Our Team
Patricio Forrester
Patricio came to London from Buenos Aires in 1995 to do an MFA at Goldsmiths. After graduation, he started to take his art to the streets, painting and wearing artworks wherever he went. He then transitioned to participatory processes and large scale murals, co-creating Artmongers in 2003. He often combines elements of a situationist approach with humour and colour.
Founder, Tutor
Sarah Harrison
After graduating from the course in 2024, Sarah became the school’s coordinator. Her background in fine art, illustration for picture books, as well as experience working in schools and the NHS, gives her a perfect foundation for her continued work in socially engaged public art.
Sarah his a firm believer in the power of creativity for wellbeing, bringing people together and starting conversations.
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Co-ordinator
Jo Baker
Jo was a student on the first cohort of the Lewisham School of Muralism project, which was started by Artmongers in 2020. Working in the charity sector, she is an art lover and pursued it as a hobby in her spare time. Through the course she as able to build her confidence as an artist and was able to learn about technique and painting at scale. After the course she was hooked! She became a Director of Artmongers in 2021.
Shauna Blanchfield
Shauna is an Irish muralist and street artist based in London. She graduated from the School of Muralism in 2021, transitioning from a career in events to mural painting. Her recent work explores portraiture through the mesmerizing energy of illumination, blending playful light illusions with a touch of everyday magic.
Shauna has painted on projects across Europe, as well as public commissions for Lewisham, Ealing, Southend, Ilford Redbridge, and Buckinghamshire councils, with commercial clients including Netflix, Porsche, and Charlotte Tilbury.
She is also a member of WOM Collective, an all-female street art collective based in London.
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Tutor
Liv Wright
Liv trained in Theatre Design at Central School of Speech and Drama where she now teaches as a visiting lecturer. She has worked internationally in set and costume design before landing a thirst for creating community engaged public art.
On graduating LSoM’s first ever course, Liv formed a collective with a group of fellow LSoM alumni. They have since delivered four large scale participatory murals in North LondoN. 34Bus Collective continues to explore their practice and widen their reach to community groups across London.
Liv teaches project development, from scratch to fully developed participatory mural project.
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Tutor
TutorA. Dee
The Artful Dodger (A. Dee) is a first-generation veteran of the London Urban Art/Aerosol Writing scene going back to the early 1980s.
Originally being influenced by the art masters, he established his reputation as an urban artist and then made the transition from the streets to the corporate world. His professional evolution involved clients such as LucasFilm , Heathrow Airport, EA Games, MTV, The South Bank Show, The Sunday Times, as well as a well-known breakfast cereal.
On the community arts side of his portfolio, he has a strong background in both organising and facilitating a variety of creative mural projects and workshops. Working mainly in inner cities with disadvantaged youth.
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Gary Drostle
Gary Drostle started working as a professional mural artist in 1987 when he set up Haringey Mural Workshop. His mural creations are usually figurative and symbolic, drawing on site specific themes and local histories.
Since those first murals Gary has expanded his practice to include mosaic and sculptural works and has won numerous awards for his work across the UK and the USA.
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Tutor
Paul Butler
Tutor
TutorBen Weidel-Kauffman
Dr Ben Wiedel-Kaufmann is an art historian and Staff Tutor in Art History at the Open University, having previously worked in the Art History department at the University of Plymouth and on the Critical and Historical Studies course at the Royal College of Art.
Ben’s current research is concerned with the interrelations between public mural painting and left-wing politics in London across the 1970s and ’80s. In 2020 Ben was awarded a PhD in Art History for his thesis, ‘To the Wall: London’s murals and “the Left,” 1975-1986’. That project was funded by a doctoral studentship from the Faculty of Humanities and Performing Arts, University of Plymouth.
Cristiana Bottigella
Cristiana has been an Artmongers director since January 2020, recently shifting focus to support the development of the School. She is particularly involved in strategic planning, development and fundraising, helping LSoM to thrive and fulfil its mission. Cristiana has over 20 years experience in the arts as a cultural producer & art manager. She is interested in socially engaged art practices and in the social impact of the arts. She a founding director of Hartslane.
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Strategic Development
AdvisorNeus Gil Cortes
Neus joined Artmongers as an advisor in 2016, becoming coordinator in 2020 to help us fundraise and undergo organisational development. She is a professional dancer and choreographer with over ten years of experience in managing teams of people, project planning and fundraising as director of Nua Dance. She is interested in how arts of any medium can bring people together by moving, energising or provoking them.