About

Present:

Artist, freelance engagement consultant, permaculture designer and creative practitioner exploring process and learner-centered approaches rooted in site-specific creativity and regenerative practices developed through over 20 years of exploration with places, communities and people of all ages.

Expertise in cultivating connection through creativity, programme and audience development, co-enquiry/co-creation, community engagement, interpretation, strategic planning, audience cultivation and consultation, evaluation and creative event programming.

• Associate artist & creative producer - Squash Liverpool (present)

• Artist in Residence - The People’s Pantry, LeftCoast, Blackpool (present)

• Associate Producer - Supper Clubs with LeftCoast, Blackpool (present)

• Forest Schools Programme Leader & nature connectedness (present)

• Permaculture design (PDC 2024) with Liz Postlethwaite and Permaculture Diploma Studies (2024 -ongoing)

• Cultural Emergence (CEED, ACE, PEACE 2024) with Looby Macnamara

Past:

Head of Learning and Strategic Learning Consultant - Yorkshire Sculpture Park / strategic development of the learning offer for formal, informal and community audiences, programme diversification, resource development, partnership development. Programme development and cultivation of values and approaches for exploring YSP’s unique setting through learning activities.

Strategic Lead, Young People and Adults, Learning & Participation - National Museums Liverpool / strategic management of the learning and participation offer for adults, young people and elders. Includes skills & employability, events, lectures, workshops and resource development.

Community engagement consultant - Tate Liverpool 2023 & 2024

Arts Engagement Lead - Fleetwood Heritage Action Zone Cultural Programme for community engagement, artistic commissions and creative programming, leading on strategy development, commission management and programme implementation and evaluation (2021-2023)

Creative Producer - Chester Contemporary engagement programme 2023

Learning resource and engagement space development - Found Cities, Lost Objects: Women in the City (Arts Council Collection touring exhibition) 2021

Slavery Remembrance Day Weekend 2020 - Coordination of National Museums Liverpool’s annual Slavery Remembrance Day event and development of our first online programme (also for 2015 & 2016).

Engagement Manager - Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme at the Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool / using the Arts Council Collection as a catalyst to develop engagement programming that explores collections and collecting alongside modern and contemporary art.

Acting Senior Education Manager - Art Galleries, National Museums Liverpool & Education Manager for the the Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme at the Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool. Includes audience development and partnerships, programme development and delivery for schools/families/adults/communities, exhibition interpretation/resources and development of learning spaces.

Freelance artist educator, educational researcher and evaluator working with community groups, educational organisations and cultural settings to explore, enhance and embed learning in a wide range of environments.

Awhile back:

Engagement, learning, interpretation, evaluation and research within gallery, museum, school, cultural and community settings (US & UK).

Past roles include: Education Manager at the International Slavery Museum, Education Project Management for the NHLF South end redevelopment at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, creative practitioner within community outreach settings and Gallery Educator for children and families at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Hi there! I’m Angelica Vanasse (she/her), a visual and participatory artist, art engagement specialist and cultural engagement consultant based in the Northwest, UK. 

For 20 years my practice has been rooted in making and holding space for myself and others to connect with creativity and placemaking. My artwork is built on a lifetime of exploration of nature and the boundaries and connections we create between ourselves and the natural world. I am compelled to record physical and emotional journeys visually and through gathering the pieces encountered along the way to understand growth, change & process. I work to explore what regenerative practices and creativity can be and make possible in the world.

From a young age I was interested in making spaces for people to explore their creativity, sharing creative processes through visual arts engagement (deciding to become an art teacher at age 8) alongside developing my own artistic practice and building a creative skillset that spanned many different disciplines. These two strands of my practice feed one another and I was fortunate to obtain my BFA in Art Education and Fine Art (dual degree) at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University where this approach was nurtured. Rooted deeply in making and supporting engagement, my professional practice includes over 20 years of experience developing creative experiences that support engagement opportunities working in collaboration with a range of audiences in community led settings, outdoor settings, museums, galleries, cultural and educational settings. I have also worked closely with educational partners in primary and secondary schools and HE/FE institutions to develop collaborative programming and resources that integrate learning initiatives and the National Curriculum.

I am committed to being open to learning and evolving as I create spaces for people to find connection, share their ideas and experiences, and challenge the limitations that often exist within institutions, society and the environments we live in that are so often disconnected from the natural world that sits alongside us awaiting our connection. Weaving permaculture thinking and doing into my processes and practice is an ongoing exploration in what I do and keeps me rooted in regenerative practice.

Recently making the shift to working in a freelance capacity after many years working within cultural organisations has provided time and space for new thinking, aligning the strands of my experiences and curiosity developed in the different limbs of my practice to express my whole self creatively as part of what I do and share. This new territory, informed by all of my past experiences and the contrast provided by the freedom I now have, has opened a new chapter for action research — ‘site-specific creativity.’ This embeds engagement, connection and co-enquiry in places through creative collaboration that is learner-centred, welcoming place as partner. This has become a way for me to share and centre what was informed by own creative practice and my practice as a visual arts engagement specialist, giving it the time it needs to evolve and grow to encourage developing closer relationships to the natural world and its cyclical nature.

My artistic practice is multi-disipline, utilising drawing, photography, printmaking, plants, organic materials, food, sculpture and performance to articulate and share ideas through 2D and 3D outputs, performance, participatory events and site-specific installation.

Particular areas of focus in terms of visual and cultural engagement include strategic planning for dynamic and inclusive engagement programming, learning programme development, embedding co-enquiry and co-creation, developing partnerships, expertise in issue based education, creating gallery-based engagement spaces, developing collaborative programming with artists and audiences, and embedding integrated resources and interpretation to make learning in cultural settings underpinned by creativity while being accessible, inspiring and learner-focused.

Education:

Master of Research (Distinction) - Liverpool John Moores University, exploring learning environments with galleries and cultural settings.

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education and Fine Art - Tufts University in affiliation with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Studio Art Diploma and Fifth Year Certificate - School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Site-specific Installation - Burren College of Art & National University of Ireland Galway

Additional skills and experience:

• Permaculture for artists & Permaculture Design Course

• Cultural Emergence for Effective Design & Activating Cultural Emergence with Looby Macnamara

• Strategic planning and writing

• Arts Award Advisor - Discover, Explore, Bronze, Silver

• Forest School Programme Leader Level 3 qualified

• Creative conversations & evaluation facilitation

• Process based learning and collaboration

• Learner-centered approaches for art engagement

• Object and issue-based learning

• Safeguarding expertise

• First Aid qualified