These have been a challenging last few months for all of us, so I thought I’d take this time to reflect on what has been one of the few bright spots for me personally, being able to host and run my Art Telly classes.
Like many great things, these classes were born out of necessity more than anything else - needing to transition my classes to an online format. I decided to host them from my studio, with children (and sometimes parents) watching along at home. Since then, I’ve hosted around 60 of these classes!
Not only have these classes meant I can continue working and offering my services, they’ve also helped me keep my creative practice going through these difficult months. For each class, I draw along with the children, watching some wonderful art being created by them, everything from woolly mammoths to cars to self-portraits. And in those exercises, I’ve also been able to find inspiration for myself.
Even the simple fact of being able to travel to my studio to host these classes has been a blessing, as one of the biggest struggles for any creative during a lockdown is finding that space to go and create your art. I started keeping all the work related to the classes up on the studio walls for those moments where I need a lift of motivation or inspiration.
Most importantly though, the greatest joy has come from being able to reach out and help families with these classes. As any parent will know, this lockdown period has posed a real challenge in terms of making sure children are happy and occupied with activities that excite them. So for me, receiving messages from parents telling me that these classes have been the highlight of their lockdown, has been especially gratifying.
Creativity can be such a wonderful source of happiness and meaning, for all ages, and knowing I can help unlock that in children even in these trying circumstances, is a great comfort.
It’s because of those messages, and my experiences delivering these classes, that I wanted to take this moment to thank everyone for their support over these last few months. That support has helped make this difficult period that much more bearable, and I am tremendously grateful to everyone for their kind words and letting me into your homes to teach art, and of course to the children for being such wonderful and receptive students!
Looking forward, I am incredibly excited to announce that I have found a venue for the real-life exhibition and I’m already looking forward to planning that! Details for that will be announced soon - so watch this space!