We are Creators
The Wilson’s pioneering artist studio programme that supports emerging visual artists from across Cheltenham and Gloucestershire to develop their practice and build successful careers in the visual arts sector.
This Programme has been shaped in response to Cheltenham’s Place Strategy. It enables the Wilson to support creative communities and ensures that we provide a platform for creative people to work together to realise the ambitions and aspirations of all of the people of Cheltenham and Gloucestershire and make sure that culture and creativity thrive.
Artist Bursary Programme
This programme is intended to support the professional development of emerging artists. A bursary through this programme provides artists with the time and space to help develop their practice, to enable it to thrive in new ways in the future.
Meet the artists on the 2024 programme:
Dominyka Vinčaitė
Dominyka’s creative practice is research and experiment-led, utilising images, film, mixed-media & digital animation, text and soundscape. Dominyka is continuously trying to find a balance between the real, the digital, the handmade and the archival, as well as the private and the public; and is experimenting with methodologies that might help weave these subtleties together. She recently graduated with an MA in Illustration from the University of Gloucestershire.
During the residency at The Wilson, Dominyka will continue her inquiry into Emotional Geographies of (Un)Belonging; what does it mean to (un)belong and to what/whom/where do we really belong?
How can this emotion, the lack of it, and the manipulation of it, render public spaces into political places? Dominyka will endeavour to work with interdisciplinary artists and local communities, co- creating an immersive narrative installation, questioning and communicating thoughts, ideas, truths and feelings surrounding our sense of belonging to spaces and places.
Genaro Martinez Medina
Genaro Martinez Medina is a freelance Illustrator and Designer originally from Mexico. He has a first class degree in Illustration from the University of West England.
He is a multidisciplinary artist, working predominantly with traditional materials such as watercolours, coloured pencils, gouache, combining the layers digitally to create a final image. He also has a keen interest in working with different types of paper and creating Artist Books taking inspiration from his surroundings as well as Mexican culture.
During his residency at The Wilson he plans to create more Artist Books focussing on immigration and the local area. In addition he will utilise the studio space to build his portfolio further.
Jade Fisher
Jade L A Fisher is a disabled portrait photographer. Jade uses her photography to provoke conversations around diversity and inclusion. Her passion is in capturing stories that are often unheard, whilst creating imagery that includes underrepresented groups. Her mission is to create a safe space for everyone to express themselves and their unique identities through her photographic work.
In Jade’s ongoing photographic study, Do You See Me? She focuses on individuals within the frame rather than their hidden or visible disability. In a society that too often sees disability rather than the person, this project aims to raise awareness and give individuals a platform to tell their story in their own words.
During her residency at The Wilson, Jade will explore different ways of making her work more accessible.
Jo Hepburn
Jo is a sculptor interested in the intangible and how to cultivate it. Her flexible approach allows a blend of methods including writing, drawing, play and invention. By simultaneously working on multiple large scale works at one time, the objects in the studio become part of a narrative, much like actors on a stage.Through hybridity and thinking through making, she seeks to bridge the gap between the ephemeral and the concrete.
Jo’s journey is one of collaboration and growth, she seeks conversational learning, engaging with others to share and shape ideas and connections. Looking ahead she will continue to combine textiles and sculpture, drawing inspiration from specific items in The Wilson’s collection.
Alongside her sculptural work, she is committed to devising strategies for addressing accessibility issues in written texts accompanying art exhibitions, creating clear and available alternatives.
Megan Burridge
Megan Burridge is a Cornish artist who is inspired by organic forms, nature, and landscapes. Her work considers how people relate to place, as well as her own personal connection to the landscape she is situated within.
Whether working in paint or clay, Megan’s work explores the textural, colour and natural possibilities within the medium. Often using alternative firing methods such as pit firing, and exploring local and recycled materials where possible, her practice itself is a means of connecting with her environment and its products.
During her residency at The Wilson, Megan is looking to situate her work in the context of the Cotswolds, by understanding how the local history and culture shape the landscape. She also intends to explore local natural resources, by foraging and growing materials to create her own paints, dyes and ceramic glaze ingredients.
Millie Elliott
Millie Elliott is a photographic artist from Cheltenham. Her practice combines images and materials from personal and found photo albums, where ink and decades of mould have warped and weathered the images, bringing them together into otherworldly artworks that blur the line between nostalgia and dreams. Inspired by childhood and play, some materials come from school workbooks, home films and treasured ephemera collected from multiple generations.
During her residency at The Wilson, Millie will explore themes of nostalgia, dreams and the disappearance of the physical family photo album. She is also looking forward to working in a space with other creatives and developing a creative community.
Nic Pehkonen
Nic Pehkonen is a multidisciplinary artist based in Cheltenham. He is also the self-appointed curator and permanent artist in residence at the Nuclear Information Centre (NIC), a simultaneously real and fictional organisation.The NIC is an open-ended research project and nomadic visitor centre exploring the cumulative legacy and ongoing manifestations of human- generated nuclear activity.
The UK is currently searching for a suitable site in which to bury its ever-growing inventory of high-activity radioactive waste deep underground in a highly engineered Geological Disposal Facility or GDF. Nic plans to examine this consent-based siting process through research, public engagement and making, whilst also using his residency at The Wilson to draw speculative parallels between the museum’s repositories and the idea of a GDF as a nuclear archive.
Jamie Banks
Jamie studied Fine Art at the University of Gloucestershire, and is now currently undertaking a Masters by Research. His practice looks at the fractional moments present within the destructive act. Through his exploration of these acts, Jamie questions the relationship between materiality, structure, and the ephemerality of artistic creation. His practice involves blending the lines between painting and sculpture, questioning how the viewer encounters them.
Through utilising the exhibitions, collections and events held at The Wilson, Jamie aims to further his understanding of both his own and a wider artistic practice. Jamie hopes that through this experience he can expand on his creative knowledge, through getting involved in all areas of the artistic community, ranging from running workshops, curatorial work, and collaborations.
Zariq Rosita-Hanif
Zariq Rosita-Hanif (she/her) is an autodidact folk art artist of Malaysian origin. She creates artwork that revolves around British natural and cultural heritage using some Malaysian traditional art forms such as Batik (wax-resist dye on fabric) and Wayang Kulit (shadow puppets).The themes of emigration and assimilation are strongly manifested in all of her works. As an émigré, she hopes the elements of fusion in her work will allow her to share her roots and engage the local community.
Through this residency at The Wilson, she aims to further implement sustainability in her practices by exploring and incorporating natural dyes into her Batik work. Under her brand Batikshire, she produces Batik pieces and products that are inspired by British woodlands and countryside.
Are you an emerging artist?
Find out more about our Artist Bursary Programme and how to apply
What are the benefits?
The programme is intended to support the professional development of emerging artists. A bursary through this programme could support you by offering time and space to help develop your practice, to enable it to thrive in new ways in the future.
You will benefit from:
- An independent studio space at no monetary cost to you*, providing you the space to develop your practice for 12 months (with an option to reapply for a further 12 months**)
- An exhibition space available (in the Sir Charles Irving Community Art Gallery) for a one month long group show
- Creative production guidance and support for in house exhibitions from our team of creative producers
- A supportive community of fellow resident artists
- Free access to selected workshops and talks from visiting artists
- Retail platform; a chance to sell selected products at certain times of the year
*The studio will be accessible 7 days a week during The Wilson opening hours and until 9pm on Wednesdays.
**A maximum of two artists can be reselected per year
Who can apply?
- Applications are welcome from emerging artists from all visual arts disciplines
- By ‘emerging’ we mean someone who has yet to receive a major solo exhibition and someone that has not had extensive media coverage for their work. We do not define an emerging artist by age
- No formal prior educational qualification required, but we would expect you to have a level of experience and self-learning, plus evidence of independent practice
- You must be aged 18 years or older
- No upper age limit
- You should not be in full time education
- Applications from individuals only
- You live within Gloucestershire
Co-production commitment
- You would commit 12 days across the year to shaping and delivering creative events such as demonstrations, workshops, interventions in the Wilson and other Cheltenham Trust venues, and other ways to contribute to The Wilson’s events programme, with the aim to enhance the cultural offer for the local community
- You would take part in the annual Cheltenham Open Studios programme
- You would be an advocate for The Wilson’s activities including We Are Creators
Selection criteria
We wish to keep a balance of working practice, gender, age and cultural heritage within the studios, and this will be kept in mind when selecting artists and allocating studios. All people who fit the criteria below are encouraged to apply, with no discrimination on gender, race, sexuality or disability.
The applicant,
- demonstrates an ambition to progress and develop their artistic and professional practice through this opportunity
- describes their need for a studio space and explains how they will utilise it during their proposed residency
- has a clear plan for how they will use their time and studio space across the 12 month period and what work they will produce as a result
- provides constructive and creative ideas for potential new activity at The Wilson
- expresses a clear benefit to them from working alongside The Wilson’s team of creative producers and curators
- provides ideas to share their practice through the delivery of informal and creative public events which may include talks, workshops, demonstrations or interventions within the galleries
- provides visual examples of their work that demonstrate a high standard of art work and that reflect their relevant, exciting and unique style
Each artist will be valued on a scale of 1-10, with a total possible score of 70.
Scores of 50 or above will be shortlisted for consideration by the Creative Community Panel.
We anticipate a high level of interest in this opportunity and regret we will be unable to provide feedback to everyone who applies. However, we will provide feedback to shortlisted artists who are unsuccessful.
How to apply
Applications for the 2024 bursary are now closed. Information about the 2025 bursary will appear here in Summer 2024.
Find out more about previous Artists in Residence at The Wilson
Meet the artists from the 2023 programme:
Joseph Casey
Joe is a sculptural artist from Manchester, now based in Gloucester. He has a BA in Fine Art from Leeds Arts University and has focused on exhibitions and workshops in the north and the west of England. His practice explores themes of mental health and human connection through sculpture and installation. His main subject is the human form and portraiture, seen throughout his work juxtaposed with other mediums such as sound or film.
He hopes to use this space to develop his practice and to connect with other artists and to explore collaborative projects within the community. Through workshops and open studios, he hopes to find inspiration and a better understanding of his work.
Find out more about Joes’s work by clicking here
Sean Savage Ferrari
Sean Savage Ferrari is an artist and environmentalist working to weave relationships between land, body and spirit. He seeks to contribute to the climate debate and address the notion of separation between humans and nature.
In his project ‘under concrete, there is always earth’ in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, he gathered natural materials and crafted work that embodied the landscape and its history. He developed a process of foraging as a method of art making to uncover the heritage of material embedded in the land.
Sean will use The Wilson’s Arts and Craft Collection to investigate weaving, patchwork, carving and pattern design to create paintings and sculptures from gathered materials around the Cotswolds.
Find out more about Sean’s work by clicking here
Sarah Goddard
Sarah Goddard is a sight-impaired mixed-media artist, based in Cheltenham. The colours, shapes, textures and patterns of the natural world can calm or enliven us, and Sarah draws inspiration from them.
Sarah sees large views out of focus, but then a colour or the hint of a shape may catch her eye, and she will want to look at that object in detail.
Sarah intends to create art that reflects this way of interacting with nature, working in watercolour, acrylic, pastel and mixed media, including tactile elements and field recordings. Her landscape artworks will be based on open spaces in and around Cheltenham. This will include collaborative work, capturing responses to shared open spaces.
Find out more about Sarah’s work by clicking here
Tolmeia Gregory
Tolmeia Gregory (she/her) is a 22-year-old artist and climate justice activist whose work focuses primarily on climate change and the many nuanced conversations that come with it. Tolmeia is best known for her digital animations and GIF stickers used on social media, which have been viewed over 10 billion times. She also works in different physical mediums, such as collage, painting and sculpture. Tolmeia is hoping to produce more physical pieces of art, including pieces which help people imagine a better world and what climate action can look like.
Imagination, futurism and ‘solarpunk’ are all themes she would like to explore during her residency.
Find out more about Tolmeia’s work by clicking here
Tim Martin
Tim is a professional illustrator, graffiti artist and muralist from Cheltenham with a first class degree in Illustration (BA) at the University of Gloucestershire, and a masters (MA) in Illustration at the same establishment. He has been a self-employed visual artist since March 2019. He is looking forward to working in a studio away from his home, surrounded by art and artists.
He plans to create large scale, detailed paintings in mixed media, using architecture as a metaphor, depicting certain personality traits and mental states. Tim also welcomes the chance to run workshops, and share any skills, knowledge and tips that he has learned along the way.
Find out more about Tim’s work by clicking here
Dinesh Patel
Dinesh was born and raised in Cheltenham to Indian parents and has always been surrounded by Indian culture and artifacts. He has a mix of eastern and western cultural influences in his work. Music and art are his passion, having studied sitar at the Kalavant Center for Music and Dance in New York. Music began to influence his artwork greatly in the form of mandala and fluidity in drawing styles. A lot of his artwork is made up from things around the house and discarded items repurposed in an art form.
During his residency, Dinesh is looking to develop and experiment in different forms of media, possibly combining sound, video and animation.
Find out more about Dinesh’s work by clicking here
Zack Thorne
Zack studied Fine Art: Painting at Wimbledon College of Art. His practice explores themes of the uncanny in semi-theatrical paintings of familiar objects and spaces. Using photographs, film and video stills, he paints quiet or understated moments from a larger sequence of events. Paintings are intended to be viewed as part of a larger narrative to reflect his ongoing engagement with the cinematic. Zack was shortlisted for the Contemporary British Painting Prize in 2021.
He plans to storyboard a horror film in Cheltenham, recording scenes in local locations and selecting stills to paint. Preferring to leave out details or explicit scenarios, he will focus on suspense and horror movie tropes.
Find out more about Zack’s work by clicking here
Holly Williams-Richards
Holly’s practice looks at making reactionary works that respond to environment, geology and place. Working across mediums in print and sculpture to explore themes of identity, value, materiality and purpose through the repetitive rebuilding, recreation and reassembly of localised, familiar objects (or matter) until they appear unearthly, digitalized and dream-like.
Holly hopes to build connections and community through the fellowship. She is fuelled by working with other creatives and excited to be a part of a team of young artists building the foundations of a new local artistic community. She wants to expand her curatorial knowledge and network, forming new relationships with people locally and internationally.
Find out more about Holly’s work by clicking here
Find out more about our virtual artists in residence
In 2021, during lockdown and whilst The Wilson was closed for renovation, we gave a platform to 6 local artists to develop new work and engage with local audiences as 'virtual artists in residence'. You can find out about the artists below and the work they produced during their residencies.
