Jan Doherty is a Textile Artist and former Artistic Director of Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF). She talks about the evolution of her creative life, from being raised in a female household in Dundee and developing a childhood passion for textiles inspired by her family.
Jan describes how she forged a career in the arts, developing arts & crafts festivals in the East Midlands before going on to work with communities in the former coal-mining villages of Nottinghamshire and Durham in the wake of pit closures. She shares her belief that art can help generate a new sense of hope in communities.
Jan recalls her work as Head of Arts at Stockton Council, her sense of responsibility on becoming Artistic Director of the much-loved S.I.R.F., and its importance locally, nationally and internationally. She also talks about her role as Chair of Tin Arts and the Watershed Workshops, and how in recent years, textiles have again become the centre of her creative life, basing herself at a studio in Assembly House Studios in Leeds surrounded by new generations of artists.
She shares some of her biggest challenges, including surviving breast cancer and the shock death of her son, and how her partner’s family have helped her come to terms with the bereavement.
Interviewed by Claire Raftery, Audio Mastered by Barry Han. Edited by Damian Wright.
Funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund
For full transcript please contact periplumcic@gmail.com
The words and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Periplum, or any other individual, organisation or funding body associated with the interview.
