Kate Reilly James

Here you’ll find a whole host of arty ideas to inspire and basically have fun with! 18 months of pandemic-induced home-schooling, community art commissions, educational ideas, and influences from all four corners of the British Isles. 

If you’d like to discuss an art commission, please view my CV below and drop me a line.

Scroll down for more images and links to my work, inspiration and ideas to get arty at home…..

And for my next trick! The Halloween village at Springfield Park is now open for bookings. I’ve been involved with the planning, production, and running of this event and I can’t wait to welcome 30 children into the park for an afternoon of fun. More on the event here. 

I’m a pluviophile. I love the rain, the sound and the shapes and textures it creates. This is the roof of the car after an over-night downpour in Scotland.

This is Karen. A textile piece I created with Creative Encounters to capture the thoughts, feelings and stories of people in my local area, during the UK national lockdown. More on the Community Power and Action project, here.

Typography is hugely inspirational to me and recreating old signs in modern ways, usually in chalk, is one of my favourite art projects.

I had a great time partnering up with The Friends of Springfield Park to create a socially-distanced playground game at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

Sewing is a passion since studying HND Fashion & Textiles at St Helens College. If can hold a stitch, I’ll sew it!

Chalk is definitely my favourite medium, second only to textiles. Fun in the sun in the back garden leads to all kinds of weird and wonderful murals.

These hydrangea came from a beautiful bouquet from Karena Floral in Crosby (check out the Instagram page and the stunning new flagship store, here) and matched up pretty well with Kate Moss and Vogue.

What started out as an old boiler box, quickly came in handy to settle silly falling out squabbles as a ‘getting along’ box. Luckily the kids quickly realised it was more fun to be a panto horse than argue!

Home-schooling has worked best when we’ve had a clear work station or desk and a to do list. With a different theme (robot was the clear favourite) and a to do list, the time flew!

Some fun activities to do with pens and pins. Pin wheels are super easy to make and totally count as maths as well as art. Who knew drawing tiger print was so easy! Cheers Youtube! Fish maths, news room english and some easy peasy sudoku helped get through a rainy Monday.

I was tasked to mix up some fabric, a fresh flower, and some craft bits to create a unique image. This was the result.

I LOVE chalk. We were learning about planets and the solar system (check out Earth from Space on BBC Iplayer – fascinating stuff) and decided to make some big art on the driveway.

Sticking with the driveway, we used some old wrapping paper and wallpaper to create a funky hands and feet fashion show.

Old curtain fabric came in handy to make our own tote bags over the weekend. Gutted to be missing out on pride, we brought the rainbows (and K Pop love) inside.

I started making masks for Keyworkers as a way to improve my mental health during lockdown. I found some Ikea curtain fabric and got my little one to colour her own, using Sharpies. This was the result.

I attempted to brighten up a few rainy days again at Springfield park with some chalk art. Visitors have been amazing at keeping the park clean.

The free reusable fabric masks have really taken off. I’ve made lots for the volunteers helping at various local foodbanks, nursery staff and delivery drivers too.

To break up the home-schooling sessions, I got the kids to wear their uniforms while we did a short session on money, counting, and value.

There’s no such thing as fabric scraps when you have kids. The remnants of my Sants Dash suit made a stunning blue evening gown for Barbie.

Sticking with blue. This little one decided to sacrifice his Everton shirt to make a mask fit for any toffee. COYB.

At the start of lockdown, we didn’t even venture out of the garden gate. So we plotted out a route from front to back garden and taped up some orienteering check-points. We were soon racking up 4 miles a day doing laps – and it got VERY competitive!

It hasn’t always been lovely sunshine-filled days. I ran up this bunkbed tent to try and instill some indoor play ideas for the little ones. They loved having a new den. It’s washable and easy to store too.

This is kind of where community art started for me. The Lord Mayor’s Fashion Show 2016. I created a 12 piece capsule wardrobe, entirely from second-hand clothing, based on The Land Girls Army, and enlisted my friends to strut down the catwalk in aid of the Lord Mayor’s charities. Collectively, we raised more than £40,000.