After 15 successful years of working within the manufacturing industries in administration, customer service and product design, I followed my true calling and became a mother. This is truly a very rewarding role but unfortunately children have to grow up and the full-time duties of being a committed parent became less required when school came onto the horizon. Becoming a parent has provided me with a new appreciation of the way in which children’s minds work and has sparked a keen interest in working with children in an education environment. Working within the creative industries has always been a long term dream and there seems no better time to pursue this; by engaging young children it is hoped that this project will help to increase self-esteem and potentially improve future aspirations as a result.

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Taking the plunge in 2017 to return to full time education through the University of Suffolk has opened up opportunities and given inspiration to follow alternative potential career paths. As part of the final year in the FDA Commercial Arts Practice the focus will be on education and studying how children's  minds work, and also to encourage creativity in children and to make art galleries more fun, colourful, accessible and less daunting places for general public to visit.

 

Gaining inspiration from Disney's Dream Big Princess Campaign (#dreambigprincess) which empowers young girls to strive to achieve what they want without limitations. The "Be Anything Do Anything" project is aimed at all children with the goal of encouraging them to 'dream big' no matter what their gender, social background or religious beliefs. The intention of the "Be Anything Do Anything" project is to empower young people to aspire to be more than what the current gender stereotypes place on children from a young age; whilst  also bringing fun and colour to the art world and giving children the opportunity to have their artwork displayed in a professional space.

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Working under my alter ego ‘Mrs Panda’, I produce bespoke hand-crafted items specialising in Matryoshka (Russian nesting dolls), which now sit happily in many households worldwide. To coincide with the schools project a series of children’s products are currently in planning, these will follow the theme of gender stereotypes. 

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The projects hopes that the works produced will reflect and challenge the gender stereotypes that society places upon us without being overtly political!

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Watch this space for all the exciting developments!

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