Karen Herbison

I am a freelance creative facilitator, author and playwright, actor, artistic director, and writer.  I often work across social care settings, and have been known as H-arts for my freelance work since 2012.  As a facilitator, I provide guidance for writing or devising scripts, stories and poetry where groups and individuals are often nurtured towards site-specific performances or anthologies.  I am also beginning practice as a funeral celebrant.  My first passion is theatre and performance.

Karen-Herbison-Artist-Woven-in-Renfrewshire-2023-2024

I’m Every Carer & Boxed In

Live performances and creative writing from participants forms the centrepiece of my creative work for Woven in Renfrewshire, alongside a new piece I wrote in response to conversations with local carers. I worked with paid and unpaid carers, and members of the STAR project, supporting  them to write stories and poems about their experiences during the Covid pandemic.

In workshops, carers also gathered objects which evoked their memories of caring during Lockdown. The collected objects and poems form ‘Memory Boxes’ which were displayed at pop-up events, including at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. The Boxes were designed to be interactive, and those attending the events were encouraged to rummage, read, and experience the memories for themselves.

My own written work for the project, ‘I’m Every Carer’ was written in response to the collective memories and experiences of all the participants I worked with, and also includes my own experience. 

Karen Herbison, “I’m Every Carer”, stills and quotes from spoke word performances at the Royal Alexandera Hospital with Susan Gazolla Black

Karen Herbison, “Boxed In”, carers’ boxes and quote from the work word performance at the Royal Alexandra Hospital

For more Woven in Renfrewshire, have a look at the online exhibition and the work of the other commissioned artists –  t s Beall, Karen Herbison, Kayleigh Sarah McGuinness and Audrey O’Brien.