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A coloured pencil Drawing titled "Going Places"

A coloured pencil drawing of a casual stroll in Seoul

I feel my leadership skills are developing as I progress with the latest Sync Leadership programme. I feel I have adapted my skills to take on more “listenship”, with the way Victoria, Pixel, Eliph and Lucy are working. I have carried that on in to my latest painting. I began with bold and busy coloured layers and as I have progress over the sessions, I feel my colours have become softer, lighter, gentle and calming. When I am painting I feel more relaxed which is reflecting in the colours as well and the marks I am making. When I look at the colours they make me feel less stressed as they take away all the other things that are happening in the world.

This week, Lucy met with Dave Packer our Sync animator and Sarah in person in Hastings to start to explore Lucy’s metaphor thinking and her exploration of environments that are calming and help the art to happen. Lucy often uses a bean bag to work from when thinking and talking, as a way to feel held and comfortable.

Lucy’s 2 characters: Spectrum, the autistic wolf and Beagle in Blue and Yellow have different personalities and behave differently in different situations. We explored the responses with Lucy and starting making a film that put Lucy firmly in the lead!

I felt that the session yesterday was really good in terms of everyone contributing in their own unique ways. It was great to hear so many good ideas of what they would like to make as their final work for the showcase. Furthermore I would like to say that helping the group alongside Sarah is an absolute pleasure which left me inspired to question my own leadership skills and how far I could take my practice in the future. I will say that I am enjoying watching everybody develop at their own pace.

In my new drawings I feel I have captured everybody’s metaphors.

Victoria is a magnifying glass, so I have gone up close to show my drawing style of doing a one line continuous drawing.

Eliph is a Bee. My backgrounds are buzzy and busy. I feel these represent her description of herself being busy and buzzing around  with many different ideas and projects.

Lucy was creating calm spaces within her metaphor. In my drawings inspired by South Korea, I have shown busy cities encasing people. To me this shows the need to find Lucy’s calm spaces. I have this idealised feeling when I look at pictures of S. Korea that feel welcoming, that I feel calm because I am reflecting on how I’d like to feel when I’m walking around London.

Pixel’s was alarms and pixels. He maps his day with alarms capturing small pieces of time then crating images in pixels. I thought about my drawings as a brief moments in time being captured. I’m observing people in a split second camera shot whilst going about their day. This felt like Pixels process.

Sync Shorts Leaders: Charlene and Thompson

So great to set up a Sync lunch so the wonderful Charlene Salter co-chair of Access All Areas in the UK who is a facilitator on Sync Shorts for Theatre and Performance in Canada with our Thompson Hall who is on the Board at Action Space who works on the Sync Shorts – Syncing Space programme. I think they got on very well indeed!

It’s so  good to see the Sync family growing.

These drawings are of my initial impressions of social and cultural aspects of the people in South Korea. After listening to stories and seeing some of  work by one of the artists, Pixel on the project. It captured my imagination which has inspired me to come up with these drawings.  So I started to do some research  during a weekend  by looking up various images at home on the internet before I began working on the drawings.  They give me a visual insight into the lives of the people that live and work in the country.

Thinking about the elements of leadership, my Passion is to explore other cultures of the people I am taking to and learn more about their lives by looking at people going about their day. I think they are good Choices as I want to learn more about Pixels artwork and Korean life. My vision is to create a large scale painting to continue my series of ‘people walking’ paintings I began when I was on the Sync leadership programme.

Wonderful to meet up with Eliph and their creative support, Elias, in their home studio with the sun pouring in the windows. Creative support is vital for different ways to motivate and help with ideas when our ways of thinking is airbourne and/or landing everywhere.

Eliph has been experimenting with printing taking their interest in history, memory and meaning into different layers with even their finger print a useful surface to print with!  Eliph is also very committed to sustainability, so their work on Syncing Space will explore different ways to layer and re-use their printing experiments.

I’ve been really interested in showing the different ways our brains work as artists, living different lives in different parts of the world. I made a short film about it, painting in the studio at Action Space in London.

The streets of South Korea

I was very moved by Pixel sharing last week about the work he made after the plane crash in South Korea. We use art to explore our feelings and understand and come to terms with difficult things. I did some research and  inspired by images that I found on the internet over the weekend of people walking in the streets of South Korea.

There is one thing that I will take away from this week’s session is the way everyone responded to the questions about metaphors  and  what motivates them to make art. So with that in mind , I liked their ideas of what they are going to make for the exhibition. I did enjoy giving some useful suggestions and tips on how they can improve on their leadership skills which could then influence their artwork. But I will say that I’m really enjoying working with the group alongside Sarah and learning more about what it means to be a good leader.

The session inspired me to rework my brains painting. I changed the background colour to silver to give the painting a reflective surface, representing people bouncing off each others ideas and thoughts. The brains were repainted to to make the colours illuminate. The brains are sectioned into pieces to represent different parts of me and all of us.

It was a real pleasure to meet everyone for the first session in terms of introducing  ourselves and sharing art based on our practices before before starting to talk about what we will be doing for the day.  I gave them some good advice on how to post a blog on their websites. It is worth mentioning that my leadership styles are still the same reflecting my personality. So after a short break we started to talk about different metaphors that people will get to choose and explain why they chose them in the next session but what I will say is that it was a totally enjoyable session.

The painting I have just started is of three brains and symbolises my feelings of the group sharing their thoughts

I’m introducing myself to the new group of Sync artists showing them how I experiment and create ides at home in a sketchbook using coloured pencils. I then bring these into the studio to use as inspiration for my large paintings. My drawings are inspired by things that I see around me and the things that are happening in the world.

It was so great to start this week and meet our artists and share in their introductions with a favourite artwork. Sometimes it’s hard to see yourself as a leader but as we learn about ourselves, our natural behaviours, talents and skills, it becomes clearer in ourselves. I can’t wait to see what Leadership Styles will be chosen next week.

We are excited to have Tanya Raabe, joining for sessions in March to encourge our artists to go deeper with their artworks through coaching questions and more! Tanya has worked with many learning disabled and autistic artists in the UK and beyond.

It was great to be back in the Syncing Space workshops and meeting each other and sharing artwork for the first time.

I am always so interested in artists who live outside of the UK and what they feel, think and face in their lives and what they make art work about and why.

It was really great to meet up with Thompson, online for planning for the start of our new Sync Shorts, Syncing Space residency with artists: Eliph Hadert, Victoria Bowman, Pixel Kim and Lucy.

Thompson has been making new work with a very distinct style and shared this beautiful piece, ‘Homeless’. We talked about sharing one of these new pieces in the first session when our artists will introduce themselves and a piece of their own artwork, showing them how it is done.  We can’t wait to get started!

Sarah went to Figment Arts studio space in Hove to meet our Syncing Space Artist, Eliph Hadert and Elias Blacklock who will be working alongside them as creative support to get some pics and clips in person. The studio was buzzing.

It’s going to be so good to work with our artists and all those great people who make their studios such wonderful warm safe spaces to practice. Thank you Figment Arts for partnering with Syncing Space.

Great to meet Lucy for the first time in person at Project Art Works in Hastings with Patricia Finnegan. Thanks Lucy for sharing all your artworks and for the conversation and sharing Beagle in blue and yellow with us too!

We can’t wait to finish your ‘welcome to my studio’ film and get started on the residency too.

Loud Cane 1.0 Carmen Papalia's performance at the V&A on 28th November 2025

So great to see our Sync Re-Ignite artist contributor, Carmen Papalia in person in the UK. Carmen has been a key facilitator for the program shaping new thinking about self care and agency. Describing themselves as a non- visual social practice artist exploring interdependence, creative accessibility and disability culture, Carmen interacted with materials and objects on the floor in the Sculpture Gallery at the V&A,  their performative sound cane translating textures into a wide spectrum of sound through a bespoke audio system. Audiences were intrigued and asked a myriad of questions.

Thompson signs up for a new Sync Shorts - Syncing Space programme 2026

The Book Shelf! Artist Thompson Hall is far from past it and so great to meet up with him again at the start of our planning together for the new Spring Sync Shorts Syncing Space programme 2026  joining as co-facilitator again. In the meantime, Thompson’s art book was on sale at Cockpit Arts Open Studios in the @ActionSpace studios in London and he signed a few copies for us.

Launching today: BIG Doll | XWAT Naaniitus by Vanessa Dion Fletcher

So excited to see Vanessa Dion Fletcher’s new solo exhibition BIG Doll | XWAT Naaniitus  at Art Windsor Essex, Ontario today.

Vanessa wrote three journal entries, filming these and sharing with our 6 resident artists as she built her exhibition alongside her curator and shaped the access and engagement in brilliantly engaging ways for Big Doll. We were so pleased to have you do this Vanessa at such a busy time. It was gold to walk alongside your journey.

Launch Pad - Our Summer exhibition is nearly here.

It has been so very exciting working alongside Harvey Cash our filmmaker and our web designer Oli Pyle to shape our 2nd Syncing Space Exhibition.

Our artists have gone all out to describe their work but also to share more of themselves and the process. We are delighted to feature the studio intro films as part of the exhibition too as well as a film about the residency.

We’ll be inviting guests to join us for the launch itself for half an hour of celebrations as we say a fond farewell for now. Sync Shorts Syncing Space won’t be the end for our 4 artists. They join the Sync Shorts family and the wider Sync program which we hope to develop further with partners in Canada but also South Korea.

For now, we want to congratulate Aba, Jared, Emilia and Emily for the journey and launch the work, and the thinking of these  wonderful intuitive, sensitive Sync leaders!

Jared's 'Bear on a Mountain' diorama

So wonderful to see how our Syncing Space artists are pulling together their work with their creative support workers for the upcoming exhibition launch on August 22nd.

Here is an image taken from within our content management system for our website (designed by Oli Pyle who is busy prepping the exhibition pages) showing Jared making content for his final diorama artwork  It matters to all of us that our work is accessible and so we’re all trying different ways to alt tag and alt text, to describe the work for those blind and low vision audiences but also other audieces too.

And as part of this and the films and audio shaped for this we get even more detail about the artists involved and their leadership thinking and what matters to them as they share their process and final pieces.

Whilst our artists are busy shaping their final artworks and prepping the access for them, i have been making my own drawings weaving the artists and their metaphors connecting with the coloured drawn pencil lines and fatter arroiws that I use to express connection and emotion.

You can see clearly the bear, the rose between 2 thorns, the mermaid and the dog too! What I’ve additionally added are words of what i’ve experienced in the artists, that i’ve seen or seen develop. ‘Perseverence’, ‘Confidence’, ‘Teamwork’, ‘Inspiration’ and more….

It’s my way of staying close to the artists, when we’re far apart in the world, knowing all that they are preparing for, because i’ve been there myself. It has been so great to watch them thinking differently about themselves as artists and using metaphors as i did, with my lava lamp to explore their mood, their making, their attitudes, their courage and what matters to them as artists.

Here is an example of me starting a new painting which is inspired by my own sync leadership program.  I have decided to make a series of artworks based on the single line drawings I started when working on my Malaysian paintings. The new series are about various political issues that affect aspects of my life. These are from personal experiences as well as news headlines that I see everyday in the UK. There are lots of changes happening in the UK, I wanted to highlight some of them in my own way.

A few session back as well as going deeper with our metaphors, we talked over plans for artwork for the final showcase/exhibition. For some of us, it’s a big set of steps to move from ideas to actually making those ideas real. We were delighted to get a close up of Emilia’s ideas for an exploration in pop art at BEING and her starting to work on a very big  canvas. And sometimes pausing and re-thinking and re-scheduling is part of leadership too.

I’ve decided to keep on drawing as I deepen my understanding of how Syncing Space works in my role as co-facilitator and the connections between each element we share with our 4 artists in the residency.  Some of the lines have changed since my first posting, with connections made with thicker red pencil arrows. So I’ve decided to add these elements, such as blog posting, additional support, discussions and what we are talking about this week which is Metaphors. I chose an hour glass symbol for this, to describe time running out  because as you get older it seems to go more quickly so you have to try to make the most of things. This particular drawing is to show various connections we all share as artists which made me think about what we have been discussing as a group.

So great to listen to our 4 resident artists sharing their Leadership Styles this week. Knowing that for many of, they have to adapt to the ‘situation’ playing different roles when speaking to a crowd, working with young people or giving all one’s focus to making art work for an exhibition. We are so excited with what people are sharing about their styles and motivations.  We heard from Niall McNeil ‘listenship’ style.  

Sarah asked me to think about how the connections are coming together between us all after our first sync session together, – the lines between us.

By listening to everyone, it helped me think about my role as a co facilitator on this project. With my experience on last sync shorts, I can guide the artists with my experience and enthusiasm.   The drawing I’ve made shows the journey and connections  between us all. As we move together on this project, I will add to this.

Graphic Illustration - Session 1

Here is a graphic illustration drawn by Annalees Lim when we all met for the first time which saw our 4 artists, Jared, Emily, Emilia and Aba share their favourite artwork and why they loved it so!

We also explored different leadership styles and the task this week is to share up to 3 of those styles that each artist can see in themselves. Can’t wait to find out what they’ll share this Friday when we meet again.

syncing space - take 2

Sync Shorts is a program that aims to change how those taking part feel about themselves as artist and leaders and helps them understand more about their styles, what motivates them but also what holds them back too!

Thompson's Leadership Styles

Thompson shared his leadership styles in our first Sync Shorts Syncing Space session and the quiet, situational, inclusive and charismatic sides of his arts life.  Yes he chose 4 and you can too. Sometimes we don’t choose to be charismatic, we just are. It’s not showing off but something that we might use for good things. To promote our work and what matters to us.

Listen:

Sync artist associate, Thompson Hall and Sarah Pickthall co-founder of Sync met at Action Space base to plan the new Syncing Space residency program and for Sarah to meet the new artists for the first time.

Thompson shared a little about what it feels like being part of Syncing Space. He’s still inspired by his own residency in the Spring and how it’s still inspiring his artwork in new and exciting ways.

The program is starting on Friday the 4^th July and finishing on the 8^th August with an exhibition of work by our 4 artists made during the 6 weeks of the program.

Last Thursday, Sarah made a final visit to see Charlie at Project Art Works to see her finished artwork and make a recording of a conversation between Charlie, Katie and Patricia all of whom are in the painting.  We placed the original photograph taken during the lockdown years beside the painting.

We are designing the final exhibition with our web designer, Oli Pyle and working with the audio of conversations that describes the artworks, why they were made, how they were made and why they matter so much.  You will be able to listen and read these in the final exhibition.

It was wonderful in our last session to find out that Izzati has included so many of us in her mandala pictured here. Zu is in the middle as the constant flower, then surrounded by Armani.

Then Sarah is there with pink elements, then Charlie with yellow and green.

Thompson and his blues with dark strokes and where is Andi?

He’s around the circumference!

In sessions three and four, we’ve been sharing our metaphors together and how they relate to our leadership styles and motivation. We have explored Izzati’s butterfly but also what the flower means in her artworks. Thompson’s lava lamp clearly illustrates his nature and the way he approaches things. Ferb is Andi’s metaphor and we can see Andi when we watch the animation episodes! Charlotte’s lightening is something that bolts with challenge but also joy!  We are learning all about each other in sharing our metaphors. Sync always does this whatever the programmes we run!

Wonderful to share Pixel Kim, a dear artist friend from South Korea as an example of a quiet, charismatic, collaborative leader.

Pixel’s art making is infectious. When he starts making, other artists come and join him and start making too. This week we started to explore the different ways we approach making artwork in our session. It was so good to do that together.

Izzati shared that she has many pieces on the go at any one time, it keeps her happy. Charlie shared the inspiration for her new work as part of the residency, once she’s found the image, she goes straight to canvas. Thompson uses pencils to explore the work before he starts to paint. Andi is still thinking about where he might focus his thinking and artwork on at this time. He has many followers and many ideas he wants to realise.

So great to see so many posts appearing in our artists’ studios and see the ideas and art making shared as it happens.

That’s the joy of an online residency, we can understand more about what drives our artists to make art. In our second session we were thinking about what motivates us. For some it’s keeping well, finding joy, bringing joy to others.

For others it’s about raising awareness about what is not fair and what needs to change. We had a talk about money too. Why not? Of course it’s great to make money from our artwork. Other’s do! Many of our artists have followings and fan clubs from their art exhibitions and publications.

We had a wonderful time at our first session with Armani and Sarah welcoming our 4 artists to the programme and their supporters.  Harvey Cash who made the artist intro films joined us to say hello. Oli Pyle, who designed our website, took us through how to upload posts to our studio spaces and Annalees Lim made illustrations of all the reflections, ideas and leadership thinking to remind us what happened.

Sarah and Thompson at Action Space in London.

I hadn’t met Thompson since 2018 at his exhibition in London pre-Covid and at an Action Space Board meeting. It was great to see each other again and have an interview about his work and his leadership thinking.

Thompson is making exciting new work, making drawings first at home, then bringing them to life. His work is very reflective about people’s experiences in our busy world today.

Charlotte stands infront of her canvas in her studio space.

So wonderful to meet Charlotte Stephens again at Project Art Works (PAW) in Hastings and share the thinking behind Sync Shorts and the Syncing Space artist residency platform. We had an interview and using her artwork made a 90 second intro film for the new website.

Charlotte showed me around, meeting other studio artists.

Our first meet with our Sync Shorts Malaysian Artists and supporters

It was wonderful to meet together today to say hello. Annalees Lim, our associate Sync artist met with Andi Miranti and Izzati Sharin from Malaysia artists.

Annalees shared her ‘live scribe’ work with us and we all started to talk about the artist residency and leadership training and how we are going to work together between now and April.

Our first all group meet will be on the 13th February and we are making short introduction films for each artist for their studio page.