Therapeutic Arts Society

Hello!

This society has been created as a way to bring together like-minded individuals who want to take part in a range of different art forms with a focus on building community, wellbeing and mental health. Our aim is to bring together students from all different courses to celebrate togetherness whilst learning new skills and having fun within a range of different art forms; and through doing so, this will open up a comfortable space for support and conversation, allowing us to share any current thoughts, worries, and emotions with eachother. 

Creating art is a therapeutic practice which we feel is an important tool for keeping ourselves and our minds in check. Though you can expect sessions and workshops of physical art making such as group collaging, painting etc, this society also offers a space to tap into a range of different therapeutic practices such as flow art, dance therapy, movie watching sessions, group dinners and more. 

Each session will have a partcicular goal or aim in mind. At the end of each session we will reflect on these activities; how did they make us feel? Did any emotions come up that suprised you? Were any tensions released? Do you have any worries you want to share with the group? We will then create some response art to the session. 

As a result of this society we'd also love to tap into the local community and help out where we can, perhaps through workshops, hosting fundraisers for grassroot organisations etc.

We'd like to state that our committee members are by no-means qualified therapists or counsellers. Though our sessions aim to allow a safe space for emotions to be shared, whether that be through art or conversation, there needs to be a clear emphasis on the fact that these sessions as not 'therapy,' but rather are forms of therapeutic art practices. 

At some point, we'd love to collate the artwork made within these socieities sessions and host our very own Therapeutic Arts Society Exhibition.

SESSION IDEAS!

• Pot Luck Dinners; For these sessions everyone will bring a certain food or drink item (this can be homemade or shop bought) that reminds them of their childhood. This item can have both positive or negative connotations to it. We will share a communal dinner and reflect on what these items mean to us. The aim of these sessions will be to; build community, tap into our inner childs, share deeper parts of ourselves whilst sharing good food. 

• Anger Releasing Sessions; Using broken crockery collected from local charity shops or within our own homes, we can find an outside area to throw and smash these items. Whilst doing this activitiy we can each hone in on something that makes us feel angry as a way to physically release it. These can be combined with shouting and screaming to also release these unwanted (but necessary) emotions. As a result of this, we can create a communal or personal mosaic piece of art with the smashed up pieces of crockery.

• Flow Art; Working with local bristol talents, this workshop will allow us to tap into movement therapy whilst learning a fun new skill such as poi, hulahopping and more circus arts. This is fun, community activity that will allow us to get a bit active. Hopefully for the attendees who have never praciticed flow art before, they can find and enjoy a new area of interest.

• Dance Therapy; During these sessions I'd love to collaborate with local bristol dancers where we can move our bodies and shake off unwanted energies whilst learning a fun new form of dance. So far I have links to some contact dancers to possibly host a workshop for us; if anyone has any further links, please let us know!

• Community Collage; During this session we can all share ideas for a theme to use for a group collaging session. Using a large canvas we will explore this theme and create a large collage (which we can hopefully showcase as part of our group exhibition). This session focuses on community, group mentality, sharing and patience.

These are just some of the ideas we have for The Therapeutic Arts Society. We'd love to have as many people as possible present for this project. Membership is a one time £2 payment which means our society will be higher up on eligibility list for funding. if you have any ideas or inputs you feel would be suited for our society, please let us know as this is a collaborative project and we are keen to welcome any ideas. If you'd like to run a session or workshop yourself, please do let us know!

WHO ARE WE? Here is a brief bio for our society members so you can get a feel for who we are...

President: Elisha Morshead

Hola! My name is Elisha and I'm the president for the Therapeutic Arts Society. I'm a first year fine art student who spends a lot of time raving, hanging out with mates, travelling and making colourful and chaotic art, whether that be painting or ceramics. After talking about creating this society for over a year now im super excited to get this project running with out amazing team so we all the lovely people from different courses can come together to create some wholesome art & memories whilst being a safe space for one another. If you need anything please feel free to give me a message, we are all super keen to get as many of you involved as possible <333 you can find my art insta at: @ezomostudio !!