Collaborative Evaluation: Stephen Willats & Community Art

Introduction: A Contemporary Community Textile Artist As Creative Listener (Artist Evaluator)

That question has followed me for years. It first tugged at me during Array's Turner Prize community project in 2021, when my untamed scrawlings tried to capture what was really happening — the atmosphere, the emotions, the subtle shifts.

As I yomp further into my journey as a Contemporary Community Textile Artist in Derbyshire, particularly through my work with Creative Agents, this question sits right at the centre. In 2025, it has become part of my role as a Creative Listener with the Neighbourhood Creative Agents Programme, where my focus is to reflect on what unfolds with the Agents themselves, not through tick boxes but through stories, sketches, symbols and the unsaid.

In my last post, How to Evaluate Community Projects As A Contemporary Community Textile Artist – 2025 Nature Connections, I wrote about the mix of excitement and nerves that came with exploring this challenge. Since then, my thinking has shifted: I now imagine evaluation as a quilt — layered, textured, flawed, human and alive with meaning.

To help shape this, I'm turning to the ideas of Stephen Willats' evaluation methods alongside my own training in textiles, psychotherapy and community arts. The task ahead is to see how these methods can be adapted for Creative Listener evaluation with Creative Agents — and how I might begin to pilot a way of evaluating that feels stitched into practice rather than bolted on afterwards.

Why Stephen Willats' Evaluation Methods Matter In Community Art Practice

Stephen Willats' evaluation methods in community art practice bridge a gap I've often struggled with — the distance between art as something you simply look at, and art as something you live inside of.

I first came across Willats through Disability Arts Shropshire (DASH.) Having worked with them on the Processions project in 2018, I've always kept in touch. In 2025, when DASH advertised for an Artist Evaluator, they described their approach as one that 'learns from... the art practices of Stephen Willats (mapping relationships, movements and structures.)'

That line caught my attention and nudged me to look more closely at his work. Around the same time, I engaged with his 2025 London exhibition at the Victoria Miro gallery, initiating dialogue with the gallery. After exploring the works digitally, I bought his book Time Tumbler and soon made direct contact with Willats himself.

These moments turned curiosity into commitment. I realised that Willats had been asking the very questions I was circling: How do we map relationships? How do we capture shifts that are felt, not counted? How do we create not just as a finished object but as a living conversation and change mechanism?

Artwork As Social Model was one of Stephen Willats' most influential ideas.

By the 1970s, in his book Art And Social Function, he formalised the idea: art can model social systems, showing not only what exists but what could be different.

Such concepts resonate with how Creative Agents work. Their projects are not just about delivering activities; they also act as mirrors for the Agents and communities they serve — reflecting how they navigate relationships, how their confidence develops, and how they imagine new ways of engaging with their networks. I don't claim to fully understand the nuances of Willats' model. However, I will attempt to devise and share a simple understanding of the vehicles he uses and their components.

To start, I'll focus on the 'building blocks', which are the use of symbols prevalent in Willats' works. Then, attempt a straightforward understanding of his models in a secondary step. For completeness, I will include an initial ideas dump alongside each concept to capture my genuine thoughts on how I could integrate these findings into the Creative Agents' work moving forward.

Symbols In Stephen Willats' Evaluation Methods

The Language Of Symbols

Symbols are central to Stephen Willats' evaluation methods. 

This system creates a shared language — something participants can quickly understand and use to map out their own experiences. Although it is important to note that, while there is a sort of 'Willats Code', the participant can still respond in any way they wish, the central focus is capturing their authentic response rather than adhering strictly to the rules.

What Is Cybernetics?

Willats' use of symbols originated from cybernetics, a science that looks at how systems balance themselves through feedback. I've trawled through dozens of definitions of cybernetics to try and arrive at one that I felt I understood and was comfortable with (cybernetics can be extremely complicated and broad in scope.) In the end, I used AI to simplify and simplify again, to produce the following:

I think of it like this:

• A thermostat turns the heating on or off to keep a room at the right temperature.

  
  

• The human body sweats to cool down or shivers to warm up.

  
  

• And, in the case of the Creative Agents, a community also adapts: one person's action influences others, and their response changes what that person does next.

  
  

Willats realised cybernetics could also apply to art and social life. People and their environments are constantly influencing and responding to each other. His Homeostat Drawings (1969) used these ideas to show how individuals and communities shift to find balance.

However, I have discomfort with my cybernetics definition and laying over the ideas of Willats; he didn't always reflect human systems that were 'happy.' Consider his 1978 work, 'Living with Practical Realities.' He offers that in creating this, 'he wished simply to represent the reality of the old lady's position.' Isolation and loneliness prevail, though the system still maintains a balance. Maybe 'happy' should be replaced with 'functioning' or 'functional' in my definition.

Why Symbols Matter

Symbols gave Willats a way to sketch something complicated in a way that still holds its texture. They let people literally draw out how their lives connect, and then reflect on what might change.

Willats tended to use the following symbols:

Relational Diagrams: One Of Stephen Willats' Evaluation Methods In Community Arts

What Are Relational Diagrams?

Relational diagrams are arguably one of Stephen Willats' most accessible evaluation methods. In these, a person is placed central to the work, with lines and symbols (as defined above) connecting them to others, places, significant things, ideas and influences. Feelings can also be added through words and pictures, lines can be strengthened, and arrowheads doubled to show how things change over time.

These diagrams aren't only drawings — they hold up a mirror where people can recognise their own lives and connections and how things change; they are art in their own right.

Relational Diagrams In Action In Community Practice

To make this more concrete, here are three versions of a relational diagram showing how a Creative Agent's connections might grow over time.

For the purposes of this investigation and testing, I've considered the possible responses of Bonnie, a current Creative Agent. Having projected myself into her perceived circumstances, I've used word examples such as 'Neighbourhood', 'Confidence', 'Belonging', 'Collaboration', and 'Wellbeing' to illustrate how the method could be applied. But in practice, each Agent would generate their own nodes and labels, in their own language.

It's essential to note that Stephen Willats never imposed fixed node titles, such as 'Confidence' or 'Belonging.' In his booklets and diagrams, participants always chose their own words — sometimes people, sometimes places, sometimes feelings. What mattered was that the content came from them. So let's go on an understanding adventure (I hope), demonstrating the three key project phases that would be scrutinised - before, after, and long term:

• Before the project: The Creative Agent, ie Bonnie, is linked to just a few areas — e.g. Neighbourhood, Green Space, Confidence, Belonging. These connections are present but sometimes tenuous, shown with thin and dotted arrows.

• After the project: Connections strengthen (thicker arrows) and new main nodes appear: Collaboration and Wellbeing. Sub-nodes sprout from the main ones — e.g. Neighbourhood linking to the Library or Local Shop; Confidence branching into Public Speaking and Leadership.

• Long-term after: The network becomes richer and more layered. The relatively new core node of Wellbeing sprouts resilience, joy, calm, and health. Another node, Legacy, is added, which shows the project's sustained impact — New Leaders, Ongoing Projects, and even Cultural Memory.

These diagrams are not meant to prescribe what matters, but to make visible whatever Agents themselves name as meaningful. That could be a place, a process, an emotion, or even a small gesture. What matters is that in practice it will be their words, not mine.

Creative Agents Parallel: In Make/Shift, Creative Agents could be invited to sketch their own maps: placing themselves at the centre, then drawing connections to people, places, or influences that shape/d their project — a neighbourhood partner, a green space, or a collaborator. Words like 'safe,' 'curious,' or 'confident' could capture how these links feel about themselves, revealing subtle shifts in how they perceive their own role.

The Tripartite Model In Creative Listener Evaluation

What Is The Tripartite Model?

The Tripartite Model is one of Stephen Willats' most distinctive evaluation methods in community art practice. It considers the artwork to be a product of dialogue between artist, audience, and context. It is essentially a triangle. When I began looking into Willats' diagrams, particularly through his Artwork As Social Function book and later commentaries, what struck me was how his models have evolved. I have used Bonnie's work again to inspire an example of the tripartite model in action.

How To Use The Tripartite Model

Consider Bonnie, who uses forest school activities with her neighbours. In Willats' triangle:

• Bonnie is the artist

  
  

• Her neighbours are the audience

  
  

• The woods are the context

  
  

• And the artwork is the shared act of weaving pine crowns or decorating acorns

As Creative Listener, my role is to capture how Bonnie experiences this relational triangle — what feels possible, what shifts in her confidence, and what remains unspoken in her reflections. This way, the Tripartite Model is not just an abstract idea but a living, reflective tool for the Neighbourhood Creative Agents Programme.

Versions Of The Tripartite Model

In earlier versions, Willats often drew the triangle as a simple feedback loop. The arrows ran in one direction: Artist → Audience → Context → back to Artist — showing how influence travels around a system. This helped highlight the origin of input and its circulation.

In his later dialogical approach, the model became much more reciprocal. All three corners were shown as influencing each other equally, with double-headed arrows (↔). Here, art becomes a shared conversation, not just a linear process.

This flexibility is important. The model doesn't have to be one thing. It can highlight where influence is mostly one-way, or it can show where relationships are genuinely two-way.

Who Draws The Model?

Willats himself devised the basic triangle icon, but its use in projects was often co-created. There were two main approaches:

• He might sketch the triangle and then ask participants to add their own words or adjust arrows.

  
  

• Or, the model could emerge directly from discussion, with arrows and terms added as the conversation unfolded.

In this sense, the diagram was not just an output but a tool for reflection and a way to surface how people experienced their relationships to each other, creativity, and to place.

Creative Agents Parallel: In Make/Shift, Creative Agents could use the Tripartite Model directly as an evaluation tool. For example:

• I might bring the blank triangle framework to a session.

  
  

• The Creative Agent could then fill in their own terms at each corner — naming who they see as 'community,' what the 'context' is, and how they describe their role (they are not always an artist.)

  
  

• Together, we could discuss the arrows: Are they one-way or reciprocal? Which is strongest? Where are the weak or missing links?

  
  

• The diagram itself becomes a co-created map of their practice, which we can revisit later to see how it has changed.

  
  

As Creative Listener, my role is to offer the framework of the model, and invite Creative Agents themselves to fill it in: deciding which arrows feel strongest, which are reciprocal, and what might be missing. The final diagram is co-created, not imposed, and becomes a tool for reflection as much as for evaluation.

These two versions of the Tripartite Model (feedback loop and dialogical) are both useful lenses. Sometimes influence feels mostly one-way, other times it is genuinely reciprocal. Choosing which version to use can reflect the lived reality of each Creative Agent's project.

The Tripartite Model makes art a shared conversation rather than a finished object. By recognising the dynamic between artist, audience and context, it becomes possible to see art as a living system of exchange. This way of mapping relationships sets the ground for my own Creative Listener evaluation method, where diagrams, symbols and reflections are woven into everyday practice, not left as an afterthought.

Booklets As Participatory Tools In Stephen Willats' Evaluation Methods

If Relational Diagrams and the Tripartite Model were ways Stephen Willats mapped connections, his booklets were where those ideas came alive in people's hands. These weren't dry questionnaires or data sheets. They were playful manuals full of prompts, tick boxes, symbols, and blank spaces where participants could sketch, write, or imagine new possibilities.

In the Nottingham-based Social Resource Project for Tennis Clubs (1971–72), Willats created booklets that looked like 'I Spy' guides or alternative rulebooks. Club members were asked to reflect on who they played with, how the club fitted into their wider social world, and even to invent new rules for tennis itself. The aim wasn't to measure outputs but to spark dialogue, self-awareness, and social imagination.

I believe it's important to create a summary of the methods that Willats uses to produce a booklet, especially if I want to closely align my work with his. Since I haven't seen a complete booklet, but have gathered fragments of information from the web, this aide-mémoire will help me consolidate my understanding.:

1. West London Social Resource Project, 1972-3

   In this project, participants were given a Manual (sometimes called the 'West London Manual.') It included pages with visual cues and objects from the project areas, alongside 'Day Sheets' that asked people to respond, describe their environment, draw plans, etc.

   
   

   What to look at: the kinds of prompts ('draw/describe/make a plan what is on your living room mantlepiece') and how familiar visual references are used to engage people.

   
   

2. Social Resource Project For Tennis Clubs, Nottingham, 1971-72

   Here, Willats used a 'question and answer book' format (Tennis Club Manual) with images from the environment, then asked prompts related to those alongside 'I Spy' posters and visual cues.

   
   

   What to look at: how he balances image and text, how questions grow in complexity, and how imagery that people might already recognise is used as an anchor.

   
   

3. The Book As Interactive Tool: Modelling Book (in context of the West London project)

   Describes how the Modelling Books / Manuals work: images, diagrams, texts, prompts tied to everyday life, often starting simple and getting more complex.

   
   

Creative Agents Parallel: Just like Willats' in the tower blocks and tennis clubs, the Neighbourhood Creative Agents Programme works within everyday community settings to reimagine rules, spark reflection, and reshape how people relate to each other in their neighbourhoods. For me, the task is to notice how the Agents themselves make sense of these changes, and what new ways of working emerge for them.

For the Creative Agents, similar booklets could be used to capture their own shifts, such as confidence, relationships, and belonging, in ways that are playful and reflective rather than extractive. Instead of a survey, a Creative Agent might sketch a simple diagram, circle words, or add a note in their own voice, creating a record that is both evaluative and personal, drawing from this summary table:

Creative Listener Evaluation Methods: Listening With Hand & Heart

What Graphic Listening Looks Like In Creative Listener Evaluation

In my community art practice with the Neighbourhood Creative Agents Programme in Derbyshire, being a Creative Listener means attending not just to words but to gestures, emotions and atmospheres. I call this graphic listening — recording the felt, relational architecture of a project through drawings, threads, and words, in dialogue with the Agent in community art practice, not just about them.

Graphic listening is more than sketching: it invites Creative Agents to draw, annotate, and reflect as we go. Sometimes I might ask: 'Draw who you felt closest to this week,' 'What do you long for?' or 'Sketch the places or people that influenced your confidence.' This can happen in a notebook, on loose sheets, or even stitched into fabric.

Creative Listener Evaluation, a term I'm now adopting with my newfound knowledge, is my way of adapting Stephen Willats' models into my own practice. My sketchbook becomes a tool for noticing what often goes unsaid. In doing this, I draw not only what I see, but what the Agent expresses: colours, symbols, blank spaces — all carry meaning. For instance, a sketchbook page might show only the woods and not the people, signalling absence or uncertainty. Noting those absences is as important as noting what is present.

If I extend this idea to the Creative Agents, in early sessions, I might ask: 'Draw who you felt closest to this week,' or 'Sketch the places or people that influenced your feelings of confidence.' It might be in a notebook or sketchbook, with pen or stitch (if I chose a textile approach), or even with found materials. The aim is to notice subtle cues: a line drawn stronger than the rest, a blank space left untouched, a symbol added to mark belonging. These fragments often capture what words alone cannot — shifts in confidence, new connections, or the weight of silence.

As both Creative Listener and Artist Evaluator (whatever term is preferred), I want to create a more professional framework that I might use going forward, inspired by Stephen Willats' evaluation methods.

Creative Agents Parallel: A Creative Listener Graphical Listening Evaluation Method (Practical Steps)

Pulling together Stephen Willats' evaluation methods with my own background in textiles, psychotherapy, and community art, I am shaping a Creative Listener evaluation method. Here is how it might work in practice:

1. Relational Diagram (Baseline): The Creative Agent places themselves at the centre, mapping connections to people, places, and feelings. They choose the symbols and labels.

   
   

2. Early Graphic Prompts: In early sessions, use drawing or sketching prompts: 'Who did you feel most seen by this week?' or 'What places felt important?' This might be in a sketchbook, sheets, or stitched forms.

   
   

3. Check-in During The Project (Mid-Point): After several sessions, revisit the baseline diagram: allow arrows to shift, nodes to appear or fade, feelings to be annotated.

   
   

4. Graphical Response & Textured Metaphor: Use textile metaphors: stitch-like lines, layered drawing, thread marks. These visual textures can show strength, repair, or fragility.

   
   

5. Final Reflection (After): At project end, compare the new diagram with the baseline. What has changed? What feels different? What's now stronger or emerging?

   
   

6. Ongoing Flexibility & Agent-led Choices: The form (drawing/writing/stitch) is theirs; the symbols, words, or metaphors come from them. My role is to listen, prompt, hold space and not to prescribe.

Because this method is experimental, as a Contemporary Community Textile Artist in Derbyshire, I plan to pilot it with one Creative Agent to refine how it works in real practice — noticing what flows easily, what resists, and how best to hold the unsaid.

This approach builds directly on the earlier ideas of relational diagrams and the Tripartite Model, but here they are translated into a Creative Listener's toolkit. If you missed those sections, scroll back to see how these methods shaped my thinking.

Why This Matters

It brings together Willats' relational diagrams and symbols with my own practice as a Contemporary Community Textile Artist in Derbyshire. The result is a Creative Listener evaluation method that is visual, participatory, and co-created.

Because this Creative Listener evaluation method is a work in progress, I intend to pilot it with one Creative Agent first — to test how relational diagrams, graphic listening, and visual reflection actually feel in practice. What flows, what resists, and what reveals the unsaid will guide the refinement of the approach.

Conclusion: Creative Listener Evaluation For Community Art Practice

What I take from Stephen Willats' evaluation methods is the reminder that art doesn't have to stop at the artwork. It can also be a way of seeing and questioning how we live together. His use of relational diagrams, the Tripartite Model and those hand-held booklets show that evaluation can be playful, visual and alive, not just data on a page.

In the Neighbourhood Creative Agents Programme, I can already see how this connects. Bonnie's forest school work is a good example. You can almost draw it straight into Willats' triangle: Artist, Community and Context feeding each other, with the act of making at the centre. It makes me think of each Agent's practice as a living diagram in itself.

My next step is to pilot a Creative Listener evaluation method with one Agent. Using sketch-led diagrams, small booklets and reflective prompts, I'll begin to see how these ideas work in practice.

For me, as a Contemporary Community Textile Artist in Derbyshire, this is about finding an evaluation that feels stitched into the work itself. Less a spreadsheet, more a map of confidence, trust and collaboration.

I hope these ideas might also be useful for others in the community art world who want to feel more human. On a personal note, this feels like the start of something bigger. Stephen Willats has invited me to London to talk about his ideology and his new project. An inspiring next step as I continue weaving together community art, Creative Listener evaluation and the quiet strength of reflection.

If you're a Creative Agent, artist, or evaluator, I'd love to hear how you map your connections or what prompts you use. What helps you see what is often unsaid

FAQ: Creative Listener Evaluation & Stephen Willats

What is Stephen Willats' Tripartite Model? A triangle linking Artist, Audience, and Context with the Artwork at the centre. It can be drawn as a one-way feedback loop or reciprocal with double-headed arrows.

What are relational diagrams in community art? They are visual maps placing the practitioner at the centre, with connections to people, places, and feelings. Lines, arrows, and symbols show how these change over time.

What is a Creative Listener evaluation method? A co-created, sketch-led approach using diagrams, booklets, and reflective prompts to capture confidence, belonging, and collaboration.