Christmas 2006thinkarts

thinkarts

IT’S that time of year againand thinkarts would like towish you all a truly wonderfulholiday.

This evocative winter imagecaptures the spirit of the season

and the headline above is ratherspecial too.

‘Happy Christmas’ is spelledout in an entirely new type facedesigned by service users.

It made its debut at a

Sepentine exhibition showcasinga range of artwork produced bythe Hearing Voices project.

It was just one of the high-lights of expos featuring creativetalent - see our centre pages.

In thismonth’s

issueArts Focus:GoodmayesMile,Serpentineexhibition,Paint the townRed

Pages 4 and 5

Technical feature: Junkbecomes artPage 6

Featured artist:John EdwardDunnPage 7

The EditorWrites...

Worm’s EyeView

Boost forwriters

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thinkarts Please visit us atwww.thinkarts.org

If you would like toget involved withthinkarts contact us. See back page for

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thinkarts

thinkarts CARTOON

FOR poets, creative writersand artists.

Here is your opportunity topublish your work. You can

claim credit or remainanonymous.

Write to thinkarts.

thinktank...thinktank...thinktank...thinktank...thinktank...thinktank...ANOTHER SLIP

Wake before the false dawnput on your boots and walkstraight out along the highway the coldroar of endless traffic, avoid-ing the stares of their inten-tions and thoughts.

Board a bus out into opencountry but don’t forget youridentification because the police hate thethought of missing links.

Enter the forest edge, feel theforgotten autumn leavesbeneath your feet, all life injeopardy far too soon.

The peace of the bare trees inpalpable and you wonder whysmall birds scattered at yourapproaching form.

Sit down quietly on theexposed roots of an ancientfallen Beech, catch yourbreath listen, rest a while fromthe years, from what, he youhave forgotten, finding yourrecognise songs of the decadescarrying you on all along.

John Edward Dunn

TIME

Time is running away with meMy pen keeps on flowing downthese wordsTime is getting carried awaywith meI've got nothing else to do any-way

No matter what anyone saysIt doesn't really matterI can do what I want anywayI can sit in the park and writepoems to my heart's contentAs I haven't got anything else todo till half past twoIf I had college to go to I'll bethere but it’s a breakI will write for goodness sakeI have no where to be so whycan't I sit in the shade under thetreeNo matter what time it is

Anon

WHO AM I?

Birth Certificate,Passport I have not,on a blank sheet of paper I am alonely spot!no bank details, building societyalike –Can I be aloof? Cos' when itcomes to being me –I have no proof.

No identity – a non-entity!This must be an oversight,This must be an errorTo make sure I'm still I have tocheck the mirror!

If I can't prove who I am – Ihave no history!A nobody, a man of mysteryNo credit cards or rent bookRush back to the mirror and takeanother look!-It must be an oversight, it mustme an error!If officials ask me for ID,I just show them a mirror!How can I be in the middle of anidentity crisis?

If I don't have one!

I can tell you it's no celebrationHaving no documentation.'You can't go there, you can't dothat'If I don't have one!

I can tell you it's no celebrationHaving no documentation.'You can't go there, you can't dothat'who told me that?"some pompous bureaucrat"

Keith Martin

UNTITLED

Last week was a treacherouschoreCan't get the words out that hap-penedOut of your mindTrying not to be beatenNot to be defeatedI can't explain how bad it is orwhat was said but all I can say isimagine the worst kind of bully-ing that can happen.I feel as if my life has been puton holdTurning from a busy lifestyleNow nothing much to doTrying to fill in time until thenext appointment is dueIs life just all about waiting untilwhat happens happensLast week won't disappear but itdoesn't stop me from getting onTrying to stay strongThe pain sinking insideTrying not to let that be all I goon aboutNot as busy as I was beforeJust trying to fill in time until thenext appointment is mine

AnonINTERLUDE

in the alchemy of midnightthis dream will empty,decant into muskas vapors of your ruined silktransform standing stones toflesh

JW

‘It’s his launch pad!’

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Thinkarts received acommission to providethis year’s NELMHTAnnual Report with atwist.

Building on the idea ofgame, Pete, thinkartsgraphic designer, rose tochallenge and produced‘Well-Travelled’.

This ludo style gametakes a journey along theimaginary UndergroundLine, stopping at parks,farms and countryside inWaltham Forest,Redbridge, Havering,Barking and Dagenham.

It aims to encourageplayers to learn aboutwhat’s in the local areathen get on their feet,bike, bus or train to go andexplore.

Research shows ourmental well-being is boost-ed by physical activity. Get

GGAAMMEE FFOORR AA NNEEWW CCHHAALLLLEENNGGEE!!

moving regularly and findyour mood lifts, you feelmore relaxed, sleepimproves, concentrationsharpens, negative emo-tions, symptoms of stress,anxiety and depression arereduced, whilst motivationand energy levelsincrease.

Pete’s imagination, pro-fessional approach andtechnical abilities hasraised the profile ofthinkarts putting it welland truly on the map.

To request your freecopy of the Annual Reportwhich incorporates ‘Well-Travelled’ please contactthe Trust Head Office atTantallon House,Goodmayes Hospital on020 8970 8423.

Be inspired. Be active.Be well-travelled.

‘Well travelled’ pathfor NELMHT report

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arts FOCUS

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thinkarts

PAINT THE TOWN RED

arts FOCUS

THE drive and determination of thinkarts editorJackie Ede was behind a series of seven artsprojects, culminating in a major event at theSerpentine Gallery.

Jackie , Lead OT for Rehabilitation and theArts, was congratulated by colleagues andVIPs at the opening night of the exhibition anda book launch about the work of 'HearingVoices, Seeing Things'.

A three year working partnership was estab-lished with the Serpentine Gallery to provideservice users with a voice in the mainstreamart world.

The Exhibition generated positive reviewsand was acclaimed as a significant platform forthe future and growth of thinkarts.

JUNK ART OF THE IMAGINATION

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thinkarts

There is no way to explain thistechnique fully in words, justexperiment with thick and thincoats of colour on the roller andhave fun, until you have got thepaint as you would like it.

A standard thin plastic bag fromthe supermarket is also a helpfultool to test out.

I’ve used it slightly in the dark-ness of the hood, leaving ascrunged effect. Dabbing paintwith the bag can make interestingdiverse patterns, which I haveused in some paintings to coverlarge areas to great effect.

The pallet knife is also a goodimplement for making marks andhas created abstract shapes usedby the masters for hundreds ofyears.

You can splash paint, drip it,roller, glue any materials into yourcanvases. Don’t be afraid to makemistakes as these can be the bestbits, experiment freely andexplore.

Creating images is good messyfun, so no good clothes whendoing them.

So enjoy creating and let yourimagination guide.

Everyday items - from plastic bags to used bus tickets - are used to create a range of fascinating, colourful works of art

WITH THIS month’s issuehave fun exploring someunusual painting techniques;all you need is a little imagina-tion and some everyday mate-rials.

Moving from the traditional ideaof painting with only a brush,develop new techniques andwiden your skills with the endlessvariety of methods available.

I am always trying differentways of creating paintings. I’veused plastic bags, sponges, cupsand many other household itemsto leave imprints or to create tex-ture giving the image a new leaseof life.

Turn an ordinary painting intoan eye-catching, picture with these

easy to follow hints and tips. I find acrylic, a great medium to

work with. It is fast, drying quickly,very flexible and fairly cheap.

For the figure pictured aboveright) I collected used tube tickets,which were glued into position,then swept brush work aroundthem. Then I used a roller - anexcellent tool that can build textureover a wide area easily, quicklyand with lots of variation.

Another way to try is dry brush-ing by getting a spare piece ofnewspaper to brush off most of thepaint from the picture.

Then right at the end apply it tothe painting, which gives you avery rough effect as the paint isnearly dry.

You may be able to see this inthe abstract red rose. I sometimesapply a thick ground of paint, mak-ing sure I leave heavy brushmarks, then use a hair dryer(although I avoid doing this at twoin the morning!) and then drybrush paint over it.

In the image (left) again theroller goes over the underlyingpainting nearly making the ceme-tery invisible in the background.

THINKARTS expert ALAN HUSH explains howeveryday junk can be turned into works of art.

FEATURED ARTIST SHOWCASING WORK BY thinkarts WATER-COLOUR SPECIALIST JOHN EDWARD DUNN

WORKING mainly with watercolours, John'slandscapes show local scenes with abstractinterpretations. John also dabbles in acrylicsand batik. He shares his skill and experiencewith others at his weekly art class held atHavering MIND.The following groups are open to Havering serv-ice users: Wed 10 - 12 Craft Group; Tues 12.30- 2.30 Art Group (with) John Dunn; Wed 10 - 12Women's Art Group. For information, contactSue Hagen on 01708 457777 or 01708 554471.

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IN WRITING, just as in con-versation, all of us can getlost for words.

It may take much stum-bling over writer’s blockbefore we can gather ourthoughts.

The slow and lengthynature of this art mayexplain why we have a reli-able old dinosaur to helpus: the thesaurus.

The original work ofRoget’s Thesaurus datesback not quite to the StoneAge but to 1805. With anancient Greek name mean-ing ‘store-house’, the the-saurus holds a treasury ofanswers, which can unravelthought-spaghetti andencourage our pens topaper.

Thinktank has beeninundated with your cre-ative writing.Keep your con-tributions coming and let usknow the secrets to yoursuccess.

This month we arelaunching ‘Poems in theWaiting Room’, a collectionpublished by The PoetrySociety and akin to Poemson the Underground.

Thinkarts members havemounted and framed theworks for display, and willbe installing them in recep-tion areas. Look out for thepoems at health centres,GP surgeries and hospitalsacross Waltham Forest,Redbridge, Havering,Barking and Dagenham.

They might just be wordsworth waiting for...

TThhee EEddii tt oorrwwrr ii tt ee ss......

JJaacckk ii ee EEddee

Occupational TherapyDepartment,Goodmayes Hospital,Barley Lane,Ilford, Essex.IG3 8XJ020 8970 4043E-mail: info@thinkarts.orgWebsite:www.thinkarts.org

Words worthwaiting for!

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think arts

BOOST FOR CREATIVE WRITERS

The painting Allegorywith Venus and Cupidhas long fascinated visi-tors to London’sNational Gallery, as wellas the millions morewho have seen it repro-duced in books.

It is one of the mostbeautiful paintings of thenude ever made.

In 1544, Duke Cosimode’ Medici of Florencecommissioned the artistBronzino to create thepainting to be sent as adiplomatic gift to KingFrancois I of France.

As well as the academicmystery of what thestrange figures in thepainting represent, thereis a human mystery: who

A WORM’S EYE VIEW...

THE Creative WritingCollective, a weeklycommunity group foradults experiencingemotional distress, hasbeen picked to run a work-shop for the MIND 2007Annual Conference.

MIND is the leadingcharity providing innova-tive mental health servicespromoting positive imagesof people with mentalhealth problems.

The 2007 Conference

‘MOVING and SHAKING –making services work forall’ will take place inBournemouth on the 28-29 March.

Proposals were request-ed by MIND to run semi-nars, workshops or cre-ative activities. Out of 84proposals 16 were accept-ed for the conference.

Pat Moore a service userand qualified counsellingpsychologist and ShaunGastall, OT/service userwill be running a workshop

on setting up the project.It will give members the

opportunity to find theirhidden talents and be cre-ative in a safe environ-ment.

If you live in WalthamForest and experienceemotional distress you arewelcome to attend theCollective on any Thursdayafternoon between2.00pm and 4.00pm.

Contact Shaun Gastall,OT, on 0208 558 5683 formore information.

were the models in theFlorence of 1544 whoposed for the gods andstrange creatures?

Alan Fisk’s Cupid andthe Silent Goddess imag-ines how the creation ofthis painting might havetouched the lives of every-one who was involved withit: Bronzino’s apprenticeGiuseppe, the mute andmysterious Angelina whois forced to model forVenus, the brutal sculptorBaccio Bandinelli and hisson, and the good-heartednun Sister Benedicta andher friend the old Englishpriest Father Fleccia, bothsecret practitioners ofalchemy.

Alan Fisk’s first novelwas The Strange Things of

the World, about theworld’s first tourist cruisein 1536, followed by TheSummer Stars, a fictionalautobiography of thesixth-century British bardTaliesin, Forty Testoons,set in Newfoundland in1504-5, and Lord of Silver,set in fourth-centuryRoman Britain.

His science fiction novelLightstorm, under his penname John Raymond, waspicked up for translationand publication inRomania. Alan has alsopublished short stories andarticles in countriesaround the world. He is atutor on residential week-end courses on subjectsincluding ‘WritingHistorical Novels’ and‘Story Theory’.

Cupid and the SilentGoddess is published byTwenty First CenturyPublishers Ltd, 2003 ISBN: 1-

Alan reveals the bare facts