Ilga Leimanis is an artist, educator, researcher and author based in London.

Ilga’s practice-led pedagogy has brought her into contact with many diverse groups of students, both in the UK and internationally. She has facilitated workshops in sketching / diagramming developing a method for creative practice.

Drawing has been a part of my practice for 20 years, I have found it satisfying as an activity, both as an artist and educator. Sketching is an absorbing process, mindful and connected to the self. I operate well in the territory of not-knowing, as a facilitator of process, helping others access new knowledge. I make workshops and methods. My approach is open, exploratory, experimental, and qualitative; emergent. The workshop becomes a knowledge-making space of affective learning where the lessons bell hooks theorises, can be tested and implemented.

My thinking comes from my own art practice, my art and pedagogy are woven together. (praxis hooks, 1994) As an artist my work has been predominantly collaborative and exploratory, while in my teaching, I have worked with many communities, forging collaborations with businesses, museums, architecture and design studios, portfolio preparation schools, a cancer support group, civil servants, non-governmental organisations, and universities, including with hundreds of students as Associate Lecturer Academic Support, across all Colleges, courses and levels at University of the Arts London since 2015.

https://researchers.arts.ac.uk/2228-ilga-leimanis/about