Beverley Ashton is a youth arts practitioner specialising in visual arts. Beverley moved from her native London to rural East Clare to raise her new family some twenty odd years ago. During that busy time she qualified as an interior decorator specialising in paint effects and tutored for the VEC,

FÁS and various CE schemes.

The projects she facilitated included the exploration of specific techniques, materials and colour used in projects including the decoration of, a large community centre and a school playground.  She also ran private classes in furniture painting and other uses of decorative media.

In the autumn of 2011 she approached Clare Youth Service, Ennis, to offer her skills in a voluntary capacity and over the past two years has been involved in many visual art projects with young people. She worked closely with youth workers and young people exploring themes, such as drugs and alcohol awareness, bullying and self image. Some of the core skills that she has shared with young people as a means of self expression include mask and costume making, puppet design and construction, sculpture, collage, graffiti/graphic art exploration and murals.

Beverley attended NYCI’s Youth Arts Summer School in June 2012 which, apart from being a creative time personally, highlighted for her the need to formalise her knowledge and appreciation of the importance of youth arts. Having experienced the transformative effects it can have on young people firsthand she felt she needed to have a more thorough understanding of the methodologies which underpin best practice in youth arts.Beverley completed the NYCI Certificate in Youth Arts in 2013 and is planning her next projects with a new and comprehensive vision of what the needs, expectations and entitlements are for the young people she will be working with. This is a career path that Beverley did not start out on but is thrilled to be exploring now.