MEET THE TEAM
Meet the people behind Art House Awaji
H E I D E A N D M A R T I N
Martin
HEY THERE!
Since meeting in 2014, we have worked together on various projects including art exhibitions, fire performances, children’s art workshops, children’s English classes and themed children’s parties. In 2021 we decided to take our work further afield and moved to Awaji Island to begin planning our next project - Art House Awaji.
We look forward to meeting you!
Heide
Born into a family of artists and musicians in England, Heide was encouraged to explore her creative side at a very young age. Following graduation from Fine Art University she moved to Japan to pursue a career in the arts. After exhibiting her art in various exhibitions in Osaka she founded ‘Sense O’, an art event showcasing the work of international and Japanese artists, performers, film-makers and musicians. In 2006 she co-founded AIDA Gallery and in 2007 she founded Start Art.
Meet Martin, director of Start Eigo, arts teacher and fire performer.
Art House Awaji’s main English teacher and occasional arts teacher, Martin has been delivering fun and interactive English classes to kindergarten and elementary students since 2004. Passionate about merging fun with learning, he founded Start Eigo in 2015, a team of skilled English teachers bringing ‘Eigo Asobi’ classes to Kindergartens throughout Kansai. Through his passion for implementing creativity into children’s learning environments, Martin trained as a Start Art teacher in 2018 and conducted children’s art workshops at the prestigious Familiar Preschool.
In addition to working with kids, Martin started training in the field of fire performance in 2010 and in 2013 joined AbRabbi, a team of fire performers based in Himeji. Through his years of experience, Martin has performed at events in both Japan and Europe.