About
2006-2009
Following a Degree in Illustration at Hereford College of Art, I worked in photography and design whilst living in an Artists Community in Burslem, in my home city of Stoke-on-Trent.
2009-2013
In Burslem I began working with artist Sarah Nadin, with whom I spent three years designing 2D & 3D public art across the UK and in Europe, working collaboratively with the work’s intended audiences.
Sarah & Nicola at the unveiling of Unearthed 2013
Unearthed. Public Sculpture. Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. Winstanley & Nadin 2013.
-
Jun 2013 ‘Mind the Gap’ Interactive Anamorphic sculpture, Wythenshawe Transport Interchange, Manchester.
Dec 2012 ‘UNEARTHED’ 6.8 metre commemorative sculpture and project, Stoke-On-Trent City Centre
Jul 2012 ‘Around the World’ Vinyl installation, Astra Zeneca, Uccle, Belgium.
Apr 2012 ‘The Waterfall’ Ceiling artwork, Kings School, Wolverhampton
Feb 2012 ‘The Pie Factory’ Vinyl on brick wall covering, Wednesfield High School, Wolverhampton.
Jan 2012 ‘Voices Through Corridors’ Vinyl illustrations, Walsall Manor Hospital
Aug 2011 ‘Out of Darkness Cometh Light’ Vinyl exterior building installation, Wednesfield High. Wolverhampton
Mar 2011 ‘Quest for the Guild Key’ Multimedia graphics & 3D assemblage, Preston Guild 2012.
Jun 2010 ‘Growth’ Exterior tile and internal vinyl installations, Stoke 6th form College, SO-T.
Oct 2009 ‘Minimising Alcohol Harm’ Subway tile mural, Newcastle Under Lyme.
All projects by Winstanley & Nadin
-
Sept 2010 ‘Elsewhere' Living Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. Lived and worked in the thrift-store museum, devising ways for visitors to engage with the collection
2013-2016
The experience of collaborating with non-artists was what interested me most about the work I was doing. So I dispensed with permanent public art in pursuit of more dynamic ways of working with the public. This led me to creative research, consultation and to embedded practices. In 2016 participatory performance company Restoke commissioned me to evaluate a performance project from the inside, using creative techniques. I have been working with them as an embedded creative researcher ever since.
Peregrine Watch Counterplay Hanley, 2015.
-
Jun 2015 ‘Counterplay’ Residency on the highstreet exploring the impact of artistic interventions in failing city centres. Funded by ACE & Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Sept 2014 'Get Talking' Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent. Designing and implementing creative consultation tools to establish how Stoke-on-Trent residents were experiencing Appetite Stoke’s (the city’s Creative People and Places project) programme of events.
-
May 2014 ‘Reconnecting People with Art in the Public Realm’. Research Report examining the efficacy of public art. Commissioned by Appetite Stoke.
2016- present
Working solo and collaboratively, My practice became more and more concerned with research- particularly understanding the effects of art and creativity on individuals and communities. Over the past 8 years I have worked to understand the aesthetics of cooperation and commoning, and experimented in socio-spacial practices, including psychogeography and Geopoetics. At present, I am working with long term creative partners and keen to expand my work into new areas.
The Burslem Angel Decscends to Establish a New Town Hall, Burslem, 2019.
-
Nov 2017 ‘Stoke-on-Trent Artist At Work’ Artist in Residence in ACAVA's new artists studios in the former Spode Factory, exploring the losses and gains of industrial decline for artists.
Jul 2017 ‘Adapt the Nothing’ Residency and Publication exploring the impact of strategic and organic forms of regeneration in Middleport. Funded by Arts Council England.
-
Dec 2023 ‘The Lotus Eaters’ Worked with The Royal Holloway University, London to research and document co-creation of The National Theatre’s Public Acts production ‘The Odyssey’.
Jan 2022 ‘Holding Lightly’ Co-authored Restoke’s approach to co-creating performances.
Dec 2021 ‘Stoke-on-Trent for UK City of Culture 2021 report on inclusion’. Co-author of a report identifying best practice for inclusivity in cultural programming led by Keele University and the S-o-T Cultural Forum. The report was included in the city's Culture Strategy.
Nov 2018 ‘Man Up’ Research examining the participant journey in Restoke’s performance project ‘Man Up’.
Oct 2018 ‘What is Now?’ Research examining the impact of creative interventions in empty shops on a failing high-street
Aug 2017 ‘Evaluation in Participatory Arts Programmes.’ Authored Chapter 6 on 'An Artist-Led Approach to Evaluation'. Edited by Sarah Davies of 'A New Direction', commissioned by Creative People and Places.
Feb 2016 ‘You Are Here’ Report examining participant engagement and its impact on creative outcomes in co-created performance. Commissioned by participatory performance company 'Restoke.
-
Jun 2022 ‘Community Living Room’. Working with members of the JOY Group at Worcester Community Trust, and visitors and volunteers at Like U Community Cafe and Eastern European Community Centre to create a pop up community living room. Workshops were facilitated by myself and poets Holly Winter-Hughes, Bohdan Piasecki. The Project was led by Crave Arts, with funding from The National Lottery Community Fund and Ikea.
2018-19 ‘Creative Community Walks’. Collaboration with writer Ceri Morgan to disseminate the emotional, psychological and social impacts of Stoke-on-Trent on it's inhabitants. Walks have been curated in Middleport, Hartshill, Stoke and the Spode Factory for a variety of commissioners including Keele University, Stoking Curiosity Festival and the ArtCity Conference.
-
Jun 18 ‘Socially Engaged Art and Regeneration’. Masters by Negotiated Study, School of Creative Arts & Engineering, Staffordshire University: Distinction.
-
2017-2019 ‘Studio Temporal Spaces’ A Stoke based mentor for 3 cohorts of students undertaking an architecture degree at the University of Sheffield for the module Studio Temporal Spaces under tutor Mark Emms.
2020 ‘Creative Collective Initiatives’ Wrote and delivered this module on behalf of Creative Lives England, as a consortium member of Create Place, a leadership programme led by Staffordshire University for mid-career creative and cultural professionals, focusing on place-making for heritage & arts organisations.