"At least one third of GP appointments are, in part, due to isolation. Through social prescribing and community resilience programmes, creative arts can have a significant impact on reducing isolation and enabling wellbeing in communities." - Dr Jane Povey GP, Director, Creative Inspiration Shropshire Community Interest Company; All-Party Parliamentary on Arts, Health and Wellbeing Inquiry … Continue reading The Art of Growing Strong
Creative writing and art
Healing Mandalas
Some wonderful mandalas made in the workshop at Cardiff central library today for Refugee Week. I gave participants a choice of A4 or A3 circle templates to create their mandala within. Working with paint, pens, collage or stamps, visitors created individual healing images to take home with them.
Refugee Week
I'II be running a Mindful Art session for Refugee Week on 23rd June in Cardiff Central Library. We will be creating healing mandalas. Free for all.
Art for Wellbeing
I'm facilitating a new 11 week course for adults at Llanover Hall. This week, participants explored shapes and colour, beginning with the three primary colours, mixing to create new hues and tones and jotting down how each one made them feel. We spoke about the psychology of colour and its power to effect mood, and … Continue reading Art for Wellbeing
Collaboration: Week Three
One of the main priorities the school has for their Victorian project is to increase collaboration skills in the class, as well as the other Creative Habits of Mind (Imaginative, Inquisitive, Persistent, and Disciplined). As the creative practitioner working with the teacher and class over five weeks, I have tried to make the activities as … Continue reading Collaboration: Week Three
Creative Schools: The Victorians
I'm really excited to be working with Year 5 & 6 and their teacher Emma at a primary school in Llanrumney. Over the next four weeks, we'll be developing a story set in Victorian times through the mediums of role play, script writing, story writing, and painting and printing. One aim is for the children … Continue reading Creative Schools: The Victorians
Filming Day
Marcus and Nick (Redbrck Productions) visited the studio on Tuesday to collect footage for the Cultural Cwtsh Film. I have been busy preparing the script - a ten minute presentation on how to create photo stories that I sent to the guys in advance so they could make a schedule for the day. As I've … Continue reading Filming Day
Photo Poems
More photo poems for the Arts Council of Wales/NHS Creative Cwtsh commission. I haven't been strict about the 5,7,5 syllable structure with these, but they are inspired by the Haiku form. Also, having fun with cut-up collaging of letters:
New Commission: Photo Poems for NHS Staff
I have been commissioned by Arts Council Wales to create a short video of a creative activity for NHS staff, to be uploaded to their Creative Cwtsh website. I am particularly pleased to be able to do this, having trained as a nurse back in the 90's, and also having accessed healthcare during lockdown. I … Continue reading New Commission: Photo Poems for NHS Staff
Little Books
Workshops for children and families at Llanover Hall and Wales Millennium Centre this summer. Participants learnt how to fold a little book in which to write and illustrate a story. Some children came with ideas for their story: a brother and sister brought along their favourite toys to be the protagonists, and one girl knew … Continue reading Little Books
Sarah J Featherstone 