Exhibition explores inclusive art education

Work created by neurodivergent and learning disabled artists is going on show at the University of Leeds next week in a new exhibition which explores how they can develop their careers. 'The Irregular Art School' opens on Friday 3 February and will highlight inclusive artist development, emerging from a research project taking place in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies. A group of artists from Pyramid, a Leeds-based inclusive art collective, joined students, care professionals and academics to explore new methods and collaborations to better support the professional development of learning disabled artists in the Leeds city region. Traditional routes for artist development like going to university, studio residencies or getting involved with artist-led communities are difficult to access for these artists. The exhibition experiments with making arts development opportunities 'irregular', enabling people with different life experiences, ways of knowing and ways of being to progress and learn together side by side. Dr Jade French, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies The core research team - made up of artists and staff from Pyramid, as well as University of Leeds Lecturer Jade French and University of York Lecturer Katie Graham - have been working with staff and students within the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies to explore what it means for an artist to progress within a university setting. The exhibition, curated by undergraduate Fine Art Student Shanelle Bateman, displays a selection of the artworks created during the research, considering the barriers that learning disabled and/or neurodivergent artists at Pyramid have faced when pursuing being an artist.