Out of the Box – visual arts
What was it?
Servite Houses is a housing association that runs three supported homes in Wandsworth for Deaf adults with mental health problems. They also run an outreach service for external Deaf tenants with mental health problems.
As part of their service to tenants to encourage them to integrate back into the community they ran a drop in visual arts project. This was led by Fiona McLean a Deaf visual artist and the workshops are run in British Sign Language. Servite Houses considered discontinuing the project due to funding problems.
Shape set up a partnership with Servite Houses. We planned to continue and enhance the visual arts project and work to establish its long term future. We designed it as a visual arts course and therefore eligible for sustainable long term funding from further education.
Melanie Stidolph successfully took over this project after I left Shape in January 2008.
Why did we do it?
- We would be supporting Deaf artists and workshop leaders in the early stages of their career. (Fiona McLean and Lee Jordan worked with the group).
- Mental health problems and Deafness is a combined disability which meant that these users were doubly excluded from mainstream visual arts training.
- We liked the Deaf visual arts they created and wanted to see more of it. Deaf arts should be encouraged and celebrated.
- We wanted to give Deaf people with mental health issues the opportunity to develop and strengthen their visual arts skills and perhaps see a new life as a visual artist.
- We thought we could link up Deaf and mental health with other positive mental health organizations such as Creative Routes and the annual London Bonkersfest Festival.
- We hoped through discussions with Putney School of Art and Design (PSAD) we could ensure the long term continuation of the project as an outreach course of PSAD.
What was the result?
- Through the new Out of the Box – visual arts course we successfully continued the visual arts project.
- Through discussions with Putney School of Art and Design we arranged a partnership between the Out of the Box group and PSAD.
- Deaf participants on the Out of the Box course had the opportunity to access the visual arts equipment, training and technology of Putney School of Art and Design.
- The course participants successfully exhibited their work at the visual arts gallery of Putney Arts Theatre in summer 2008.
Exhibition of work at Putney Arts Theatre 2008 with Melanie Stidolp who successfully completed the project and James Wengraf-Townsend of Servite Houses
- We employed Deaf artists as tutors and also introduced them to employment by a mainstream visual arts College – Putney School of Art and Design.
