said Karen.

"The end product is always something that will improve lives. One of my main rules is that anybody can be involved."

Passion for community

While her roots are in the fine arts, Karen's passion for community art grew out of her disappointment with her own surrounding area.

Make your mark

"I started my community work about ten years ago when I was living in Balsall Heath and became a parent. My daughter’s nursery was my first commission and we constructed a new play area. My second was a community centre that was suffering from vandalism."

A board game Karen developed with recovering drug addicts in the city is one of her most important because it shows how art can help individuals. Based loosely on snakes and ladders, the game combines humour and sadness by using images of prison and even the Grim Reaper.

"The game was based on their experiences, with the snakes representing their moments of struggle and the ladders representing what helps them through."

Mural made with children

"The benefits to the people I work with are endless. People love being consulted and just seeing their ideas put into actuality is priceless to them. Those who helped with the board game were so proud to see their ideas become a quality product."

Education

Aimed at cocaine addicts the game uses question cards to educate players about the drug.

The Drug Action Team in Birmingham can now use the game as a tool to help addicts quit cocaine. The questions and the images can also be changed to educate alcoholics and smokers.

Children working on mural

Becoming a working artist is never an easy career choice. But for any youngsters with creative talent Karen recommends that becoming organised and having a good business brain is a good start, but working whenever you can is the key.

"During my degree I would work as an artist on adventure playgrounds, as well as helping out on community projects with other artists."

Most of Karen’s work incorporates a small group of people, yet her "Clutching at Straws" installation, which was showcased at the NEC in 2001, involved 2,000 members of the public.

The world through rose tinted glasses

Participants were asked to randomly clutch one of thousands of straws and then had to draw a self portrait, write down a wish, or have their photograph taken, depending on the instruction inside the straw.

Diversity

The results were then added to a giant mosaic which captured the humour and aspirations of the Birmingham community.

"I invite anyone to join in so I get a diversity of people. The benefits to the people I work with are endless, individuals are being consulted and enjoy it so much."

"I like the end product in some ways to be educational. It is very important that we work with people to create art that is useful and goes beyond being a visual product."