Alison McIntyre
Painter and Community Artist

I am a self-taught painter and have been painting professionally since 1997, selling my paintings through private commissions or exhibitions. I split my time between my own painting and working as a community artist, specialising in murals and other large scale work in schools and community settings. I also run general arts and crafts workshops.

When creating any piece of community art I feel that it is very important to involve people as much as possible in the creative process. For example, when creating a painted mural the children start by producing drawings and paintings around a theme and I design the mural using their pictures. I aim to re-create these pictures as exactly as possible on the wall as I feel that keeping the integrity of the children's images is very important to the success of the project. All the children then get an opportunity to paint a section of the mural (this can include a number of year groups on a large project), after which I complete the more detailed work and tidying up. The end result is a piece of work that is created and owned by the children, whilst also looking very professional.

I also produce collaged mural panels where the finished product has been created solely by the children. This is a good way to involve a whole school in a project as each child creates a small piece of a large panel.

When working with older children or adults I go through almost exactly the same processes but will involve them much more in decision making and in learning how to complete each stage. They then learn the key techniques and are able to complete their own murals by the end of the project.

I have been commissioned to design murals for individuals in their homes and would be happy to consider projects for adult or children's spaces.

I taught mural design at Morley Adult Education College in Waterloo and worked with adults through the college's Community Outreach Programme. I'm also a regular tutor at the West Yorkshire Playhouse's Heydays Club for over 55s.

Please contact me if you would like to discuss any aspect of my work.