Toby Laurent Belson is a multidisciplinary community artist, designer and educator. He was born and raised and resides in West London. He has run a community arts group, Brownbaby, in North Kensington since 2007, was a Portobello market trader for 8 years and has held local school governor and Trustee positions. Between 2015 and 2020 he supported four local campaigns to protect and enhance community assets, producing posters, leaflets, videos, web pages, infographics, zines and regular blog posts and event reports.
Toby's community practice includes a wide range of disciplines with a focus on techniques that enable individual participants efforts to be brought together into a larger whole. Since 2006 he has produced many group mosaics, public installations, school exhibits, magazines, screenprints, murals and radio shows, working with hundreds of young people. He has designed and painted a number of bridges in North Kensington with public art charity Urban Eye, as well as producing the odd piece of street art. Since 2017 he has led creative community responses for Grenfell, including Green for Grenfell illuminations and Notting Hill Carnival.
Toby's personal practice has mainly focused on print and cut paper collage. He exhibits in libraries, theatres and other accessible community spaces.
Community in its many manifestations remains at the heart of Toby's creative thinking.
