Common Ground Meet the Team

Hello from Common Ground, The Auxiliary’s growing project turning our garden into a self-sustaining micro-farm and creative space for community, ecology, and art.

This week, we’d like you to meet Sue Loughlin–artist, producer, and co-founder of Common Ground. Sue’s practice begins with making: sculpture, painting, installation, but it expands far beyond the studio. Her work moves between education, social engagement, and curation, creating spaces where people come together to learn, build, and imagine collectively.

Sue has worked extensively with arts organisations and Cultural Learning Partnerships across the North East and is the founder of MOTHEROTHER, a supportive network for artist parents and carers in the region. With over 15 years of experience in art education, both regionally and internationally, Sue’s practice continues to explore how creativity can grow through care, connection, and shared experience.

Her recent projects include a Creative Development Fellowship with Sunderland Culture (2019), participation in The NewBridge Project’s Collective Studio (2020), and the UNION 23 Social Practitioner Programme with the Northern School of Creativity and Activism (2023).

At Common Ground, Sue is cultivating a space where art and ecology thrive side by side–a living artwork shaped by everyone who joins in.

Join us for our Common Ground Saturday Sessions, where artists, growers, and local participants come together to make, learn, and share.

Our next session is this Saturday, 25 October, when we’ll be finishing off our bee & insect habitats to support the wildlife that shares our garden. Come get your hands in the mix–all welcome, no experience needed.