Earlier this year, artist Letty McHugh, took part in the artist development programme Result CIC ran with DaDaFest (Deaf and Disability Arts). This included two workshops looking at self-confidence, communication and networking, plus 3 coaching sessions.

When most aspects of Letty’s artistic work reduced during the Covid 19 health crisis this year, she drew upon her previous experience of significant change to adapt her practice, successfully reviving a former project which:

• reaches out to people in a direct and personal way.
• involves original art which would not have happened without the ideas conjured up by the letter.
• creates a body of work which is highly engaging – a positive testament to a period which many would view as dark and difficult.
  

Using creativity and art as a way of engaging with people during lockdown has helped not only Letty but those her project engages with and here, Letty talks about her work and its origins.

‘I hope your cat flap remains murderer free, but maybe now would be a good time to run a vacuum under the bed. If the worst should happen, you don’t want to sneeze and give away your position’ 

This is some advice I wrote a few weeks ago as part of my recently relaunched project Love, Letty x, an interactive arts project I’m running on Instagram thanks to a RESPONSE grant from Bradford Metropolitan Council. The project works like this, members of the public send questions into the lovelettyx Instagram account and I respond with this kind of helpful advice, you just read it and look at a hand drawn illustration. 

Love, Letty x was originally launched in 2011 as part of my Art Degree, it was conceived as a way of testing the idea that humans value art as a tool for communication not as a physical object. For the original project participants were given the option to leave their address with submitted questions and receive in response a physical object and a typewritten letter in the post. 

As the project developed it moved away from its art theory heavy beginnings into something that was light, fun and occasionally surreal. A small but dedicated following regularly submitted questions and I found myself corresponding with people in Japan, Mexico and the USA about my desire to be best friends with a Bear and the notable differences between Herons and Herrings. 

The project took on a whole new level of significance for me in 2012 when, mid-way through working on it I was diagnosed with MS. I found the weekly structure and light-hearted nature of the work incredibly soothing in that difficult time, whilst the interactive nature of the work helped keep me connected and focused on the world outside of my personal crisis. 

Fast forward to March 2020, the week before the lockdown, everything I had planned to work on was suddenly looking uncertain and the prospect of 12 weeks in self isolation was filling me with dread. I decided there had never been a better time to bring back Love, Letty x in the hopes it would bring me the same kind of solace and connection it did in 2012. 

For the past seven weeks, through some pretty hard times personally Love, Letty x has been a joy to work on, and I hope it’s provided a distraction for my followers as well.

If you’d like to get involved the project is updating weekly at lovelettyx , if you’ve got a burning question you think I can help with just stick it in my dm’s.  

*****

Letty described her experience with Result CIC as ‘really empowering’. 

You can see Love, Letty x on Instagram.

If you have felt inspired to get creative, why not contact us to tell us your story?