Leeds Creative Timebank

Meet the Members

Meet Diane Ireland…

I am an investigative, process artist with an
ecological and sustainable practice. My work has primarily  been concerned
with creating a different way to reveal ‘what lies beneath the surface’. I engage in a diverse variety of mediums and my works can be a mixture of installation, imagery and performance.

My recent project recorded stages of decay, transformation and reinvention. By trusting the process, my intervention is minimal, and I become the observer. My audience may identify similarities within their own lives. I also take the hashtags from my social media to encapsulate a narrative: 
#attheendoftheday#allthatremains, after the #effectsoftime is #unseenbeauty

Meet Sue Johnson

Sue Johnson is a timebank member and timebroker whose creative practice revolves around website design.

Originally a freelance graphic designer and artworker, she began designing and developing websites ten years ago.

She mainly develops websites based on the popular and easy to use platform WordPress. She designs and creates custom themes for the websites. Her clients include non profit groups and small businesses.

Her recent work includes a website for Urban Angels Circus featuring a system to book and pay for classes: https://urbanangelscircus.com/ She has also created a website for The Human Aquarium: https://humanaquarium.co.uk/ featuring an activities section built with WordPress custom posts.

You can see more examples of her work at: https://suesdesign.co.uk/

Twitter: @suesdesign https://twitter.com/suesdesign

Guess what’s happening here ?

Here are a few images of some of the amazing transactions that have taken place through the Timebank. So can you remember or guess when these pictures were taken and/ or by whom and/or which members were involved, or even what year it was ? Or do you remember other brilliant projects that have used the Timebank? Do let us know by emailing or via our Instagram, twitter or Facebook accounts.

Meet Lucy Meredith

Lucy is a Leeds-based performer, eco-artist, director and professional  mermaid. She joined the Timebank in 2013 and has used members skills on many projects that she’s been involved in.

She is co-director of Yorkshire Life Aquatic C.I.C. who promote health and wellbeing, and environmental and animal welfare issues, through art and performance. The company takes inspiration from 1950’s film star Esther Williams ( and other iconic female swimmers) performing in and out of water creating immersive site specific work that merges theatre, dance and synchronised swimming. Her latest project was the Human Aquarium which exhibited in Leeds February 2019.

Lucy is also one of the directors of Tea & Tolerance, a Participatory Live Art Project for social change promoting kindness and peace through conversation. T&T have just created a conversation game – Being Human, and used Timebank members time to test the design concept of the game.

She is also a member of the World Cetacean Alliance’s campaigns working group who work internationally to protect whales & dolphins from harm.

Tweet Lucy: @Lulovesglitter @YorkslifeAqua @Teaandtolerance @HumanAquariumUK. More info here – Lucy’s website

Meet Jon Eland…

Strawbleu is the pseudonym of member Jon Eland.
A timebanker since 2015, he has two photographic art practices and loves collaboration and collective development – he has been involved in several local and international artistic collectives.

Photo of Planetine by @strawbleu for @timebankleeds member @LunaLeFey

Whilst his photographic style does differ between practices and from project to project you can be certain that each series will have a sense of narrative that also has some unreality.

His strawbleu practice is focused on capturing what it is to be in a place; responding on a personal level to the environments he finds himself in, his But I Like It practice uses gay and queer men as it’s subject – looking at identities, tribes and society impacts how individuals react with the world at large.

Alongside his photographic projects Jon worked to develop a real-world element for Flickr (the social network) in Leeds before founding the Exposure Leeds photographic group (which ran for 5 years), as part of this he brought the Photocamp concept to Europe. Since this he created the (we are) Obscured international queer art collective and has exhibited with the Homosurrealism group in London, Warsaw and Paris as well as other exhibitions throughout the UK, in Athens, Rome, Dortmund, Louisville, Los Angeles and New York

Currently Jon is refining his practices looking at assemblage with fabric and needle crafts as can be seen from his most recent work, shown at Homosurrealism Paris:

résister aux bandes parallèles si vous pouvez (2019) – assemblage with mixed media.

You will find more of his work posted: