Join artist Lisa Watts in conversation with social worker Professor Siobhan Maclean as they discuss Watts’ artistic practice, alongside the current John Hansard Gallery exhibition My Crazy Family Golf.
Book your tickets here.
Together they will explore the overlaps and contrasts between social care practice and artistic practice around the making of My Crazy Family Golf.
My Crazy Family Golf, is a participative project made by Lisa Watts and her father, Gordon Watts (referred to as ‘Dad’). The project tells Dad’s story of being the primary carer for his wife (Lisa’s Mum) for the majority of her adult life. Her complex mental illness has had profound effects on all the family and their relationships with each other.
She has recently entered residential care and this project has grown from Lisa and Dad’s mutual desire to build something new that brought them closer. Together they have created a series of crazy golf holes, each including audio recordings of the family made during Dad’s years of caring. Visitors to My Crazy Family Golf are invited to play five holes of crazy golf, with a handmade golf club and score card to complete. Both fun and poignant, this project inspires visitors to reflect on their own family relationships, the nature of care, and the significance of those personal interactions.
My Crazy Family Golf is accompanied by a personal film, Dad Cares, which will be screened as part of the event.
My Crazy Family Golf is a John Hansard Gallery exhibition presented in partnership with Fabrica, Brighton, and supported by research and development funding from Arts Council England.
My Crazy Family Golf: In Conversation is in Partnership with Kirwin Maclean Associates.
About Lisa Watts
Lisa Watts uses various media such as performance, video, photography, and digital imaging in her art practice, which often involves her own body. Recent projects include Not a Decorator 2017-18 (shown at SIA, Sheffield: Castlefield Gallery, Manchester and John Hansard Gallery, Southampton) and Skittish (shown at Spacex Gallery, Exeter, Vane Gallery, Newcastle, The Tetley, Leeds). Other recent projects have included two artist’s books: 429 Significant Moments: Documenting an Artist’s Research and Processes (2018) and 32 Significant Moments: an Artist’s Practice as Research (2004), alongside numerous performance projects at venues including: Site Gallery, Sheffield; Interspace, Bulgaria; National Review of Live Art, Glasgow; Hull Time Based Arts; Bradford International Festival, amongst others.
About Siobhan Maclean
Siobhan Maclean has been a social worker for 30 years and became a practice educator in 1995. Siobhan has worked independently for a number of years. As an independent her work is varied but includes training, devising practice learning resources and consultancy work. Siobhan still very much enjoys working as a practice educator and currently works with a few students a year in an offsite capacity.
In 2004 Siobhan was appointed to the position of Secretary of the International Federation of Social Workers, holding this position for eight years. She still maintains close international links and enjoys working to support practice educators in countries where social work education is in the early stages of development.
Siobhan was recently appointed a Visiting Professor at the University of Chester. She is also an Editorial Board member of the Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning. Siobhan has written widely, mostly around social work theory and critical reflection. She is committed to making the knowledge base accessible to busy practitioners and set up Kirwin Maclean Associates as an independent publishing organisation based on the values and ethics of social work.