Clare, Art for All project lead, talks about this fantastic group

What sessions have you run so far and what have these sessions involved?

Art for All has run since September 2023. As a group we have been exploring the building blocks of Art and Design. Everyone is taught how to read from an early age and every day they read. Art is just the same and we all need those building blocks to be able to open up all the avenues of creativity that lie out there.

We have explored the formal elements of Art and Design, working from small scale to large, standing up and drawing using sticks, taking away drawing, dip pen and ink, graphite using volume to explore the objects. Making paint brushes, developing mark making to explore emotion, researching colour and how the relationship of one colour next to another can change your views. Tissue paper collage, ink ad bleach, felt and sewing collage and fused glass.

We have also looked at various artists to help develop our thoughts and projects. The forts project used as a starting point, Howard Hodgkin and how he used memory, colour and texture through paint to bring his story to life. The second project we have called Still Life and all of that means to us as individuals developing into a large A1 painting.

Nothing is ever wrong in this group, and as Picasso once said “Honour your Mistakes”

How does the service support good mental health and wellbeing?

Through having a safe space to create and explore what you never thought you could do.

Can anyone attend the group?

Yes, this group really is for all!

What’s your favourite thing about working with this group?

The variety of what everyone produces and how working on a seated project has helped the groups artists understand that development. And that using a variety of techniques in a piece, is as important as the final outcome.

‘The entire universe is inside you’ – Rumi