Our First Painting and Prosecco Party!

02/18/2019

Our CM Artist Liz, based in Devon, recently held her first Painting and Prosecco party. One of the parents from her regular “Kids Create” groups expressed an interest in giving art a go, so they decided to hold a party at her house. A number of friends came along for a fun, relaxing evening of creativity. The night was such a success, that they all want to make it a regular evening!

None of the guests had really created any artwork since their school years, and were keen on trying something new. The party host had a lovely big dining table, where Liz laid out a selection of artistic materials including watercolours, pastels, acrylics and a selection of different textured paper. Then everyone enjoyed a glass of Prosecco whilst Liz ran some demonstrations showing different techniques to try. The task was to experiment with each medium and work towards creating a patchwork landscape picture.

Everyone got stuck in straight away, whilst Liz encouraged them to enjoy the process of exploring the mediums rather than focussing too much on the end result. Liz was on hand to offer advice, and help them to discover different ways to use each of the different mediums. Every enjoyed the fact that the session was so easy-going and informal, and it didn’t matter whether or not they had artist experience or not. It was a much more of a laid-back approach to getting creative rather, than your traditional art class, which can be intimidating for those without much experience.

All of the party attendees thoroughly enjoyed their evening, and found it a lovely way to get together with friends and unwind after a busy week. Everyone who went said they would love to all get together to do it again soon! Many were thrilled with their work, and all loved exploring the different materials on offer whilst enjoying the creative process. The evening was a huge success!

Liz can’t wait to run more of these parties this year, and is looking into running a regular Painting and Prosecco night at a local venue.

Stoma Support Groups get creative!

12/07/2018

Creative Minds are delighted to be working closely with Colostomy UK who will be rolling out an art project next year that will run across Stoma Support Groups across the UK. This will be part of Colostomy UK’s“active ostomates” initiative – designed to empower people with a stoma to participate in activities to increase both physical and mental wellbeing. These activities are undertaken in a supportive environment to enable ostomates to build their confidence before taking up similar activities in the wider community.

Colostomy UK strongly recognise the emotional benefits that creative activity brings and they back Stoma Support groups across the UK. These groups bring people together in a friendly, supportive atmosphere to sensitively address issues that people face after stoma surgery.

Our artist Karen ran a wonderful taster session at the East Berkshire Ostomy Group in September. Participants had the opportunity to explore their creativity during a fun, relaxed 90-minute art session. Some stunning landscapes were created and attendees enjoyed experimenting with different techniques using soft and oil pastels. Many had never even used these mediums before!

A second taster session took place in November with Creative Minds Artist David at Wrights Meadow Centre, High Wycombe. It was a very autumnal theme and David gave participants the opportunity to either paint onto cut-out leaves or to paint from observation. Most participants said that they were not artistic in any way, and went with painting on cut-outs, but as the session progressed they got stuck in and began to really enjoy themselves. A couple of people commented to David that they found it very relaxing and therapeutic, and came away from the session feeling good.

Giovanni from Colostomy UK says; “We have heard some fantastic feedback from the Creative Minds Sessions and are looking forward to pushing this out to a wider audience in the near future. Anything we can do that encourages Ostomates to participate in activity, build up their confidence and get back into the community adds significant value to the people we support. To find out more about how to sign up for the project please email giovanni.cinque@colostomyuk.org”

Children at a Kenyan School Get Creative!

12/07/2018

Our CM Artist Grace is a trustee of Dominion Schools Africa – a charity that provides financial support to a Kenyan school and helps to assist the school in providing high-quality education. In November, she went out to Gachie, in Nairobi to visit the school. The school year runs from January – November, so she arrived just as they were preparing for their end of year graduation which celebrates the 6-7 year old’s moving up to the junior school.

Grace saw this as a perfect opportunity for the children to get creative in preparation for graduation day. There is very little creative work in their school curriculum, and the school didn’t have many artistic resources. Grace had taken over some paint brushes and the school had pots of powder paint. That morning, Grace went shopping with the school’s head teacher and purchased some sturdy material to paint on. They decided to make some wall hangings on the theme of the biblical creation story.

Children from the school dropped in and out throughout the day and absolutely loved getting involved! Many had never had the opportunity to paint on such a large scale before. They even made some of their own paint using local earth mixed with water. The teachers were absolutely blown away by their efforts and thrilled to see how enthusiastic the children were.

Grace wanted every child in the school to have a go at creating their own self-portrait to hang up on graduation day. They experimented with mixed media and used paint, crayons and collage to create their own personal portrait. All were thrilled with the results!

The school is generally very structured with little opportunity for creative expression. At the end of the session, Grace allowed the children to have free reign to explore ways of using the artistic materials, and create whatever they wanted to. They all went wild and loved the freedom of the activity, saying how much fun they were having.

The school had never displayed artwork on the walls before, but the teachers loved the difference it made to the building. The teachers were thrilled to see how happy the children were during the art session, and chatted to Grace to discuss ways in which art could be brought into other subjects such as history and geography.

The children were so proud of their work at the end of the day, and were delighted to see it hung up on display. Before she left, one little boy came to Grace and said he’d had the “happiest day ever”!

Mini Makers – Tiny Tots Get Creative in Kent!

11/20/2018

Our CM Artist Rhiannon, based in Kent, held her first parent-toddler ‘Mini Makers’ art session recently. As a mum of a two-year old herself, she found a lot of the toddler activities in her area rather dull, and mostly music orientated. So she took it upon herself to set up her own creative parent-toddler art session.

The children were aged from just 10 months to 3 years, and their task was to decorate their own paper crown. She displayed an example of what she wanted them to make, then gave them each a pallet of paint and a bowl with sequins, glitter, paper shapes and glue. She put on some music, and let the fun commence.

The children loved the sensory experience and really got stuck in, exploring the different artistic materials, how they felt to touch and the effects they made. They had a great time getting messy with acrylic paints, and layering the shapes to decorate their crowns. They then added some sparkle to their creations with sequins and glitter. The parents loved seeing their children’s reaction to the range of different materials on offer and witnessing their children’s process of discovery through the creative session.

All the children were thrilled with the end results and proudly paraded around the garden with their crowns on after!

Parents often need a bit of encouragement when it comes to letting their little ones go wild and get messy with creative play. However, after the session the parents said they loved the opportunity to be creative with their children and not to worry too much about the mess they make. It made for a wonderful bonding activity and the toddlers certainly enjoyed themselves too!

We hope to deliver more ‘Mini Makers’ art sessions very soon!

Creative Minds Artists Attend Community Meeting 2018!

11/20/2018

On a beautiful autumnal morning Creative Minds Artists (CM Artists) traveled from across the UK, to come together for our biannual Community Meeting. These meetings are an opportunity for CM Artists to network, share ideas, gain valuable business advice and receive news and updates from the Head Office.

Upon arrival, each artist received a little card with the name of one of the world’s most famous artists on (which they could not reveal). Creative Minds Artists then had to ask each other questions, to try and guess which of the old master’s names they had on their card. This fun game got everyone talking and appreciating how the iconic figures of the art world have inspired many of their own art sessions.

A friendly networking session with refreshments followed, with loads of ideas being shared. Our CM artists regularly communicate with each other via our online forums but don’t often get the chance to chat face-to-face. This was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to enjoy a cup of tea and have a good catch up.

Following this, our CM Artists Jess and Ali delivered a short arts and dementia training session. This included a hands-on workshop, sensitively encouraging everyone to explore ways in which those living with dementia respond to different themes and objects, which evoke emotions and memories.

The artists were then set a 20-minute challenge to each create their own work of art in response to this training. Following this all of the work was hung around the room so that everyone could view and discuss each other’s own unique and beautiful take on the challenge.

Everyone then enjoyed a tasty buffet lunch, followed by tea and cake, whilst reflecting on the insight they had gained from the morning’s session.

Following lunch, Creative Minds Founder and Director James Cropper, delivered news and updates on future plans for Creative Minds, and shared a selection of fresh new business building tools. This lead to an open discussion on the opportunities they have as CM Artists to expand into further fields.

Community Development Manager Sarah Fenner, then shared kind and inspiring words, giving advice and ideas on how to overcome the challenges some of the artists may face. She then encouraged everyone to stop for five minutes, and take a break for a little self-care. All CM Artists were handed clay and took a wander outdoors, for a moment of mindfulness and reflection in the warm autumn sunshine.

This was a lovely way to end the day as everyone considered all that had been discussed, and how it can be applied to their business as Creative Minds Artists. At the end everyone came together for a group photo, before saying good-byes, then each artist began their journey home.

It was a wonderful day, bringing together such a passionate community of artists, and hearing their moving stories about how their work is touching people’s lives. We’re so proud of the work that they do, and we look forward to getting together again for our next community meeting in spring 2019!

Thanks for reading.