As part of our research and development project our creative consultation sessions are run with a view to developing long lasting partnerships with local groups who are at a disadvantage from being able to access the arts or to have an arts practice. During these sessions we discuss the plans for the new art space being built in leamington and ideas around how the service users may access it. We share some images of how the space might look, where it is positioned in Leamington and what facilities it may have. This is with a view to understanding how accessible it needs to be for people from diverse areas of society. We also ask the service users what facilities they would like to access at the new art space and whether they could see themselves coming to take part in activities and or visit. During the sessions we hold these informal discussions with the service users and charity organisers and film the activities and discussions.
The Parents in Mind service is run by volunteers through the NCT and is available for parents: who are mums and birthing people, for dads and non-birthing partners in some areas, with mild to moderate mental health challenges and in the perinatal period, from pregnancy up to two years after childbirth.
We met with a group of 7 mums with babies and some accompanying toddlers at St Paul’s Church hall, which is the venue they usually use for their sessions for 3 hours over a period of 4 weeks. We started the creative sessions off with demonstrating the 3 main hand building techniques: pinch, coil and slab. We shared some design images of what could be built and discussed any ideas the mums had about what they wished to create. During each session the lovely volunteers from NCT Parents in mind were on hand to support the mums by caring for the babies and children, this allowed a space for the mums to work and be creative.
In the second week we continued to work on building the design up in height, width and form and smoothing the surfaces where needed. The third week was dedicated to considering decoration; further demonstrations were shown using a mixture of ceramic tools and found objects which could be used to apply textures, shapes or patterns to the surface of the clay.
During the last week colour were added using underglazes; a final demonstration was shown on how to use the special brushes to apply the layers of underglaze paint and how a layered or brushwork effect could be achieved.
Over the weeks, the mums grew in confidence and their creative work flourished. Some wonderful designs were created, and we were super proud (as they were) of what they managed to create over the last 4 weeks. Some meaningful discussions took place regarding the new art space being built in south Leamington and future partnership ideas were forged. We very much look forward to working with this group in the future.