LENKA CLAYTON

I am available to work one-on-one with artists looking for structured mentorship for their own creative practices. I am open to working with artists of all disciplines and backgrounds. Previously I have worked with performance artists, sound artists, visual artists, writers, dancers, artist collaboratives, and fashion designers from all around the world. The mentorship is tailored to the specific needs of each artist. Please see below for testimonials from recent participants in the program, and submit the form below for more information.

Artists might use their mentorship sessions to:

• Accompany an ongoing studio practice

• Make a strong start back to working after a break

• Prepare and get feedback on a portfolio, grant application, or upcoming exhibition

• Identify, set and achieve professional goals

• Tackle obstacles to a productive working practice

• Create personal accountability

• Set up and follow a guided Artist-in-Residence-in-Motherhood

• Or many other reasons, submit the form below if you have any questions

The mentorship program is a six session package to be completed within six months. Each meeting is one hour and takes place on Skype. Mentorships can also be extended. There is a fee to take part in the mentorship program, and a limited number of spaces. Please submit the form below for more information.

"You have no idea the impact you've had. Very grateful"

Elisabeth Schoen, The Netherlands

“To say that my mentorship with Lenka over the past year has not only changed my career and practice as an artist but changed my life would not be an understatement. As a direct result of the mentorship, I am getting paid for projects and I am collaborating with my partner. We were shortlisted for an award for our first project together and we are now in discussion with some venues around the UK planning a tour of the piece. I am a recipient of a well known UK arts bursary and will be going to New York as a result and I am applying for funding and commissions that I wouldn’t have dreamed of applying for a year ago. Working with Lenka has given me faith and confidence in myself as an artist, my practice as a whole and our lives as a creative family. I look back at my goals for the mentorship and I have surpassed many of them and added new ones that I never imagined a year ago.

Lenka has a lovely, warm manner combining humor and friendship with insights and practical advice that draw on her extensive experience as a practitioner and teacher. She is generous and kind yet has the right balance with challenging me to extend myself and be braver and bolder. So much changed for me within the first 6 months of the mentorship that I immediately signed up for another 6 months. I considered it an investment in myself and my career and that investment has already repaid me financially, emotionally and creatively. I cannot recommend this mentorship enough.”

Sharon Bennett, UK

“Mentoring from Lenka creates a space for imaginative exchange which is delicate and robust. Every interaction with Lenka - from the first moment of contact and sorting out the practicals, right through to the end of the mentorship - is designed to make the process of being a mentee both profound and fun. These two words don't necessarily combine, but in Lenka's work as a mentor they do! The sessions are fun because they make this sometimes complex interaction light and simple with clear parameters; and profound because of who Lenka is an artist and creative thinker. Alongside this, her huge generosity and superhuman powers of listening mean that she is incredibly adept (ninja-nimble!) at responding in the moment to what the mentoring session needs. And as an artist living in Glasgow, Lenka enabled all of this to happen despite the constraints of a five-hour time difference.

From working with Lenka I have; gained insights into my working practice and methodologies; explored more powerful ways to present myself and my work; discussed and re-imagined the function of an artist's website; uncovered aspects of a project that were hidden from (my) view; revelled in conversation that felt inspiring and honest; benefited from Lenka's keen-eyed editing skills and finished every session feeling buoyant and energised and in love with my practice again”

Lucy Cash, UK

“I began the mentorship with Lenka after a few life changes had left me feeling destabilised and unsure how to move forward. The mentorship was the perfect solution. The process felt responsive and personal. We tackled practical studio obstacles, as well as more ethereal challenges that I didn’t realise were damaging my productivity. Lenka has a beautiful and kind way of observing, listening and asking pertinent questions that meant I never felt judged or lectured. However, I definitely felt challenged. Every month resulted in a new series of mind-blowing revelations that introduced alternate ways of thinking. Over the period of the mentorship I completely transformed my relationship with my practice and myself. It was an incredible process. I am grateful to Lenka, not for helping me out of the hole I was in, but for asking me if I would like to add a studio desk, new lighting and some well-placed critical thinking, so that I might enjoy my comfy little hole for the productive and wonderful place that it is.”

Camille Serisier, Australia / UK

”I found the mentorship Hugely rewarding, in that it gave me a new found confidence in my abilities both in creating work and finding ways to articulate it. Lenka's framework made it possible to make small or big steps and see the progression throughout and it also provided me with a process that I could apply to my practice myself. It really helped my practice in fundamental ways that suit me and how I work.”

Rachel Fallon, Ireland

“I can wholeheartedly recommend this mentorship to any artist having problems with creative blocks, needing direction and professional, sincere advice. I learned a lot about myself and my art. It also gave me bulletproof tools to go back to when faced with frustration and blocks. I discovered new ways to look at my work and trust my process. Throughout the mentorship I developed a self confidence, I had thought lost. Thank you so much, Lenka.”

Carla Ehret, Germany

“I am very happy about the mentorship period in 2020. During the six months I was able to look at my work from a different point of view and develop new ways of organizing, planning and writing about my working process. The most important part of the mentorship program was to remember that I am the one who can actually do the decisions about the ways I am working. Lenka is a great listener and helped a lot by just asking good questions and listening actively. She could help me to find words for what I was trying to communicate and made me trust my own process of making. I feel more confident and inspired by my work and less stressed out because of the conversations. The structure of the program is easy and its up to everyone how much effort you put on things. I was surprised how much it actually affected on my work in a good way to have these short meetings once a month.”

Emma Fält, Finland

“I did the ARIM years ago and it literally changed my life! I went on to apply for grad school and it gave the tools necessary for me to know that I could be a mother and an artist.

I decided to give the mentorship a try during the pandemic although it made me nervous, but it was the best thing for me as it acted not only as a mentorship for my work but it allowed me to stay more present and hopeful during these trying times. As an educator I am always giving feedback to my students and trying to understand what they need at a specific time of their work. This mentorship has also helped me be a better mentor to my students. It showed me different layers and offered access to blind spots. And by being able to better understand my own struggles, I can be a better mentor.

Accountability works for me. Discipline and deadlines work for me. But this mentorship goes beyond that. You have the ability not just to see my work in a very wide context but you guide me to stand in the middle and help me pivot in every direction so that I can see every angle and nuance. It is akin to getting to know someone and falling in love. I believe that with your help, I have been able to see the beauty of my work and allow the process to develop and take shape. It sounds strange perhaps but I feel more valiant.”

Georgina Reskala, USA

“At the time of the mentorship with Lenka I was searching for ways to reconnect with my solo studio practice after a long period focusing on collaborative projects, post-graduate research, and international relocation. I was also confronting the new rhythms, responsibilities and economic realities of motherhood, looking for possibilities of integrating the daily work and relations of caring for a baby into a site-specific, material, process-based practice. I wanted to get my hands dirty, I wanted to start 'making' again without getting too distracted by the pressures of funding applications, self-justification and self-comparison with 'artists on instagram'. How to trust in the process and not become too fixated on the outcome and its presentation? With Lenka's guidance and support, I experimented with incremental changes in the way I thought about the making process and possible outcomes, the way I structured my time, and my priorities during those precious hours in the studio. I really enjoyed sharing my ideas and inspirations, but also my doubts, frustrations and identity crises with Lenka in our monthly sessions. Talking through my process helped me clarify my intentions and find confidence in following my intuition and individual rhythm. This was a very 'productive' period in which I created two new sculptural series experimenting with 'materials of mothering', started a new curatorial collaboration in a local art space, exhibited solo and collaborative projects, and wrote my first funding applications in an adopted language. In each meeting with Lenka, I was able to set realistic goals for each month without becoming overwhelmed or disheartened. I am very grateful to Lenka for listening, for asking questions that made me rethink my own assumptions, and for offering a space of non-judgement and encouragement in a period of global confusion and anxiety.”

Beth Dillon, Switzerland

"My mentorship with Lenka was a fantastic mix of critical insight, imagination, provocation, and a good serve of practical advice about the logistics of sustaining a professional practice as a artist/parent in the world today. I've become braver and more resourceful as an artist because of this. T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U, so very much! It was wonderful."

Alana Hunt, Australia

"Within 6 months of my mentorship with Lenka Clayton I moved from a pretty fixed practice of 15 years into one that has become flexible, investigative and open. Lenka offers insightful observations about the work delivered in a way that promotes questions and experimentation. Her wit, humor and kindness all generate a desire to continue working with her and so I have signed up for another 6 months. I highly recommend the mentorship with Lenka Clayton."

Danila Rumold, USA

“If luck and intuition are my friends, I can’t thank them enough for leading my way — through a series of online searches — to Lenka Clayton. Through the course of a nine-month mentorship (the first six months were so great, I signed up for three more), I felt my practice transform from an amorphous, ghostly entity just out of my own arms reach, into something solid and tangible — a process that helped me create a vision of what I wanted to do and a map of sorts of where I wanted to take it. 

Lenka is brilliant, kind and incredibly generous with her vast knowledge of art, art-making and the art of being an artist. Her clever wit is infectious and every conversation we had left me inspired to get to work. My mentorship with Lenka was a fast-acting and motivating force that created clarity, direction and a new willingness to take much greater risks. I can’t thank her enough for shaking me up in just the right way. She has a masterful, clear-sighted way of showing that even some of the most complex concepts envisioned can be approachable and manageable. I cannot recommend the mentorship program with Lenka highly enough; if you’re lucky enough to have an opportunity to work with her, you will be so very glad you did.”

Sarah Borruso, USA

"The Artist Residency in Motherhood and the mentorship undertaken with Lenka has been singly the best thing I have done for my practice since the birth of my first child five years ago. Through Lenka's mentorship I was further able to reconcile the daily practice of motherhood with my sidelined artistic practice and am able now to see them both as symbiotic and essential in informing and enhancing each other.

Lenka's attentive and engaged Skype tutorials helped me to feel incredibly motivated in my practice, she enabled me to see that I had the resources in front of me and the ability to make things happen immediately rather than waiting for some ephemeral 'key' to catalyse parts of my practice. Lenka has the rare ability to be thoroughly engaged with and interested in tiny details and ideas and even through the medium of Skype I felt I had her full attention and interest in my personal entanglements, creative and domestic.

During the six months mentorship Lenka oversaw and advised me on a body of work, as well as offering supportive critique and conversation to various other projects. The mentorship is led very much by the needs of the artist and Lenka is very flexible about where the focus lies. I found the tasks she set me between our conversations to be particularly useful in preventing me from being pulled away too much from my practice by the inevitable tides of domestic life - in fact I don't think there is one part of my domestic or parenting life that I don't now consider to be part of a wider contextualised and ongoing praxis and I thank Lenka and her Artist Residency in Motherhood heartily for that. I recommend Lenka's mentoring to everyone!"

Gudrun Filipska, UK

“The mentorship with Lenka was a special experience. As a teacher and mother, to have an hour of focused time on the betterment of my studio practice felt like a luxurious indulgence. Lenka is a great listener and was able to offer various possibilities in problem solving issues like feeling blocked in my work, to reflecting on how to "find" more studio time, to reaching out to museums/galleries with projects I am excited about putting in the world.

Lenka is thoughtful, generous, and focused during the mentorship sessions and even sends a checklist of your goals for you to reflect upon. I took notes too, but it was great to have that second set of goals to review throughout the month. During our time together I started a new relationship with a museum and reached out to a gallery who in turn invited me to have a two person show in their space. The mentorship has left me feeling refreshed and inspired as I move on with my studio practice. Thank you so much Lenka, I really do feel excited about the possibilities for my work every time I head out to the studio!”

T.A., USA

“This residency has been pivotal in my studio practice. After meeting for six months, I have learned much about myself, my practice, and how to reorient my expectations to create a nurturing space. I have gained confidence by sticking to the plans created with Lenka, and by holding myself accountable for my progress month by month. I have learned to cherish studio time, however big or small, and to feel the difference it makes to commit to a daily/weekly schedule. Something that Lenka emphasized from the beginning was the value in developing faster ways to realize ideas, and to set smaller goals that could be accomplished gradually. It has been eye-opening to see how much I have accomplished in this way. I am a different person than when I started and feel much more grounded in my studio practice. I would recommend the program to others without hesitation. Lenka has a positive and gentle way of guiding (me) and she has an incredible ability to listen and encourage you to question certain beliefs that get in the way.”

F.M.V., USA

“Having suffered from artist block I was able to create a body of work that I am proud of thanks to the guidance of Lenka. I always felt supported and pushed in a good way without feeling that I am stuck. The feedback I got about my work enabled me to explore and push my work to another level. I really recommend this program for anyone who feels that they’re stuck or need some fresh sets of eyes to look at their work.”

Alia Lootah, United Arab Emirates

“The mentoring helped me think of myself as an artist again, something I’d been struggling with. I gained confidence to apply for things, expanded the scope of what I saw as my practice - the range of activities that I previously viewed as disappeared and scattered became diverse and connected.

I am now starting a project with Grizedale Arts as associate artist and I would’ve talked myself out of applying had Lenka not encouraged me. I‘ve also taken in a studio for the first time in 7 years- which is amazing! Plus I’ve just got accepted onto an artist development programme in Bristol that I applied for with the confidence that I could get it - and I did!

It’s really refreshing to see your work through another artist’s eyes and Lenka is really easy to talk to about everything an artist‘a life, and especially a patent-artist’s life involves. She’s a good listener and totally non-judgemental. It’s been a real catalyst for things to happen, starting with believing in myself and my work. I’d really recommend it to any artist, parent or not.”

Jo Ball, UK

“Through the mentorship I learned to play, to dig deeper and to reframe and open up possibilities for future work. Our conversations acted as a mirror to my views of how I see my practice which showed me that I have a lot of what I already need. I began to see that there is no perfect final answer, to re-visualize the structures I was using and to deepen my commitment.

Through a combination of programmatic things like a new studio schedule, a monthly plan with concrete tasks, and brainstorming questions I was able to think in new ways. I would definitely recommend this mentorship to other early/mid career artists who need a sounding board and some accountability.”

Amanda Wood, Canada