Roxana Meechan

Roxana Meechan

Project Design & Development (The Highland Council)
Project Management (The Highland Council & Timespan Museum & Art Gallery)

The Virtual & The Real Storyteller 
Sutherland (Helmsdale and beyond), June 2006 to September 2007 

Emails arriving at an approximate rate of 100 per day – creative opportunities flowing through the windows & doors in my computer screen, are redirected to their latest journeys as I take on the role of “Administrator” but there is a danger that these chances could easily be closed as they reach their new destinations…or opened with the pressing of the right keys. This particular wrist, fingers, eyes and brain waves dance develops through connections made between the past and the future building fresh networks of ideas which depart from past accumulation of skills and knowledge, current motivations and future passions that work together weaving a fine mesh of action and change reactions reminding me of who I am, where I’ve been and why I am going to wherever I am heading for…

Once upon a time, in Sutherland… Photograph by Roxana Meechan

In my day-to-day work, always departing from personal experience, I create interactions, I play with ideas, I pilot methods, and I experiment with processes and outputs.  As “Project Director”, while designing and developing new project concepts, I react to my environment in an intuitive way, – & to the flow of information from which I hold an advantageous position, a place which has been carefully crafted by myself over the years – looking for triggers to my own motivation, evidence that I really have something to contribute towards such a potential opening and if I decide that I have enough of a base to make it possible for myself and others to build on collectively, – and at this point it is the “Artist” in me who is reflecting – I then lead the way by tying up all the leads in such way as to turn these vague departure points into concrete events, workshops, happenings and gatherings where people together (& often myself included), share special, even magical moments with each other trying out different symbioses & producing some tangible results which might even end up being called “artwork”.

Storytelling & Art Session at Timespan… Photograph by Roxana Meechan

While engaged in this part of the process (turning ideas into concrete outputs), I am simply a “Collaborator” and it is within this role that I am most comfortable and happier, after all, I consider myself a Community Artist and, if indeed I am an “artist” who happens to be also an Arts Development Officer at this particular point in time, I can certainly say that I am “Working in Public”, making “Art” with partners & artists, negotiating decisions or creating “Policy” with audiences, participants, funders, colleagues… (stakeholders), and learning by doing within my own “Practice”, at the same time as facilitating others’ Experiential Learning.

Community Art or Public Art – like The Virtual & The Real Storyteller project -, and myself – like The Virtual & The Real Storyteller – involves / am/is engaged in managing readily available and free information in order to make old as well as fresh connections, spark off new synergies, create & re-tell more stories and design other ways of sharing these, while keeping the flame of everyone’s interest in experimentation alight, developing innovative possibilities, re-fuelling motivation, keeping on interacting across art forms, disciplines, groups, resources, countries…despite challenges presented in the way.