M Dillon is an artist and designer who makes mixed media collage and sculpture that might appear superficially decorative or humorous, but there is a narrative beyond the decoration that aims to provoke a specific response of disquiet.
My family home is in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. I moved to Southampton to complete an Art Foundation course followed by a three-year Textile Degree at Farnham Art College, after which I worked as a print designer in London for 2 years, giving me a more rounded understanding of the textile industry.
Wanting an adventure, I spent the summer of 92 working with young children in the Catskill Mountains in New York, as part of the Camp America summer camp program, before travelling the East coast of America. Several years working in retail funded a year-long backpacking trip through Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Returning to London, I started working for Marks and Spencer, where I’d stay for the next 22 years in a variety of roles. I started as a merchandiser but soon returned to my passion as a textile designer progressing to senior textile designer within a few years.
Working for M&S as a textile designer was my dream job. I worked creatively every day with textiles, following the latest lifestyle, product, and colour trends. I travelled the world as part of a team visiting textile fairs, shopping for inspiration, and working closely with factories to deliver beautiful product for the seasonal ranges.
In 2020, the impact of COVID meant I was furloughed for seven weeks and by the end of the year, the M&S design team was reduced by half resulting in my redundancy.
In that time, my younger sister asked if I’d like to illustrate a story that she was writing for her two young sons. Redundancy allowed me to focus on illustrating the book while also giving me the time to learn about the book publishing industry. From hand-painting the watercolour illustrations, to book layout design, to learning about print and production techniques.
I sourced a UK print house as sustainability is very important to us both, and we printed the books in the UK to keep their carbon footprint low, using FCS certified paper and vegetable inks.
In 2021 Frederick the Fox was rolling off the presses! Having learned a lot about production, marketing and distribution, we published our second book, Maximus the Mouse in 2023.
Both books are beautiful rhyming stories of friendship, brought to life with colourful hand painted watercolour illustrations perfect for children up to six years old.
I work at my small kitchen table in Chiswick and enjoy painting and experimenting with my trusty set of watercolours. If I’m not painting, I’m using my MacBook Pro to digitize artwork or to stay in touch with current retail partners and to contact new potential partners, set up book readings, craft sessions, or market stalls.
Illustrating Maximus the Mouse planted the seed for me to explore other products using both my existing and new artwork. This summer I produced a range of animal alphabet prints that I’m selling through select retail partners. Each design is beautifully hand painted with watercolours then Giclee printed onto a high quality art paper using fade resist inks. Perfect for adding a personal touch to any nursery, child's bedroom or playroom . Or if you're looking for something smaller each print has been developed as a greetings card.
Future plans include product personalisation within the Inky Flamingo range.
Greek West-London based Photographer and artist.
Storybeyondlines was conceptualized by myself, aimed at bringing the traditional & spiritual art to the world. To promote art which not only brings joy to people, but also has soothing and transformative effects on ones’ energy, has been a key theme of Storybeyondlines.
A self-taught artist, I have had a deep inclination for art since childhood and have been creating artwork since more than a decade.
Over the years, I realized that I wanted to bring to the world the art that would make someone feel connected to his/her spiritual energy, and therefore my passion for the mandala art grew and I took to her calling to bring forward this artwork to a wider audience. With numerous workshops to my side, and many customized art-works created for my clients, I have been deeply rooted to expressing and bringing forward my art form across borders.
West London based Society Dance Academy was created by a enthusiastic Individual who is determent to create a society passionate about all aspects of Street & Hip Hop dance by providing educational dance training and opportunities for young people to express their talents.
Erduan Xhaferi and a team of creative Mentors and Choreographers aim is to provide creative platforms for young people to express their talents and give young people from all walks of life an opportunity to be inspired.
We believe dance can be used as a tool to positively change people’s minds and opinions about each other and to become united within the dance culture. Dance itself is a universal language that everybody understands and can relate too, it removes all barriers between individuals and what they want to communicate, It illustrates the development of human culture. Society Dance Academy firmly believes that if we focus on developing the young generation, creatively and socially, it will have an impact on them and others, for a better future.
Dance creates experiences for young people that will allow them to participate in a range of dance forms and styles. As well as providing them with the experience of performing, confidence and opportunities for leadership roles.
Our vision for our students is to provide them with the highest training and give them opportunities to reach their goals by also inspiring them to carry this movement forward into the future, allowing them to become the next generation of Mentors/dancers, choreographers and teachers that continue to create society with dance. We strive to bring out their creativity and teach them to express themselves through movement, but most importantly we want all students to enjoy this experience.
Society Dance Academy have the experience and knowledge to stand behind their beliefs, with a history of over 10 years of performing, teaching, theatre productions and TV entertainment.
Winning a high number of awards in dance competitions in the UK and Europe, they have performed at a number of top venues such as all o2 Arena's venues, Olympic Park and Saddler’s Wells. Society Dance has also collaborated with top international artists, TV and brands such as E4, Virgin, Adidas, Dunkin Donuts, T-Pain, Jay Sean, Lil Wayne and many more international artists on a number of music videos and projects.
“By analysing the past, we understand the present and can inspire and build for the Future”.
Society Dance Academy
Every Saturday 13:00-15:00PM
6-11 Yrs 13:00-14:00PM
12-17 Yrs 14:00-15:00PM
My practice is about boundaries. I believe The rise of the idea of “posthuman” had, in many ways, shaken the fundamentals of dualism. To think that there is an absolute binary relationship between human and machines, nature and culture, object and image, identity, gender ... etc, is simply missing a lot regarding the quintessence of being. And I believe this “missing” is where contemporary art needto engage. Thus I like to work around blurring and challenging these boundaries.I work with image, live art and various forms of media.
I am currently working withbiometric data and computer language, and how the entanglement of the two creating a condition where I am in between physical and non - physical existence, me becoming together with the machine.
Avishkar Chhetri was born in Porkhara Nepal and grew up in West London. He graduated with highest honours from Kingston College School Of Art & Design in Digital Arts specialising in Animation, Digital Illustration and Concept Design. Now he is undertaking a MA in Animation from the Royal College of Art
Irish muralist, portraitist & street artist, based in New Cross, Southeast London. Shauna’s visual arts practice is grounded in figuration and reflects how self-definition is informed by place. She is interested in questions of unreliable memories, collective social identity, and inter-dependence.
She has recently begun a series of ethereal portraits of women and girls interacting with light, both a visual investigation of the playfulness of light on a figure and a symbolic gesture recognising how painting in a community of women brought sparked a new energy in her artistic practice. She is also experimenting with geometry, 3D-space and optical illusion work.
Experienced in working with private clients, community groups and schools on producing bespoke murals.
I am an artist inspired by hip hop and gospel music... I love to sing and am part of a gospel choir. I currently volunteer at the W3 gallery. I also speak Arabic and do translation into English.