I want my art to be accessible to everyone

Joanna Tidey

I was born in London and studied Fine Art at the University of East London, eventually finding myself in Hampshire. This is where I made my home – it’s so important to me to be part of the community here, and my art has helped me to achieve that.

I’ve done many different jobs within the arts over the years. On leaving university, I worked as a consultant at the Hayward Gallery in London for a major exhibition on silk and how we use it. They called me in to care for the 10,000 live silkworms that were part of the exhibition. I went on from there to do an exhibition at Whitchurch Silk Mill called ‘Dream Weavers’.

I’ve also helped run art galleries, as well as teaching adults painting. Sadly when Covid hit, I couldn’t continue with my teaching, so outdoor art became more of a focus. I got involved in Free Art Fridays in Portsmouth, which is now a global movement where artists leave artwork on the street for people to enjoy and take home.

I took the concept to Sholing. Everyone was doing so much more walking during Covid and I thought it would be nice for them to have something to look for, so I designed a kind of visual treasure hunt. A lot of people were painting junction boxes, so I asked Open Reach for permission to paint their green telephone cabinets and they said yes. This resulted in my Sholing Safari art hunt.

From there I was asked if I could do something similar in Bitterne. The Friends of Bitterne Station, funded by South Western Railway, commissioned me to create an art trail on the theme of ‘Nature All Around Us’, featuring ten animals from the area’s local wildlife. This was a great experience for me – particularly as the naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham, who has always been a hero of mine, came to unveil my mural at Cobbett Road library. He grew up in the area and spent a lot of time at the library as a child.

Since then I have been part of the Multi-Stories project for the past two years at Westquay, as well as taking part in Southend City Jam, Southend’s international street art festival – the biggest in Europe.

It takes an entrepreneurial spirit to be involved in these events – you have to look out for opportunities and go through an application process. I’ve been very lucky in getting these commissions. I also have my prints available for sale at New Forest Wildlife Park and at Longleat.

My inspiration has always been the natural world and my paintings are very eye-catching, with bright colours and a lot of energy. I think having art in public spaces is so important. When I did my degree, my dissertation was on art and accessibility. Making art available to everyone is a thread that runs through all my work, and street art is one of the most accessible forms of art. It’s free and it’s not scary like an art gallery might be. I think it’s great to have art in places where people don’t expect it to be, so people get free fun every day.

I’m currently working on a mural in Riverside Park about the Atlantic salmon, although mural work is often weather-dependent. And I’m very excited about my new exhibition in the foyer of Southampton City Art Gallery. It’s called ‘A Splash of Nature’ and it runs through to 14^th December. This is my first solo exhibition for a long time. It consists of canvases plus some display cabinets showing how I work and a bit about my history as an artist. There are also prints available in the gallery shop.