Heart of Glass / A Modest Proposal


ARTIST / Michelle Wren with Jude Woods and Ann Whitehurst COLLABORATORS / An elective community of members of the disability community DATE / May 2016 LOCATION / St Helens Town Centre


Artists Michelle Wren and Ann Whitehurst sought disabled people from across St Helens to work with them to assess our present day life and the town of St Helens. The commission, titled ‘Open the Door’ was a collaboration between an elective community group of participants (names listed below) and artists Michelle Wren, Naoise Johnson- Martin, Ann Whitehurst and Jude Woods supported by Heart of Glass, The Citadel and St Helens Council. Over a 3 month period, following a lengthly research and development phase, the collaborators played games, taught each other Makaton, listened to music, talked and made art work about access and the experience of navigating and negotiating the town of St Helens. The resulting work became a series of ‘art actions’ creating work in response to sites and locations across the town deemed inaccessible. The creative response to lack of accessibility was shared with owners, landlords, tenants and managers of these spaces and locations. A twitter feed documented this exchange and generating much discussion about our individual and collective role with regards to access. A cumulative exhibition, documenting the process of the project, the work generated and some of the outcomes was held at The Citadel Theatre and ran over a 3-month period.


Open the Door group included:


Chris Coffey Ste Edwards Peter Freeman Angela Friar Rachel Friar Sue Norris Lesley Rigby Graham Rudge Richard Smith Gaynor Taylor Geoff Tinsley Ken Wallace Linda Williams Jacinta Woods


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