AIM Artists
Meet the artists who are currently part of the AIM community.
AIM provides support to individuals with learning disabilities and those who face disabling
barriers to develop their artistic knowledge and skills.
If you would like to get involved, find out about opportunities or join our community of
artists please in touch.
Here are some of the artists who are currently being supported by AIM.
Betty Sargent
Betty Sargent has a diverse arts practice. She is a photographer, object maker, uses collage, makes large scale crochet works and writes.
In 2016 she exhibited The Dress at the Arnolfini as part of Somewhere in the City, an AIM initiated project and exhibition. Between 2015-2017 she was involved in Expanding Realities, an EU funded international exchange program between AIM, CIT Crawford College of Art and Design, GASP, (Cork Ireland) and Debajo del Sombrero (Madrid, Spain). In 2016, Betty exhibited at the Crawford Art Gallery as part of Perceptions, an international exhibition in Cork.
As part of Homespun (2018) at Spike Island Test Space, Betty exhibited a series of large scale collages. These were created through taking photographs of objects from her home and then meticulously assembling them into a collage using material, wool and threads.
Betty’s poem Tocing to Tragrs (Talking to Strangers) was included in ‘Here We Grow’, a hybrid book of words, pictures and sounds produced by No Bindings.
In 2019 Betty made a few trips to Spain, firstly to run a series of workshops for Debajo Del Sombrero (Madrid) and to take part in the International Wool Festival at El Arreciado (Toledo).
Chris Rose
Chris Rose is a visual artist who paints in a cartoon style using bright, vivid colours. He tends to make work from easily accessible materials such as cardboard. Recently he has branched out into 3D and installation.
He exhibited Memory Boat at the Arnolfini as part of the Somewhere in the City project. He later developed Memory Boat to include a film which was exhibited in 2016 as part of Perceptions (Cork Ireland). In 2017 as part of a Different Voices workshop, he created the film Creative Flow, which was screened at Oscar Bright 2017 film festival in Brighton and subsequently toured to other UK venues. He has been involved in Expanding Realities since 2015, an EU funded international exchange program.
For Homespun (2019) at Spike Island Test Space Chris created an ambitious installation of his living room made entirely from cardboard. He continued his exploration into creating large works and was the driving force behind Talking Shop, a cardboard installation that acted as an exhibition and event space during Spike Island Open Studio 2019.
Jeff Johns
Jeff Johns is a visual artist, DJ and nominated local legend who views himself as a creative outsider. His visual work can be both introspective and direct. He uses written and spoken text in his work, drawing bold and colourful images with words. For Jeff, his work is a cathartic process and can be emotional, angry and passionate.
More recently he has started to use animation and sound. He screened The Black Cobbles at Arnolfini (2015) as part of Somewhere in the City. He continued to develop his interest in film and animation and in 2017 was part of a Different Voices workshop where he made Anything But Me which was selected and shown at Edinburgh film festival. Since 2015 he has been involved in Expanding Realities, an EU funded international exchange program.
Jeff exhibited Imagined Records as part of the Homespun exhibition at Spike Island Test Space in March 2018. This work was selected to be exhibited at SVA during the Site Festival 2019 in Stroud.
Jonathan Barr Lindsay
Jonathan Barr Lindsay is a prolific painter and sculptor. His work focuses on the city and its history, exploring the details of old buildings and statues. In recent work, he has imagined being in the shoes of historical figures; painting and sculpting self portraits of himself representing these figures as a public monument.
In 2015 he exhibited two stone cast artworks, The Time Traveler and Somebody of History at Arnolfini as part of Somewhere in the City, an AIM initiated project. In 2016 he exhibited Bristol’s Best, a piece of art created in response to an archival printing plate. This was shown as part of Set in Stone, an exhibition at Tobacco Factory Bristol. In October 2016 he exhibited at the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork, Ireland as part of Perceptions.
Jonathan’s painting Home was exhibited as part of the Homespun exhibition at Spike Island Test Space in March 2018 and at John Street Gallery at SVA in Stroud during an AIM Tea Service event.
Jonathan has developed a loyal audience for his work and in addition to exhibiting, he has now started to receive private commissions.
Dave Pearse
Dave Pearse is a poet whose work is inspired by nature and local history. He performs his work for audiences across Bristol.
In 2015 he screened his video work All That Once Stood at Arnolfini as part of Somewhere in the City, an AIM initiated project and exhibition.
Throughout 2015 and 2016 Dave was involved in Expanding Realities, an EU funded international exchange program between AIM, CIT Crawford College of Art and Design, GASP, (Cork Ireland) and Debajo del Sombrero (Madrid, Spain). In Madrid and Cork he integrated his work into the local culture, writing poems based on regional landmarks and history.
In 2017 as part of the Different Voices workshop, Dave made A Ghostly Inspiration, a piece that has since been screened locally.
As part of Homespun, an AIM exhibition at Spike Island Test Space in March 2018; Dave explored the visual nature of his writing using both scale, pattern and repetition, creating two large text pieces.
Dave is currently working on a book of poems which is due to be self-published at the end of 2020.
Louise Morgan
Michael Phillips
AIM 