Renaissance Woman, Bon Vivant and a Big Beer drinker!
Zoe works in a wide range of mediums, including painting, digital drawing, fashion, dance, video, music, photography, writing and performance.
Currently, Zoe is inspired by films and tv shows where she draws the characters and scenes. She is also exploring working from her imagination, which has led to her writing her first novel, which is called The Crazy Detective and developing a series of memory paintings.
Zoe has exhibited throughout Cornwall, at Newlyn Art Gallery, Studio 62 Gallery and Krowji Open Studios.
Zoe has regularly appeared in the local ‘Cornishman’ newspaper and has regularly been awarded as a finalist in the Down’s Syndrome Association's annual, ‘My Perspective’ photographic competition.
Over the last 40 years, the list of people she has met reads like a ‘Who's Who’ ~ including members of the Royal Family, Lords & Lady’s in visits to The House of Lords, Prime Ministers at Number 10, assorted Politicians, Mayors & Celebrities and in 2005, Dawn French during her visit to The John Daniel Centre (where Dawn was presented with her own portrait painted by Zoe). The Actor Timothy Spall bought three of Zoe’s paintings during his ‘Somewhere At Sea’ tour around the Cornish coast.
As a founder member of the Shallal Dance Theatre Company, Zoe has been involved in performances across the county performing through dance, theatre and her clarinet.
On top of all this, Zoe worked for many years for Cornwall Health And Making Partnerships (CHAMPs), helping people with a learning disability in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly get equal access to health service.
Always 'excited' with creative ideas that bubble away in Shallal and this time excited to start our new project/s and Back Lane West.
Our new project hopes to bounce off the inspiration of Cornwall Philanthropist John Passmore Edwards into,
" What would he do now?
or "What would you do now if you had the means to fund the most critical issues you feel we face?"
How would you leave your mark, 'be useful'?
How would you use your time and money/assets to make this world better? etc etc...
On Tuesday I started a Citizens Journalism one term course with tutor Matthew Rogers at Penryn Campus, hoping to make some podcasts to enable and inform our R&D and give a voice to our positive collective future, from those who are passionate and invested in it from diverse positive view points.
This morning i sat in on Culture Declares Emergency Declarers Breakfast https://www.culturedeclares.org/declarers-breakfasts/
Rapid Transition
We are united by the importance of evidence based hope. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can,” although spoken in a very different context, those words of the great sportsman, Arthur Ashe, neatly capture how in tackling climate breakdown we must begin now, with the choices available to us and use all the opportunities we have.
1] Capitalism has been the engine of the exploitation of nature, and thus the generator of the climate crisis. We need to cooperate with nature, and cease seeing it only as a commodity. Nature is sacred, according to indigenous peoples. All of nature has a spiritual significance, not just a material importance. The article below by Erin McCarley delves the way in which capitalism is killing our planet. It is a call for Americans – and everyone else in thrall to them – to wake up.
[2] Capitalism kills off the human sense of solidarity, communing and community, togetherness, and divides people in such a way that all sense of the common good, the common interest, the common destiny, uniting all humans is rejected. Redemption is humanity’s common destiny, and it allows no ‘winners and losers’, no ‘saved and lost.’ Capitalism creates the vast gulf between rich and poor. Something like the 10% of the richest people in the world own 90% of the world’s wealth. 100 oranges and 100 people. 10 people ‘own’ [have stolen] 90 oranges, so that is 9 oranges per person. 90 people are left with 10 oranges, which is 0.1 orange per person, an amount so small, it hardly registers. Could you sit at table with 9 oranges in front of you, to eat at your leisure, while your neighbour next to you was sitting with 0.1 per cent of an orange in front of him? Any gap is wrong, yet this kind of gap routine to capitalism is obscene.
A third way Communalism... Jamie Moran
from an email by Jamie Moran, retired senior lecturer in psychology and counselling at Roehampton University.
We must build massive networks of support and care at local and community levels, while at the same time, build international political movements that can replace the most corrupt capitalist states. It’s a long, hard road ahead and a multi-generational project, and it’s not for the weak of heart. It’s going to take all of our courage, all of our resilience, and all of our love for our children and grandchildren. And it starts with telling the truth about capitalism.
I've written before that Shallal holds a vision for how we can all live together which can point beyond art, (and the above quotes are others perspectives and thoughts), we all have different ways of getting to the same place, of 'celebrating diversity, ability and community'.
At it's best we feel the 'Communalism' of our work together and we care for people who are vulnerable and realise we are all vulnerable and need love, care, respect and consideration and the planet and our fragile ecosystems are part of it and need it to now more than ever.
Personally, I am committed to bringing positive voices, to help us in our global crisis, into all our projects and Kerry's poem and plea, is one I'm happy to have out there.
I'm also pleased to be starting a Citizens Journalism course soon at Penryn Campus. - Jo Willis founder and creative director Shallal
Roots are interesting in any form I find, and particularly the roots of ideas, inspirations, connections...
Robert Fripp became Shallal's patron through the route of my husband Peter Willis (my best critic and support, we met and worked together in dance groups I facilitated at the John Daniel Centre, Penzance before Shallal was born, and after he supported our early outings, by driving the mini bus etc, along with our administrator and her husband).
Robert explains their connection and shows an early painting of Peters in this...
Watching Peter paint, as an abstract artist, informed my approach to dance, the process of creating work for me has more to do often with spontaneous layered painting than formal choreography.
Robert and Peter went to Sherbourne, here Peter learnt sacred dances so he he has an experiential understanding of the body moving in that way.
This is a rambling blog inspired by Roots and Shallal's patron and while here it led me to Skye and a song I love of hers not yet recorded except on this home video from our event and then to another video.
Back Lane West soon and i have ideas to commission/record some Festive songs and I hope to commission Skye as well as others, need to speak to them soon!
Back into work and many have worked this summer delivering fantastic one off summer sessions!
and others of us have recharged, rested and returned.
August is a strange month in Cornwall, when you hand over your homeland to visitors to enjoy, and often stay quiet and reemerge later on.
So we return to good news of 'Knitted Together' Shallal Studios next project going forwards.
Shallal Dance Theatre 'A Call to Home' praying for a sunny September as we prepare an outdoor show
Friday 23 September 6-7pm at Plen an Gwarry, St Just bringing the show full circle home!
Quickly put up Zoe's paintings at Dark Pony Coffee, Falmouth today with the curation of Anna and help of Luke .
Dreaming and Scheming for two new community dance sessions at St Austell and Newquay and conversations for commissions for two new closed group art groups.
And my favourite time of year Back Lane West Residency, i have just had the go ahead for some budget and have started conversations with diverse artists and ideas, although line and installation are a theme for some,
and our illustration exercises were a great joy this Tuesday on Art Connection Zoom
"Isabella mouse" is coming to life, and my laptop is mended so Wednesday session of Shallal 2 was fun and far more easily interactive.
So good to see everyone again and make new connections.
Many thanks to all in the background who work so hard to enable us to deliver this style of work.
