Loane

Explore Loane’s work at Sharing Is Caring, a group exhibition in partnership with University College London Hospitals Arts & Heritage from 22 November - 5 February. Find out more about the exhibition at The Street Gallery of UCLH.

Loane makes work with spirit, energy, and joy, despite the significant challenges she faces as a blind person. Since joining Artbox in 2020, she has experimented with a range of approaches to image making and drawing, utilising all manner of different mediums, textures, colours and methods. She generally builds images over long periods of time, overlapping layers of rhythmic, repetitive marks in pastel or paint, often using blu-tac attached to the surface to guide her hand and as an aid to composition.

Recently, she has started to incorporate sensory elements into her pieces, such as including scented materials like incense, spices and dried herbs in her drawings, or creating 3 dimensional textural pieces that hang like mobiles to be interacted with.

Loane responds very positively to the experience of artmaking, she is very expressive when the work requires big movements. These moments of expression and movement brighten and energise her when she struggles with low mood.

Loane gets a lot out of the community Artbox has provided. She has made wonderful connections in the studio and she always refers to everyone kindly as “my friend”. Loane features in many exhibits and comes along to the community openings. Importantly, Loane seems to be motivated by showing up for her community rather than acting out of a sense of achievement from featuring in exhibits.

Her guide dog, Otis, is adored in the studio and is an extension of her friendliness and resilience. “Sometimes we think Otis is just a labrador, not an official guide dog”, says one of the Session Facilitators.

Loane is also a musical artist - a singer, performer and recording artist under the moniker “Bonnyphile”, releasing her first album “Blue Storm” in 2022 and her second album “Vision of Sound” in 2024. From time to time, she has drawn on her ability as a singer to create sound based pieces that augment her visual work.

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