Explore Contemporary Artists, Designers & Makers

AccessArt is keen to encourage schools to introduce pupils to the work of dynamic, diverse, contemporary artists from a variety of disciplines. These artists can be valuable role models for children, helping to demonstrate how creative skills can be used in real life. 

If you would like to suggest an artist, or create a post yourself, please get in touch.

New artists, designers and makers are added each month. 

Artist Studio Series By Scarlett Rebecca

In this Artist Studio series, Artist and Printmaker Scarlett Rebecca visits a network of professional artists in their studios, asking them about their process, how they use their studios and what they mean to them.  Explore here.

Leigh Bowser Textile Artist

Leigh Bowser is a textile artist, specialising in free-motion machine embroidery. She facilitates projects with artists with learning disabilities; children; students; and local communities to produce textile-based outcomes. Her motivation lies within craftivism: using textiles for positive change. Read more

Olivier Kugler Reportage Illustrator

In this post, Reportage Illustrator Olivier Kugler recalls a project in which he was invited to document the circumstances of Syrian Refugees who he met in Refugee Camps across the world. His book ‘Escaping Wars and Waves- Encounters with Syrian Refugees’ is a record of conversations and stories of Syrian Refugees. Kugler tells us about his process from interviews to final illustrations. Read on to find out more about ‘Escaping Wars and Waves’. Read more

Andrew Amondson Filmmaker/Installation Artist

In this post Filmmaker and Artist Andrew Amondson talks about his project ‘Living Tree’. Inspired by trees in the landscape of the Pacific Northwest United States from a young age, Andrew recently came up with an idea of a Living Christmas Tree installation. The installation promotes planting trees and brings communities together all whilst having regenerative effects on the local ecologies and economies. Read more

Tatyana Antoun Fashion Designer

Tatyana Antoun is a fashion designer from Beirut, Lebanon. Tatyana’s work explores the social restrictions force-fed to the youth in Lebanon in a string of illogical narrow ideals. Her work is heavily influenced by 80’s power dressing and the Club Kids of New York during the 90’s. Research for her collection takes place in bold and dynamic pop up sketchbooks and experiments with materials.  This post may be of interest to students in secondary school with an interest in pursuing a career in fashion. Read more

Merlin Evans Medical Artist

Merlin Evans is an Award Winning Medical Artist and Director of Drawn To Medicine. In this post Merlin talks about how her practice is a result of pushing the boundaries of different disciplines. Merlin shares her creative journey from her enjoyment of both the Arts and Sciences at school, through to training as a medical artist. This post may be particularly of interest to secondary school students who enjoy the arts and the sciences, and may be starting to think about a career path that utilises both interests. Read more

Faith Bebbington Sculptor

Faith Bebbington is a nationally renowned sculptor based in Liverpool. From creating sculptures for the Football Association to campaigning for endangered species, Faith has worked with a range of big name clients. Faith is best known for her sustainable practise; her large sculptures utilise lots of waste materials, with her biggest sculpture to date re-using over 2500 deconstructed plastic milk bottles! This post may be of interest to both primary and secondary aged children, who would like to see how environmentally engaged sculptors bring their works to the public setting. Read more

The Life & Works of Madge Gill By Curator Sophie Dutton

In this post Art Director and Curator Sophie Dutton talks about the life and works of artist Madge Gill. As a self-taught artist born in the late Nineteenth Century, Madge created meticulous small-scale and monumental works, skilfully exploring different techniques and formats including paints, inks and textiles. Sophie Dutton takes us on a journey of Madge Gill’s life and work, through extracts of her book Madge Gill by Myrninerest and the monumental exhibition Nature in Mind. Read More

Liz West Installation Artist

Liz West is an Internationally Acclaimed Visual Artist who uses light as a tool, controlling the amount, shape, form, size, colour, strength and quality to fill architectural or fabricated structures. In this post, Liz talks about her creative journey, inspirations for her installations and how her ideas materialise into reality. This post may be of interest to secondary school students keen to explore the potential of space and environment. Read More

Claire Harrup Illustrator

Claire Harrup is a successful Illustrator and Printmaker based in the UK. In this post Claire talks about her journey into the creative industry as well as the projects that she has worked on more recently and her favourite ways of working. This post would be of interest to teenagers keen to explore the realms of the creative industry and all that it has to offer an Illustrator. Read More

Theresa Easton Printmaker & Community Artist

Theresa Easton is socially engaged Printmaker. Theresa uses surfaces such as glass, ceramics and metal to name a few. In this post, Theresa talks about working creatively alongside organisations to create beautiful socially conscious books and prints. This post may be of interest to older teenagers and young people who are looking at ways to use their art to engage in and comment upon societal issues. Read More

Ava Jolliffe Digital Artist & Disability Advocate

Ava Jolliffe is a talented 14 year old deaf/blind digital artist from the North West of England. Ava works to overcome challenges everyday to create beautiful digital portraits, and through her passion shows herself to be a positive role model and a strong advocate for her disabled peers. This inspiring post delves into the story of an exceptional teenager who truly demonstrates that art is the most powerful and accessible language of them all. Read More

2B Or Not 2B Sister Illustrators & Makers

2B Or Not 2B are a creative sister duo who work together to create a range of illustrated goodies from zines to enamel pins, to scarves. In this post Sarah and Elsa talk about the power of collaboration and the development of their funny characters and storylines. This post would be great for anyone looking to explore their silliness through creativity. Read More

Jason Line Still Life Painter

In this post artist Jason Line shares his passion for Still Life painting. Jason reveals the importance of understanding the structure and nature of items and shares with us how having the freedom to play with composition time and time again helps to create balance and complexity in his paintings. Read More

Rachel Parker Surface Pattern Designer

Rachel Parker is a talented surface pattern designer based in the UK. With early success at the New Designers show, she has since gone onto design patterns for Studio Flock and Dashwood Studio. In this post Rachel shares her creative process from sketchbook to final design, and talks about how she gets inspired by everyday life! Read More

Cas Holmes Textile Artist

In this resource Textile artist Cas Holmes shares her everyday connections with place. Cas talks about her interests in the symbolism of everyday, from the need for the things we recognise as ours such as family, to the need to eat. This resource takes us through the journey of Cas’s childhood memories, her travels to India and the exploration of her Romani Heritage through her textiles practice. Read More

Su Blackwell Book Artist and Set Designer

Su Blackwell is an artist who creates beautiful cut out paper illustrations. As well as exhibiting her sculptures worldwide, she has also designed sets for theatre and been involved in many high profile campaigns. In this resource Su shares her journey working within the realm of paper, from her own experiments with books forests to being the set designer working on the set for Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘The Snow Queen’. Read More

Nathan Ward Paper Installation Artist & Animator

Nathan is a recent Illustration Animation graduate from Kingston University. His paper-crafting skills have landed him commissions from shop window installations, to stop-motion sets in adverts. In this resource he shares his journey from GCSE student to Art and Design graduate and tells us about the limitless power of paper. Read More

Toby Pritchard 2D & 3D Animator

Toby Pritchard is a recent Masters Graduate from Manchester School of Art where he studied Illustration. In this post he shares his creative journey and the development of his practice over the years from 3D Stop Motion Animation to more digital animation. Toby talks about inspirations, from artists like Eyvind Earle to percussion music and explains how anthropomorphism (the attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to a god, animal, or object) has given his work life. Read More

Rosie Hurley Model Maker & 3D Illustrator

Rosie Hurley is a recent graduate from the Cambridge School of Art where she specialised in 3D illustration. Her delicate models are photographed and used to tell a story in place of traditional 2D drawings. In this resource Rosie shares her project following the storyline from Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot. She talks about the whole process of this project from inspirations and initial sketches to final models and photographs. Read More

Natsko Seki Illustrator

Natsko Seki is a Japanese Illustrator based in England. She gained an Illustration degree from the University of Brighton, and has since gone onto create many travel inspired commissions recognised world wide. In this resource Natsko shares the inspirations and creative process behind this collaboration between her and publisher Design for Today’s  folding book and card game. This resource could be of interest to both primary and secondary aged students. Read More

Gabby Savage-Dickson is a multidisciplinary artist who recently graduated from Manchester School of Art. In this interview she shares her love for story telling through etching, and tells us about her traditional printmaking process. This post may be of interest to those at secondary school. Read More

Gabby Savage-Dickson Felting & Set Design

Gabby Savage-Dickson is a multidisciplinary artist who has recently graduated from Manchester School of Art. Within her work she merges her love for embroidery and illustration to create colourful lively sets. In this post she shares the inspirations and processes behind her work, and the successes of merging different skillsets. This post may be of interest to primary and secondary aged students and will inspire you to craft the house of your dreams. Read More

We Are Out Of Office Multidisciplinary Artists

We Are Out Of Office are a multidisciplinary duo based in Utrecht in the Netherlands. In this post they talk about their creative journey, from making their own DIY screen printing workshop, to the benefits of collaboration, their love for printmaking and how they have adapted their designs into ceramics, rugs and sculptures. Read More

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