Trustees

Dean Coates is a director of commercial gallery Coates & Scarry. He has extensive experience of artists’ management, curating exhibitions and marketing of art both in the UK and further afield in Hong Kong, the US and Europe.

Prior to working as a gallery director he worked as a lecturer and later as an education manager at the City of Bristol College managing regional European Socially Funded projects. These large scale projects were delivered in collaboration with charities and community arts groups in the West of England Partnership with the intention of engaging young people in further education through arts activities.

Dean is also an artist and recently completed an MA in Ceramics from Cardiff and has a studio at BV studios, Bristol.

Ele is a Civil and Environmental engineer with a passion for all things innovative.  Specialising in Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), Ele runs ‘elevate’, a specialist consultancy involved in sustainable construction, MMC and construction skills.  She has worked on projects ranging in scale from her own self-build eco-home, to the development of Bristol’s Southmead Hospital, and looks to increase sustainability in our built environment at every opportunity.

Ele’s ambition is to create mixed tenure developments, where sustainable and accelerated construction is a key driver to delivering more affordable homes and community infrastructure.  Ele aims to work with organisations who help to enhance the life chances of local people by not only providing a beautiful place to live, but also providing education, work experience and employment opportunities, placing Social Value at the heart.

She also loves travelling to new places, outdoor pursuits and attending music festivals.

Ele joined Bricks board in December 2020

Jo Lathwood makes sculptures and large scale installations which regularly respond to a particular site, event, material or process.

Her portfolio varies greatly in form, scale, context and method of production, encompassing: temporary and permanent public art, exhibitions curated for galleries and heritage sites (often as the outcome of an artist residency) and studio-based work.  She has worked with Fabrica (Brighton), Trust New Art (the National Trust’s contemporary arts program), Arts Council England, Art, Cities & Landscapes in Amiens, France and Kunst and Zwalm in Belgium. 

In 2012 she co-founded Ore and Ingot, a travelling Bronze foundry and was co- director until 2018.  She is a Council member for Bristol University’s Earth Art Gallery and has been a visiting lecturer at Plymouth and Gloucester Universities.

Jo is Bristolian and has had studios in numerous locations across the city; she and loves to build staircases to mezzanines within them if they are tall enough.

Lucy is an artist who makes drawings. Her intricate drawings map the occurrence of anticipated and repeated events in ordered 2d space, intimating a friction between ideal pattern and repetitive behaviour in our everyday experience.

Lucy is Senior Lecturer in Drawing at UWE, teaching on the Drawing and Print BA. Her teaching focuses on contemporary drawing theory and practices, with an emphasis on the performative and experimental.

Lucy has a studio at Jamaica Street Artists in Bristol and is one of the Studio Directors. Lucy was Studio Manager from 2014 until early 2018. She was Studio Manager at Bath Artists’ Studios before that.

Lucy is co-convener of the Cube Drawing Group and runs the Drawing Resource Exchange series in collaboration with the Big Draw.

Robin Hague is a fundraiser for Creative Youth Network, a charity working with thousands of young people across Bristol and South Gloucestershire, using creativity as a tool to support them to fulfil their potential. Originally a journalist, Robin has also worked in PR and marketing across international broadcast, consumer goods, retail facilities, wellbeing and the environment.

A New Zealander, Robin has seen the real benefits of widening access to arts and culture in his own country and others. He is committed to supporting efforts to engage people in initiatives that use creativity to deepen and enrich community experiences. He also believes permanent space for artists is critical for culture and communities to flourish. Robin is currently involved in his own photography project, using long walks to take pictures of extremely bland scenes, never to be viewed.

James is a Finance Manager and has been working in the charity sector since 2007. He is currently working as a Finance Director (maternity cover) for a charity that supports children in the music industry.
In the past, James has worked for charities that support adults with learning disabilities and young people with cancer, he has also worked for local organisations such as Aardman Animations and Watershed.

In his role at Watershed (also a registered charity) he put together the management accounts, reported on specially funded projects and worked on the year end accounts. His role there was a part of the local cultural economy and is one of the reasons he’s joined Bricks, so he can help support upcoming artists and to keep Bricks sustainable.

Although James has previously been involved in board meetings, being a treasurer is new to him but it’s something he’s wanted to do for a while. He lives in St Annes and is pleased to supporting a charity close to home.