Alan Bateman comes from a background in volunteering and community development. He has always worked in the third sector, mainly for environmental organisations. Alan has his own art practice as a printmaker, creating linocut and digital work. He regularly display these artworks and currently has a solo exhibition at Cynon Valley Museum in Aberdare.

Alan has been a tutor, at Gwent House in Cwmbran since September 2022. This has mostly involved working with the same lovely group of adults with special learning needs from a local day centre with their two excellent support workers, Sharon and Michelle.

Alan, and his colleague Lucy, try to plan their work about a month in advance, usually developing around a theme. At the moment, they are looking at Peter Blake and Alan’s role is to enable the people we work with, not only to learn about the artist but to produce work that looks good and gives them a sense of achievement. He does this by breaking down an artwork to see if it can be reproduced using stencils or other techniques. He then creates larger images made by combining people’s individual work and so making best use of the large space LifewithArt have made available.