Ilga Leimanis

Biography

Drawing has been a part of my practice for 20 years, I have found it satisfying as an activity, both as an artist and educator. Sketching is an absorbing process, mindful and connected to the self. I operate well in the territory of not-knowing, as a facilitator of process, helping others access new knowledge. I make workshops and methods. I give people the tools and practices for empowerment. The materials I use are paper and pen, lines, marks, shapes, and words; a table in a room with a group of people coming together. My approach is open, exploratory, experimental, and qualitative; emergent. I have become a good communicator “you are very good at what you do” (student feedback). The workshop becomes a knowledge-making space of affective learning where the lessons bell hooks theorises, can be tested and implemented.

Where does my thinking come from? The obvious answer is my own art practice, my art and pedagogy are woven together. (praxis hooks, 1994) As an artist my work has been predominantly collaborative and exploratory, while in my teaching, I have worked with many communities, forging collaborations with businesses, museums, architecture and design studios, portfolio preparation schools, a cancer support group, civil servants, non-governmental organisations, and universities. I have been the connector; I have been sought out and invited to collaborate.