Lizzie West

Heritage Planner for CBA Studios

Bridging Heritage Interpretation and Visual Creation: A Personal Journey of Integration

Panel: Heritage-Making

This paper explores the relationship between heritage interpretation and visual creation, aiming to bridge the perceived gap between the two disciplines. To be explored though a personal journey drawing from insights and experiences. The work delves into the challenges of simultaneously engaging in both practices and seeks to uncover practical ways to align them more harmoniously.

The study draws from working professionally as an interpretive and heritage planner, as well as practicing as an illustrator. After years of experiencing the dissonance and frustrations inherent in navigating separate creative worlds, the idea comes from a realisation that both disciplines can unite in a different way to how they currently do.

The exploration begins with an introspective journey, reflecting on the separation of heritage interpretation practices and visual creation practices as distinct entities. Through this personal exploration, the proposal aims to offer insights for individuals who have encountered similar struggles in integrating diverse creative practices, and to highlight new ways of incorporating visual media within the heritage-making and interpretive planning processes.

Typically (with individual exceptions), illustration comes early in the interpretation and heritage planning process, to inform research and storytelling (archaeological drawings, illustrated historic records etc), or later in the process at design stage to illustrate and/or decorate interpretive media. It is between these two points where the author’s professional career usually sits. Is there a space here for creating visual work and for incorporating illustration? How can illustrative practices be brought into her own daily professional work and subsequently the work of others in the same field? Can it be integrated into the heritage and interpretation processes more widely?

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I grew up making. I spent my early years drawing, painting and crafting. My time at art college was followed by attending Nottingham Trent University and received a BA in Decorative Arts in 2015, culminating with a final degree project simply entitled ‘Illustrating Public Spaces’, where I focused on capturing city centre spaces through large scale collage.

I received an MA in Museum and Heritage Development in 2018 (NTU) with a dissertation exploring Transmedia Storytelling. I now work as an interpretation and heritage planner for CBA Studios, leading all interpretation and visitor experience work and recently completed Interpretation Strategies for the Orkney Islands and Swindon’s Historic Railway Village.

I also create artwork inspired by the stories of loved ones and seek to one day find a better balance between these two aspects of my life.