Re-Cover Project - Week 1

This week was the first session in our 8 week project, working with patients on the acute male psychiatry ward.

Van and myself arrived at the hospital with our boxes full of interesting sculpture making materials. We were warmly welcomed by the staff who helped us set up a space in the communal activity room, where the men and the staff could drop in over the 2 hour session.

We were thrilled to have so many join us - about 12 patients, who stayed between 30 minutes and the whole 2 hour session.

We introduced the sculptural process of casting by using clay, plaster, small objects and our own bodies as a starting point. We began by exploring the concepts of negative and positive space. Some of the men had experience in plastering, and were a dab hand at mixing the plaster up to the perfect consistency. So their tips were helpfully shared amongst the group and the staff.

An inquisitive approach soon took shape and their ideas began to flow; pressing, molding, mixing, pouring and waiting for the moment of truth when you find out if your cast has worked or not. The participants keenly tried more casting and developed their ideas from small to big. It was fantastic to see them explore the materials with their bare hands.

Everybody created an individual piece, with the techniques they had learnt, and openly shared their responses from the activity:

“Thank you for stimulating my brain and helping me think about something else”

“I feel enlightened.”

“This is something I’ve never done before and I'd like to do it again”

We look forward to more casting activities next week.

Bryony Pritchard and Van Nong

Reflections on the past year

It is now a year since Artlink held our Re-launch event to mark the major achievement of raising the funds to transform the building into a fully accessible state of the arts venue dedicated to working with disadvantaged groups of adults and young people.

In this year so much has taken place. We have delivered all eight of our first year projects for Open Door a Reaching Communities Big Lottery funded project to work with groups in the community who have little or no access to arts participation. We have worked with Barnados REACH with young people at risk of exclusion from school, Shantona women's centre with girls and young women, Feel Good Factor with elderly residents of Harehills, Sikh Elders with elderly Sikh women based at Touchstone, Women's Aid, Studio 3 a group of adults with mental health issues and Together Women a group of women who are at risk of re-offending.

In this year we have also continued our work in ward settings. We are now half way through our three year project with the Yorkshire Centre for Eating Disorders, and are slowly transforming the Unit with large scale canvases of the work the patients have produced. We have engaged patients and staff alike and staff are now very keen to participate in workshops as well as deliver some of the artistic techniques themselves.

Our work on the Forensic Ward was both moving and rewarding. One of our artists said that if she lived nearby she would have liked to continue going to the Ward to support the patients on a regular basis.

We are now setting up work in Ward 4 the Acute Male ward, as well as Year 2 of our Open Door Project, and further workshops in the Eating Disorders Unit. For Open Door we will be working with disadvantaged groups from the community in our wonderful building.

Our Open Day tomorrow celebrates all of the amazing work that Artlink has undertaken in the past year and in particular is a showcase of Open Door.

The Re-Cover Project - Ward 4 - Acute Male Psychiatry Ward

After completing the project on Ward 2 - Forensic Unit at The Newsam Centre, we are now due to start working with the Acute Male Psychiatry Unit.  The set up for this unit is, as you can imagine, different to that of the Forensic Unit.  Most notably, this isn't a locked ward and stays on this unit are much shorter, often just for a couple of weeks.  This is a 21 bed ward and we're hoping to work with patients using a range of sculptural techniques to transform the walls, making the environment more conducive to a patients recovery.

As well as the differences between the wards, there are many similarities in that patients have mostly had little or no access to the arts and are suffering with confidence and self-esteem issues amongst other disruptive and chaotic life situations.

Our artists on this project are Bryony Pritchard and Van Nong, both long established artists across many different art forms including dance, music, textiles, visual arts and sculpture.  They will be blogging on here each week to keep you up to date on how the project's progressing.  This project will bring in a 3D element with many pieces created in relief.  We're looking forward to seeing this new body of work emerge!

Hayley Mason
Artlink Projects Manager

Hidden Places Week 9

Seacroft Hospital - Ward 2 - Secure forensic psychiatry.

Doesn't time fly? This was the last session on Ward 2. Milena and I have been so impressed and moved by the people who have been involved with the project. There's been such a wide range of activities and artwork produced. We both feel the project was very worthwhile and will leave a lasting impression on the participants.

Milena and I have spent the last session mainly  finishing off and making good all the pieces that have been made over the last 9 weeks.

The women's group have been working on fabric using tie dye and a variety of processes to produce colourful scarves, bags etc.  They have also been drawing and adding colour to their designs.

The men's group have been painting with fluorescent and conventional acrylic paint to make very bright abstract colour pieces. We've even been using some gold foil to make the work look even more dazzling. These will be cut up and collaged on the final large canvasses for the entrance area.  

So the next part of the project is to make up three 100cm x 100cm canvases to welcome people to Ward 2. Milena and I will collage and arrange the products of the workshops into something engaging and beautiful.

Quotes of Note

I’ve never done anything like this before, but it turned out so nice and colourful

I like these day-glo colours, where do you get them from?

I like just painting lines…. I’m not into painting ’things’

 

Watch out for the next thrilling instalment as we unveil the finished pieces!

Thanks for looking.

Milena Dragic and Kevin Hickson 

Hidden Places - Week 8

Seacroft Hospital - Ward 2 - Secure forensic psychiatry W

With Artists Milena Dragic and Kevin Hickson

Well we're fast approaching the end of the project and theres been some beautiful artwork made over the sessions. 

Milena has been expanding the range of decorative fabric processes and the group is making some amazing colourful work. They have explored silk scarf painting, tie dying and applying metallic gutta. The results look very impressive.

On the male ward we're being very productive working on a variety of painting and printing techniques. We've been making lots of colourful textured pieces to use on the large canvasses that will soon adorn the entrance to Ward 2

Some of the pieces have been digitised and worked on to produce more complex designs. This piece was based on a small hand drawn sign saying 'hello' in Polish.

This piece is made from Arabic script and we decorated it. This week I shall add some gold leaf to really make it look rich and sumptuous.

Quotes of Note

Female Ward -

"I really like tie dying, I want to do more art when I get out, it’s so good for me, I told the Dr … about it."

"I’ll give this to my brothers girlfriend for Xmas."

Male Ward -

"This is good, you are a very fine artist, the best in the world."

"I really like that now, I didn’t like it last week but it looks different today."

See you next week for the last beautifully beguiling instalment from Ward 2....
Milena and Kevin