Marie Theresa Crick

Creative Practice Business MTC Digital Creative

Photography | Film | Facilitating | Teaching

I founded MTC Digital Creative as a platform for practice-based research, artistic collaboration, and creative learning. With over twenty years of experience as a creative practitioner and educator, I specialise in photography, film, visual storytelling, creative writing, and poetry.

At the heart of my work is the facilitation of collective spaces where participants can engage with film, photography, philosophy, art, theory, writing, and embodied research. My approach is experimental and dynamic, using images and moving images as catalysts for dialogue, reflection, and creative exploration.

Teaching & Educational Engagement

I work with schools, universities, communities, and organisations to develop courses and workshops that encourage critical thinking, experimentation, and creative expression.

University Teaching

As a visiting lecturer in Visual Cultures, I lead embodied research and movement workshops, integrating theory, creative practice, and experimental methodologies. My teaching explores the intersections of theory and practice, using embodied methodologies to interrogate how lived experience, affect, and memory shape knowledge production. These workshops create spaces where academic inquiry, cultural memory, and artistic practice are in dialogue, fostering alternative modes of engagement with historical silences and inherited trauma.

My practice-based research examines the lingering echoes of Irish maternal and diasporic memory through breath, movement, and affect—revealing stories of embodied shame, resilience, and intergenerational trauma. I develop experimental practices through embodied workshops, listening and reading groups, film, performance, and philosophy, reimagining maternal relationships as sites of critical reflection and transformation. This interdisciplinary approach expands feminist and decolonial methodologies, positioning creative practice as a vital means of engaging with memory and historical responsibility.

I have contributed to the following courses:

🔹 Feminist and Queer Technoscience (BA Visual Cultures)
🔹 Ocean as Archive (MA Contemporary Art Theory)
🔹 Histories of Art LAB (Graduate Diploma)
🔹 Situated Knowledges (BA History of Art)

Schools & Youth Education

I teach both online and in-person across various educational stages, working with students from primary school to university level. My teaching covers:

Key Stages 1–5 (ages 5–18, UK curriculum) – covering foundational, secondary, and pre-university education
GCSE (ages 14–16, equivalent to High School Diploma courses) – focused subject specialisations
A-Level (ages 16–18, equivalent to IB or AP courses) – advanced, pre-university study
Undergraduate & Graduate levels – higher education teaching in photography, film, philosophy, and contemporary art theory

**Teaching Roles and Curriculum Development**

Alongside my independent teaching practice, I have designed and implemented innovative film and creative methodologies within formal education settings, developing my own pedagogical and experimental framework for student learning.

At Westminster School, I introduced film as both an analytical and creative tool within the curriculum for primary students, incorporating both technical and conceptual skills. One project, ‘Moving Landscapes’, encouraged Year 8 students to explore the relationship between film, movement, and landscape, using Premiere Pro—a tool central to my own practice—to actively engage with moving images. This project also examined water as a thematic and sensory experience, aligning with my film research on breath, memory, and the body, demonstrating how sensory engagement fosters critical thinking and emotional connection to complex topics.

Previously, at Caterham School (2006–2019), I spent over a decade developing film education across all school levels, pioneering interdisciplinary approaches to storytelling and film-based inquiry. This programme integrated film into diverse subjects, including using poetry in English to inspire visual storytelling, demonstrating how cinematic language and poetic form could intersect to create new modes of expression. These interdisciplinary projects allowed me to experiment with film as a medium for navigating and articulating complex narratives—similar to how my research investigates ‘filmic breath’ as a way to engage with transgenerational shame and maternal relationships.

Beyond curriculum development, I was determined to build structures that had never existed at the school to support alternative ways of thinking and creative expression. I successfully pitched and created my own role as in-house photographer and filmmaker, embedding film into the school’s culture. I convinced the Parents’ Association to fund professional equipment, laying the foundation for a sustainable film program. This led to the creation of film clubs, holiday schools, and interdisciplinary projects, embedding filmmaking not just in dedicated courses but across a range of subjects.

I also forged links with the local community and charities, ensuring that students engaged in real-world, hands-on experiences. These connections provided opportunities for pupils to apply their filmmaking skills beyond the classroom, preparing them for professional pathways. One student, whose talent was nurtured within these new spaces, secured a place at a top US university for film—a testament to how these structures opened up new futures for students who previously had no formal space to explore filmmaking.

This sustained engagement in formal teaching environments has been essential in developing my distinct pedagogical framework, reinforcing my trajectory toward an academic lecturing career while bridging creative practice, research, and education.

Embodied Practice

Working with Adults & Organisations

I collaborate with corporate companies, independent businesses, charities, communities, and individuals to design and deliver creative learning experiences. I have worked with clients such as Legal and General (financial services), EDLA Landscape Architecture, and a range of cultural organizations. My approach challenges traditional learning structures, supporting learners in developing their creative voices and artistic confidence.

Courses & Workshops

I have previously designed and delivered courses such as:

Photography for Beginners & Advanced
Art, Nature, Creative Writing & Poetry
Creative Writing & Poetry with a Focus on Irish Writers
Behind the Scenes – Film Theory
Photography Theory
Visual Storytelling

COURSES

I also curate "Thinking With" spaces—seminars and workshops designed to collectively engage with contemporary art. These have included critical discussions on major international art events such as Manifesta and Documenta, bringing together diverse online and in-person communities.