Short Read.
b.1982
Andrew Wilson (he/him) is an artist based in Newcastle upon Tyne UK, a studio holder at The NewBridge Project, a steward for the community co-operative Dwellbeing Shieldfield, and a member of West End Housing Co-op.
Working both individually and in collaboration with many other artists, individuals, groups and organisations Andrew’s work results in slow, invested, and thoughtful projects with a specific interest in alternative social, political and economic possibilities, the collective experience of joy, and peer-led models of support and education.
Outcomes often include publications, events, workshops, drawings, recordings and more recently film and archive. Andrew’s work is best known for the relationship between these specific outcomes and the multiple opportunities for encounter they provoke.
Longer Read.
Andrew is currently working with community initiatives and arts organisations in the residential area of Shieldfield on a project called 100 PEOPLE, a portrait of co-ordination and co-existence. The idea is to co-create an exhibition, a feature film-portrait and a community archive.
Andrew has been a member of the NewBridge Project Programme Committee on two ocassions, 2014-15 and 2019-21, co-curating projects such as 37 Pieces of Flair, The Re-generation Game, Two-day Conversation, Blazing New Worlds, and The Hologram, a course on peer-to-peer health led by artist Cassie Thornton and Lita Wallis.
In 2021 Andrew’s film This Trust Idea was screened at SIDE cinema as part of their Collective Now season alongside Andrea Luka Zimmerman, Rojava Film Commune and Unicorn Riot.
Between 2016-19 Andrew co-initiated We Are Our Media; an experimental ‘do it ourselves’ approach to tabloid journalism which included supporting 100+ participants in more than 20x workshops, producing 2x 32-page tabloid newspapers called The Eclipse, and distributing more than 28,000 copies.
In 2019 Andrew undertook a two-month artist residency at ZK/U in Berlin. Co-funded by The NewBridge Project and Durham University as part of an international research project Andrew created a 30min film titled Nasa Lie the Earth is Flat no Curve which has been screened in several cities including: Berlin, Rotterdam, Leeds, and Newcastle.
Andrew has many years experience working as an artist with adults who experience social exclusion or marginalisation in its various forms including: 10+ years as a sessional artist with mental health based arts charity Chilli Studios, programming partnerships with Launchpad and The Recovery College Collective (ReCoCo), project management and workshop facilitation with Class of McGowan (a project within Mental Health Concern) and as a temporary studio manager of the Art Room at St. Nicholas’ Psychiatric Hospital before its closure back in 2009.
In 2018-19 Andrew undertook an artist residency with Shieldfield Art Works (SAW) entitled North-EastEnders. Via workshops, screenings, public forum, and celebration events the project supported residents diverse in age and ethnicity to collectively articulate their differing experiences of the neighbourhood via a series of co-created short films.
In 2015 artist duo Lloyd-Wilso (Andrew and artist Toby Lloyd) were nominated for the Contemporary Visual Arts Network (CVAN) artists films for their long-term Artist House 45 residency in South Leeds. You can watch the video here.
Contact: Iamandrewwilson@yahoo.co.uk