Esther Waite

A photograph of my elongated shadow, cast across a field by the rising sun. In the distance, patches of cloud are visible in the valley below.

About

I’m an artist/maker and facilitator based in Mytholmroyd, near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire.

Prior to embarking on The Art of Being Curious my creative work was largely visual arts focused, making abstract collage artworks that celebrate the colours and textures of Calderdale.

Photograph of a small, mixed media, abstract collage on canvas, featuring organic and geometric textures and patterns in a varied colour palette. The artwork is standing on a mini easel next to a cluster of pale fungi behind to the right. The easel is standing on the bare earth with a few brown, fallen leaves scattered around. A portion of a fallen log with green moss is visible top left.
Photograph of a small, mixed media, abstract collage on canvas, featuring organic and geometric textures and patterns in a colour palette of greens and blues. The artwork is standing on a mini easel set against a background of brown fallen leaves.
A photograph of a small, mixed media, abstract collage on canvas, featuring organic and geometric textures in a colour palette of blues, yellows and pale greens. The artwork is propped against bare branches with undergrowth of fallen leaves and green foliage visible out of focus behind.
A photograph of a mixed media, abstract collage on canvas, featuring organic and geometric textures and patterns in a varied colour palette. The artwork is in landscape orientation, lying flat on top of mossy rocks and undergrowth including dried leaves, ivy and brambles.
Photograph of a small, mixed media, abstract collage on canvas, featuring organic and geometric textures and patterns in a varied colour palette. The artwork is standing on a mini easel on a rock. The stream and opposite bank are visible behind, out of focus.

Over the years I’ve also been involved with a wide variety of cultural events as a singer, musician and street parade participant (how else do you get to ride on the back of a giant musk ox?).

As you’ll see if you follow me on social media, I love heading out on foot to explore the footpaths, bridleways and lanes that wind their way through my corner of the South Pennines.

A photograph of an elevated Calderdale view from Cragg Vale towards Old Town featuring several intersecting hillsides and valleys. There is a terraced row of houses in the foreground to the bottom left, set amongst green fields, hedgerows and woodland. The landscape is a mix of lush green woodland, farmland and moorland.
A photograph featuring deep snow drifts along an elevated path; to the upper left is a view out across the snowy landscape below, under a grey and looming sky. Footsteps can be seen leading ahead through the snow. There are wooden fence posts on both sides with metal mesh on the left and three rows of barbed wire on the right. The stony edges of dry stone walls peek out from under the snow here and there. Looking ahead, bushes and bare trees are dark and prominent against the whiteness.
A photograph featuring a trail heading directly ahead alongside a dry stone wall in front of a grass bank to the right. The ground slopes steeply away to the left into woodland, where trees are just beginning to come into leaf. Silver birch trees are in the foreground to the left and the morning sun is small and pale through the bare branches of a tree ahead. The surrounding ground is strewn with grasses, mosses and dried bracken.
A photograph featuring the Churn Milk Joan standing stone on Midgley Moor, silhouetted against the sunrise. The sky is orange in the early light in stark contrast with the stone and the dark moorland in the foreground.

While my first degree was in Visual Arts, after graduating I qualified as a trainer and vocational assessor and delivered IT and business administration programmes in post-16 education. I went on to work in the IT industry, where I studied for a Postgraduate Certificate in Marketing Management and managed to resist the temptation to continue towards a full masters degree.

However, my curiosity remained hungry for more and eventually took me on an extended jaunt back into HE where I gained an MA in Management Learning and Leadership, closely followed by an MRes in Digital Innovation. I also brushed up on my teaching skills through the Lancaster University Supporting Learning programme.

I’ve continued to get peckish for tasty educational interventions from time to time, adding to my haul of certificates through training in TA (a theory of human behaviour and communication) and qualifications in Change Management. I would like to be able to say that’s the end of it, but learning is like catnip to me so maybe watch this space.