Visionary Victorian helps Down Syndrome artist develop 21st century career

Hello

Pasted below please find a story which I hope you will find of interest. If you’d like to run any features on Fiona and her art, or are planning a feature on artists and disability, then please do get in touch. I have plenty of other images – both of Fiona and her work.

Many thanks

News story and images

Visionary Victorian helps Down Syndrome artist develop 21st century career


The passion of a visionary Victorian educationalist who believed artists were vital for the wellbeing of society has played a crucial role in helping to develop the talents of an abstract painter with Down Syndrome.

His legacy is behind the success of hundreds of artists over the past 60 years, including that of Fiona Stevenson, whose work has been exhibited in London, New York and Manchester.

The man in question is Henry Morris, a Victorian by birth, through whose charitable trust Fiona met the teacher and mentor with whom she is this month celebrating a 12-year working relationship – Julia Skrebels.


The Digswell Arts Trust, set up in the late 1950s, helps artists starting out in their careers by providing studio space in which to incubate their emerging talent and share their expertise with fledgling creatives.

And it was in one of these incubator studios that Julia, one of the trust’s ‘fellows,’ encountered Fiona and began to nurture her artistic talent.

“Henry Morris was a passionate believer in art for the people and maintained that artists were vital for the wellbeing of society,” explained Julia, who, under the rules of the charity, was able to stay in the studio for five years before flying the nest and setting up by herself.

“At the time he was the new town cultural and leisure planning adviser for the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and persuaded the government and the Welwyn Garden City Development Corporation that supporting local artists would be good for wider society,” she added.

Many years earlier Morris had set up ‘village colleges’ to help educate the pre-war rural dwellers of Cambridgeshire, while the county’s chief education officer.

Julia has personal experience of working with people with learning difficulties. She lived with her cousin, who has Down Syndrome, as a teenager and she has worked extensively in schools with special needs children.

The pair now spend a two-hour stint together every week at Julia’s studio near Knebworth, and Fiona is prolific, sometimes creating five paintings in a day, while in other cases taking weeks over one work.

“One of the most exciting things about working with Fiona is that she doesn’t have any preconceptions of all that art history that bogs me down or any of those ‘I’m supposed to do it like this’ concerns. She’s free of all that nonsense,” said Julia.

“I’ll suggest something and she’ll do the opposite and it’ll look great. She surprises me. I think she’s going to ruin it, but it’s right. I can’t imitate it. If I tried to paint like Fiona I never could.”

She sees some similarities between Fiona’s work and that of St Ives Group mark maker Sir Howard Hodgkin.

“Often Fiona starts by painting round the edges just like Hodgkin,” explained Julia.

“Fiona will bring in an image or look at a magazine or find something on the internet. It might be the shape, colour or subject that she likes. She has no particular preference for subjects.

Greece – the Fiona Stevenson piece which doesn’t include Sandy and Danny!
Fiona in the studio with her mentor Julia Skrebels

“Her working methods have changed since we started working together. I directed at the beginning, but now I put the canvas and paints out and Fiona will tell me what she wants to paint and which paints she wants. She gets quite bossy with he me now, although she was quiet at the start.

“Fiona also sometimes paints over things and when I express concern she reassures me: ‘It’s still there. It’s just underneath.’

“We’ve tried different techniques such as pouring, scraping and splashing which she enjoys. We’re limited by the size of the studio, so can only do the messy things outside, on a nice day.”

One communication confusion in the early days caused much hilarity.

“I asked her ‘What would you like to paint next week and I’ll look for images.
She told me she wanted to paint Greece, so I found pictures of white buildings, which she duly painted.
Then she asked: ‘When are we painting Sandy and Danny?’

See some of Fiona Stevenson’s work, and view her virtual galleries, here:
https://www.fionastevenson.co.uk

For more information and photography please contact Fiona Stevenson’s press officer, Helen Lambell, at Splash PR on 07969 253147.

Fiona Stevenson’s For Josephine – a work painted early in Fiona’s career, before she met Julia
Fiona’s talent has been nurtured thanks to a charitable trust set up by visionary Victorian educationalist who believed artists were good for the wellbeing of society. Talk Talk has been the subject of a great deal of interest.

Never miss an update!

Sign up to hear about Fiona’s latest work, exhibitions and more!



We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.