Sometimes I wonder which is truly more beneficial for wellbeing: creativity that expresses and explores thoughts & feelings directly, or that highlights something totally different? Is creativity most helpful as a tool or as a haven? This could apply to visual arts, music, dance or drama. Should they help shut out the darkness or delveContinue reading “A New Stigma”
Tag Archives: arts health
Time For Art
Making space for art in your daily life has to be one of the most positive, creative and practical small things you can do to change your routine. When something is known to have so beneficial an impact on wellbeing, it makes sense to weave it in to your day to day living. And toContinue reading “Time For Art”
Talking About Art
In old age, the Impressionist painter Claude Monet dedicated himself almost entirely to painting water lilies. Depressed by bereavement, declining sight and the events of World War One, he was encouraged by the politician George Clemenceau to create a gallery lined with these paintings, in the Orangerie in Paris – as a space where peopleContinue reading “Talking About Art”
Figurative Vs. Abstract
Have you found that using different art styles has different impacts on mood and wellbeing, on mental health? Is drawing a figurative picture more stimulating than painting an abstract, absorbing your mind as you try to represent the subject? Is abstract art more calming and mindful to experiment with? One focus of my Arts CouncilContinue reading “Figurative Vs. Abstract”
Warm On The Inside
Do you remember ”warm hubs”? It feels like no time at all since last winter’s issues with fuel poverty and heating, getting through the colder months with the cost of living spiraling. Now we’ve changed the clocks once more, summer has gone and we are into late autumn, and the cost of living is stillContinue reading “Warm On The Inside”
Learning From Experience
This week marks a milestone for me: 3 years since I set up Medley, my online arts for wellbeing initiative. That time feels like it has flown. I am so happy to have stumbled upon working in arts for wellbeing, and so enjoy all that I do with it. As someone new to the sectorContinue reading “Learning From Experience”
Health Check
With the NHS turning 75 – a milestone that has set the UK talking once again about the merits of this national institution – it’s as good a time as any to think about how the arts and healthcare overlap, and how they might overlap yet more. The NHS is struggling – still fighting backContinue reading “Health Check”
Carefree
Behind the term “young carers”, there are so many individual stories, lives and everyday experiences. Young Carers Action Day, 16 March 2023, feels like an opportunity to think what might enrich young carers’ lives across their very different situations. We imagine childhood and youth should be carefree, fun, relaxed, even as we remember that growingContinue reading “Carefree”
Day By Day
Are you a creature of habit? I know I am. I do like to be spontaneous too and to try different things, but I find that life works better if I follow a routine. Working for myself from home that’s particularly important – but in other parts of my life as well, routine really helps.Continue reading “Day By Day”
Together Or Alone?
When people share how art helps them, they talk about feeling absorbed and focused, shutting out issues, entering a world of their own. All this conjures up quiet, private creativity. But many art for wellbeing initiatives run as groups, in public. So do people benefit more from art for wellbeing as part of a group,Continue reading “Together Or Alone?”
Medley 