ARTIST BIO
About Alice Briggs
Alice Briggs is an artist, arts educator and curator who has exhibited and invigilated work in the UK and mainland Europe. She has worked as a curator for nearly twenty years, including roles as Head of Art at National Museum Wales and assistant curator of Ceredigion Museum in Aberystwyth. Alice worked with Age Cymru on their flagship cARTrefu project as an artist in care homes for five years and is a Creative Agent for the Lead Creative Schools Arts Council Wales project.
She also has experience in the commissioning and management of public art projects in her previous roles as Project Manager for Cywaith Cymru (subsequently Safle); the public art agency for Wales, arts tutor for Aberystwyth University's School of Lifelong Learning, and gallery interpreter for Aberystwyth Arts Centre. Other positions have included arts facilitator for Haul Arts in Health.
Alice Briggs graduated in Visual Performance at Dartington College of Arts, and completed an MA in Art Museum and Gallery Studies from Newcastle. Since then she founded Blaengar - an emerging arts organisation focused on site-specific works and creative events in the public realm.
Alice has a growing interest in the recuperative benefits of creative arts within the health sector. She has experience of working within a variety of health care environments, including mental health, stroke rehabilitation and with children suffering long-term illnesses and learning difficulties.
CURATOR AND FACILITATOR
Freelance museum consultant curator and educator, with experience across museums and galleries in Wales and the UK, and as Head of Art at Amgueddfa Cymru / National Museum Wales. My interests are in community engagement and social change, representation and decolonisation. Previously I worked within the context of a local authority institution that prided itself on working within an engaging and socially cohesive framework. I'm an experienced gallery and arts educator, and have worked as a Creative Agent (and practitioner) for the Arts Council Wales Lead Creative School scheme since 2016.
There are many traditional boundaries occupying the setting of museum curation that we constantly seek to push, particularly in regards to wellbeing and sustainability within the historical and cultural boundaries of the museum. The particularly challenging times in which we are working often inspire new partnerships and modes of curation. I aim to curate spaces for reflection, and enjoy developing unusual forms of presentation and sites for curation. Serendipitous moments where the public happen upon artwork can often be the most memorable.
I particularly enjoy working with artists collaboratively, and from the environment of our museum collections, whilst drawing in our audiences as active participants of the process and its end product - whatever that may be.
I worked for several years with the Happy Museum at Ceredigion Museum whose work has helped to transform the museum space and develop a collaborative and inclusive approach to our curation.
Museums + Heritage award 'highly commended' in 2020 for the temporary exhibition 'Sheep'.
Link to the report from the 'Future Landscapes' symposium organised for the exhibition.