Mentorship with Lenka Clayton

I am available to work one-on-one with artists of any genre who are looking for structured mentorship for their own creative practices. The mentorship is tailored to the specific needs of each artist. Artists can use their mentorship sessions to:

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

• Make a strong start back to working after a break (for example after having children)

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

• Set and achieve professional goals

• Create personal accountability

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.

This is a separate program to the Artist Residency in Motherhood. 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. 

Deposit Policy: 

As there are limited spaces, a deposit is required to secure a mentorship spot. This deposit is non-refundable once the mentorship period begins. The remainder of the fee can be paid in one or two instalments and must be paid in full within 3 months of the mentorship beginning.

Cancellation: 

Please let me know at least 24 hours in advance if you are unable to keep an appointment and we can reschedule. In order to accommodate other studio and teaching commitments I'm unfortunately unable to reschedule meetings with less than 24 hours notice and the missed meeting will count toward the six hours of mentorship. Thank-you for your understanding.  

Mentorship Testimonials

“After your mentorship, a number of things happened: a solo exhibition, a group exhibition (which became a traveling exhibit at 4 locations), two art sales events in a year with good outcomes, and now an acceptance to my first artist residency.

One of the many helpful recommendations you made was for me to become a member at a local art gallery and actually start showing up for their events. I did that for a year, and I made several good artist friends. This past Friday, I invited some of them over at my house to have an art-making night. 

Please know that your mentorship was the main reason why I was able to make these things happen. You educated me, challenged me, and helped me integrate the divided parts of myself -- the artist part, the art therapist part, the parent part, and the cultural part of me. 

Thank you so much for what you've done for me.”

Miki Nishida Goerdt, LCSW, LCSW-C, ATR-BC

“Meeting someone who instantly grasps the themes and priorities of my work is a rare gift. With that foundation, Lenka helped me distinguish when to embrace limits and when to discard them, and to recognize ways I was inadvertently impeding my creative flow (like little rules I made for myself that weren't useful anymore). Together we crafted an approach to my studio practice that leveraged the fragmented timeframes available while caring for an infant. Her insights consistently left me feeling more aware of my resources (time, energy, network, proclivities) and full of possibility. Lenka's world is generous, thoughtful, curious, and open. After six months of guidance, I find myself on solid ground with clear direction that feels expansive and fun.”

Skye Gilkerson, NY

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

Elisabeth Schoen, The Netherlands

“The ability to tailor (the mentorship) to my own needs was ideal. Clearly setting expectations and firm boundaries right from the beginning was great, so that I knew what to expect and and what the appropriate level of communication was. I am amazed by your ability to listen to me talk, or maybe ramble, for awhile, and then immediately reply back with a list of clear goals and action steps to achieve them. I assume that is a result of many years of practice mentoring.

(…) I have definitely leveled up this year. I know I started out the year with some level of impostor syndrome, and needing an alter ego or character to step into in occasionally in order to know how a "successful artist" might handle a situation. I realize that it has been awhile since I have needed that character, and that now the "successful artist" is not someone else, but me. Professionally, 2022 was my best year ever.”

Carin Mincemoyer, Pennsylvania

“The mentorship was transformational. I came into it thinking it would function like a monthly critique for the work I made, and getting feedback on it. What I did not expect was it would alter my entire practice, all aspects of it. From administrative tasks, applying for shows, to reframing how I approached my practice.

Lenka taught me flexibility, perseverance and the ability to fail and be better for it. I got accepted into 3 shows, 1 book publication, and got gallery representation during the length of my mentorship. When I started out, I thought once a month correspondence for one hour was too little, but it was just enough. Lenka is humble, which is one of her most surprising qualities. Considering the work she has behind her, the accolades and expertise. It is what has stuck with me the most, and I could only hope to emulate. I am grateful for this time we had together, and look forward to taking up this mentorship again in the future.”

Fatema Abizar, Arizona

"“I thought this mentorship was wonderful for clarifying my thinking and processes around my art and expanding the concept of my practice beyond my studio. Your tying everything together and drawing connections back to my art practice between things I saw as separate (gardens, art, farm, baby) was very very helpful. It is more interesting to tie things together, to make new connections, and so many ideas for projects came out of this.

I felt like I was given permission to push myself and try new things, to not put my work in such a box. I also really loved how just the phrase "artist peers" helped me get over some of my fears of reaching out and connecting with artists I admire.

It was also very helpful having a plan that you typed up and sent at the end of every session. The accountability and wanting to get everything on the list done was the thing that made me get it all done. Many of those items (e.g. organize my to do list, network etc.) had been on my list, but all together in one big jumbled list with no priorities, no deadline etc.

It was really helpful to have recommendations in terms of artists and projects to look at, books to read etc.. I love looking and learning and borrowing snippets of ideas from things that inspired me. I would highly recommend this mentorship program to others (in fact I did in my last email newsletter).”

Nicole Renee Ryan

“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

“The mentorship with Lenka profoundly affected the relationship I have with my work - I had been working in many different mediums (writing, research, textiles, sculpture) and saw each of them as a kind of separate endeavour. Talking with Lenka allowed me to see all the ways they are part of an interconnected, interdisciplinary whole, and the ways in which each method of working can permeate the other. It also really helped me unhook the idea of labour as an inherent part of the making process, and see "smaller" projects on equal footing with grant-funded projects that I worked on for months. I also learned how to ask myself difficult or playful questions about what I was working on - if I only gave myself two hours to make this, what would it be like? How can this idea be expressed in its simplest form that allows the viewer to make connections for themselves? I would say the most expansive shift I made during the mentorship was seeing everything as one big project - that everything I was working on, whether it was writing an artist talk, taking a walk, mending clothes, applying for grants, is all part of a rich and full studio practice.

I think the monthly plan and reflection is really helpful in assessing what kind of goals you're setting for yourself, and if they are the right kind of goals at all. I found the big-picture conversations so thought-provoking, and the kind of questions you asked that didn't take anything for granted in the way I presented something. Sometimes I would say something that I assumed to be true (for myself or my practice) and you would gently poke some holes in it, which was so expansive! It was nice to be proven wrong on many counts.”

Lacey Decker Hawthorne, Canada

“I found that the consistent meeting and accountability was helpful, but the thing that I found the most helpful and rewarding was that Lenka would walk through my projects with me (the thought process, material considerations, time, etc.) so that I had an engaged sounding board that also would shine a light on the (sometimes very simple) aspects of my practice that I was missing or willfully avoiding. I truly appreciate that and my practice is much better for it.”

Kate Hooray Osmond, USA

“After six months of working with Lenka I have grown in my work, writing and thinking. I have been empowered to recognize that my work really is fluid to my daily life ....of how my life not just reflects my work, but it is my work. I don’t feel like there has been a more productive time in my making or thinking. I will be using many of the tools and exercises she challenged me with for my own students next semester. I have sincere gratitude for the experience!”

Kristin Husainy, USA

“The mentorship period was really helpful for me, I think it came at exactly the right time. It helped me clarify my thought process around my practice when it felt like I had thought myself to a stand still. But more than that it gave me the permission to play and explore again. It helped me realise that there isn't just one perfect answer as to which work to decide to focus my thoughts on. It made me realise that my voice as an artist is enough and that I don't have to know all the answers to make work about a specific subject, a creative enquiry with space for the viewer/ audience to draw their own conclusions is a more interesting way to work. The fact that you were flexible on amount of sessions that we had was really helpful. Also I found the other artists/ projects that you pointed me to really helpful. Just over all being able to share with you at the point I was at was what helped. It took a slight mind shift for me to discuss things that I was trying to resolve rather than presenting projects as finished and polished - that was really good for me! As an aside we've stared a crit group at my studio too, so I can carry on that sharing.”

Laura Jamieson, 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 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

“Over the last six months, I was able to give some better clarity and focus to my practice. I really enjoyed hearing about the ways you solved problems and navigated your career. Your mentorship provided a clear yet gentle and flexible container to create and follow through on goals and projects. I appreciated the careful listening and thoughtful questions. You have the ability to help me draw out and synthesize tangible steps forward from the many big picture or vague ideas I had. I also benefited greatly from feedback on applications, images and my website. Thank you so much! I wish I could continue!”

Laura Rosengren

“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

”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

"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

“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

“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

"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

Lenka Clayton, bio

British interdisciplinary artist Lenka Clayton is the founder of An Artist Residency in Motherhood and was the first artist-in-residence-in-motherhood from 2012 - 2015. 

Her work considers, exaggerates, and alters the accepted rules of everyday life, extending the familiar into the realms of the poetic and absurd. In previous works she's hand-numbered 7,000 stones; searched for 613 people mentioned in an edition of a German newspaper; filmed one person of every age from 1 to 100, and reconstituted a lost museum from a sketch on the back of an envelope. For three years she was the world’s first Artist-in-Residence-in-Motherhood after she founded a fully-funded artist residency that took place inside her own home and life as a mother of two young children. She and artist Michael Crowe are currently in the middle of writing a unique, personal letter to every household in the world.

Lenka Clayton's work has been widely exhibited including at Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, FRAC Le Plateau in Paris, Kunstmuseum Linz in Austria, Kunsthalle St. Gallen in Switzerland, Anthology Film Archives and MoMA in New York City, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, the Tehran International Documentary Festival, and on BBC Radio 4 and Channel 4 Television in the UK. Recent work has also appeared in Frieze, Creative Nonfiction, Esquire Russia, The Daily Telegraph, The New Yorker blog, The New York Times, and in the publication "Typewriter Art" amongst others. 

She has worked one-on-one with hundreds of artists from Foundation to Graduate level. She taught for extended periods at Central St. Martins in London (now University of the Arts), at Alfred University in New York State and currently teachs at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. She's been a visiting artist at 23 universities and colleges including Cranbrook Academy of Art, Ohio State University and Bowdoin College in the US and Örebro Konstskolla in Sweden.

Clayton holds an MA in Documentary Direction from the National Film & Television School, (Beaconsfield, U.K.) and a BA in Fine Art from Central St. Martins, (London). She was recently awarded a Creative Development Grant from the Pittsburgh Foundation/Heinz Endowments and a Sustainable Arts Foundation award. Clayton lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she was named Emerging Artist of the Year 2013. In 2014 she was awarded a Carol R. Brown Award for Creative Achievement. She is currently artist-in-residence at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia and working on a major project in with artist Jon Rubin at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.