"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
mental health
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
Janet Sobel: 20th Century Woman
“It is not easy to paint. It is very strenuous. But it’s something you’ve got to do if you have the urge". - Janet Sobel. This exhibition at The Gallery of Everything on Chiltern Street features over 30 astonishing works on paper by the acclaimed/reclaimed figuratist, impressionist, surrealist and abstract expressionist artist Janet Sobel (1893 – 1968). Like … Continue reading Janet Sobel: 20th Century Woman
Celebrating Breathing Space
Online launch of the wonderful work produced over lockdown by participants of Breathing Space, a group that Katja Stiller and I have been facilitating for the past two years. Transferring onto Zoom during the pandemic, the weekly sessions consist of mindfulness, creative writing and art for people with mild to medium mental health issues. Taking … Continue reading Celebrating Breathing Space
Creative Insights Exhibition
For the past year, Katja Stiller and I have been facilitating sessions for the Creative Insights project, funded with assistance from Cardiff and Vale Health Lottery and Tanio Arts. We have been working with a group of people with lived experience of eating disorders, to develop creative content for the Cardiff and Vale Adult Eating … Continue reading Creative Insights Exhibition
Beyond the Label Project
Launch of Beyond the Label, a project I have been facilitating with Katja Stiller with funding from The National Lottery Community Fund and working in collaboration with Ty Canna Mental Health Outreach service in Cardiff. Over a period of three months, we worked with a group of service users over Zoom to produce creative content for an animation, booklet and … Continue reading Beyond the Label Project
Structure for a Poem
One participant of the Friday Creative Wellbeing group is a wonderful surrealist poet in the style of Gisèle Prassinos. From one of her poems, 'Reasoning Remains a Wealth', everyone has chosen a line that resonates with them, and created their own print or artwork, taking inspiration from the words of the poem. We are always discovering … Continue reading Structure for a Poem
Breathing Space
I'm really looking forward to facilitating a new Creativity and Wellbeing course with Katja Stiller from Valley and Vale Arts. We will be delivering person-centred creative sessions that will combine mindfulness exercises for relaxation with a range of art forms. For people who are in the process of recovery from mental health challenges such as anxiety … Continue reading Breathing Space
Creative Harvesting
These past weeks I've been aware of the abundance of fruits and vegetables in the hedges and at the allotment, and also of the wonderful harvest moon on the 14th. For the first sessions of the Creative Wellbeing courses, new people have come and some who had been coming for a while have left to … Continue reading Creative Harvesting
A Brief History of Healing
Opening of the sister exhibition at Hearth Gallery, Llandough. See ArcadeCampfa website for more details. A Brief History of Healing is a collaborative partnership project between ArcadeCampfa, the Cardiff and Vale University Health board and visual artist and mental health service user Gail Howard. For the last two months Gail and artist/writer Sarah Featherstone have … Continue reading A Brief History of Healing
Sarah J Featherstone 