Keith works extensively within the public realm, developing and facilitating workshops, residencies and community centric projects across the UK. He sometimes collaborates with his partner Nikki, from Black and White Creative. This partnership provides decades of experience working with groups of all ages, engaging with museums, galleries and in community settings. A specialist area includes working with young people who may have been excluded from or are finding formal school or college life challenging.
If you would like to find out more about my project work, or have an idea you would like to develop please get in touch HERE
National Horse Racing Museum, Newmarket. ‘We Are Newmarket’ – 2021-22
‘We Are Newmarket’ was a 3-month residency, commencing September 2021. The brief was to create 3 original artworks for the museum in response to the NHRM collection, and a final community artwork to display in the atrium of the museum. This work was developed in a series of events and drop-in sessions over the 3-month residency. Over a hundred artworks made by the local community, were assembled into a large-scale collage, to form the basis for the body of ‘Pivotal’, a famous local racehorse. The actual racehorse was spray-painted over the collage in transparent spray. All the works were photographed in hi-resolution, then re-created in large vinyl panels, displayed at 6 empty retail locations around Newmarket High Street.
Ipswich Waterfront: Tell Your Story – Community mural in association with CIC ARTEat – 2022
From February to May 2022, Keith and Nikki ran a series of workshops in collaboration with ARTEat for young people at a local Kurdish Mosque and the Eastern Angles Centre. During the sessions we developed ideas for a large public mural to be painted with members of the community along the Ipswich Waterfront. The framework of the mural was based on Islamic window tile patterns and the content inside this grid structure was based on conversations and drawings made by the young people in the workshop sessions. The mural was created over 6 days, with the assistance of the local community.
Nene Park – Peterborough. ‘Jubilation’ Community Mural Project – May 2022
A largescale commission organised by ‘Nene Park Trust’, Peterborough. Keith and Nikki worked with young people from ‘The Kite Trust’ and the ‘Thomas Deacon Academy’. The brief was to develop ideas for a mural covering 4 large concrete pillars under a flyover, located in the Nene Park. The artists planned and led a series of outdoor workshop activities – one session in a local park and the other at the mural site itself. The groups were encouraged to engage with the environment directly, providing the autonomy to play with ideas with chalk and pen on the concrete surface. The final mural incorporated all the ideas developed in the workshops, along with portraits of some of the young people. The portraits featured a mix of their faces to obscure their identity and reflect the diversity of the groups the artists worked with.
Food Museum, Stowmarket. ‘Jubilant’ Festival – July 2022
Throughout July 2022 we worked in association with ‘Aspire Black Suffolk’ CIC, ‘Stowmarket Arts Society’, ‘Olive AP Academy’ and ‘The Food Museum’. The museum hosted an exhibition featuring 3 of the original costumes from the ‘Black Panther’ movie. Following a private visit to the exhibition, the young people made work in response to the costumes. Over 6 workshop sessions, Keith and Nikki explored to concept of super heroes, costume and identity. In these sessions we focused on drawing and designing the young people’s ideas of their own autonomous super hero identity. This was realised in the form of costumes to be exhibited in the museum alongside the ‘Black Panther’ costumes. The artists worked with an array of media from paint markers, spray paint, fabric to t-shirt printing and tie dye.
Aspire – Black Suffolk – ‘Elimu – Little Book of Knowledge’ Workbook
A commission by ‘Aspire Black Suffolk’ CIC, an organisation based in Ipswich, to design a workbook that would be distributed within the community and schools across the county. The main purpose of this workbook was to provide an educational tool to support and provide a comprehensive overview of Black history and culture, that is easy to understand and engaging. The book also included fun activities for various different age groups, such as quiz pages and colouring in and other learning activities that could be accessed by scanning QR codes. There are now three editions of these workbooks, catering for different levels of learning across all ages. We provided all the design content and layout for this project for print and digital use.
Achieving Aspirations, Bury St Edmunds. Mural For Exterior Building – August 2022
A commission to design and paint a mural for the ‘Achieving Aspirations’ building in Bury St Edmunds. This organisation works with young people with severe learning difficulties who can respond well to colour and pattern. The building was an unfurnished brick building, which was looking very tired and in need of refurbishing. Keith designed a large scale artwork that was vibrant, dynamic and full of energy, featuring simultaneous contrast colours and mark making in spray paint.
Keith Hopewell 