Hidden Places - Week 7

Seacroft Hospital - Ward 2 - Secure forensic psychiatry.

Well time really flies and it's already the seventh week of our ten week creative project. Milena and I have been really pleased with the work that has been created by the patients.

Milena's group continues to develop their colour printing and batik techniques. They have been working on t-shirts, bags and fabric. 

The men are into a variety of printing processes and painting. We have also been exploring the digital side of things  - photographing the art work and then processing it on the computer.  

This piece was inspired by one of the participant's love of snooker.

With just a few sessions to go we are all wondering what the final large canvasses will be looking like... time will tell!

Quotes of Note;

“I am so pleased with my bag, I’ll take it to Asda, when I go shopping.”

"I’m going to keep that picture for my wall."

Thanks for looking and see you next week...

Kevin 

Hidden Places - Week 6

Seacroft Hospital - Ward 2 - Secure forensic psychiatry.

Milena and I are now building up quite a lot of work.

The women's ward are being very productive with tie-dye fabric creations. One participant has dyed her t-shirt and others have been printing on bags. Some of the women have been given sketch books so that they can work on their designs during the week.

On the men's ward we've been taking photographs and manipulating them digitally. The results are very interesting.

One of the men has also been working on writing a greeting in Arabic Script in rich golden tones...looking forward to seeing how that develops. 

Quotes of note -

Female Ward

“I am really pleased with my bag, it turned out so much better than expected, and I haven’t done any printing since school.”

“This was very good session, I’ve enjoyed this.” Staff member.

Male Ward –

We need three hours, the time goes too quickly.

I like the gold, it looks very good.

It’s amazing how a simple design can be made to look so lovely.

Check in next week and see what's happening on Ward 2!

Open Door Exhibition Invite

We are extending this invite out to everyone whose interested in seeing the art work produced during Year 1 of the Open Door project.  Please let us know if you wish to attend.

NEW Open Door Project!

A THOUSAND PAPER CRANES

Our final week of this 10 week block. Wow, it's gone so fast!

This week, the tie-dye results!
Each bundle was unwrapped, and carefully ironed to reveal the tie-dye effect.
They looked amazing, and each one is very different to the others. Such variety!

Some of the tie-dyed fabric was used as a background to stencil on to.
Some of the designs were embellished with the fabric pens, again to lovely effect.

The silk scarves were also completed. The guttering on one scarf was not giving satisfactory results. Adding a flat colour to the design by dip dyeing, completely transformed it with marvellous results.

A great way to finish! Looking forward to the next one! 

Hidden Places Week 5

Seacroft Hospital - Ward 2 - Secure forensic psychiatry.

Milena and I continue to be surprised by the creativity of the people on the ward. The groups have been exploring a variety of printing and mark making techniques and we now have an ever growing body of work to use on the final large canvases that will adorn the entrance to Ward 2.

Milena's women's group are doing lots of printing on T-shirts, cotton bags and fabric whilst the men's group is much more into printing and processing paper to get colourful designs.

One patient has been really eager to work in acrylics on a stretched canvas. Here's his interpretation of Edvard Munch's 'The Scream'. He's really excited about working on more canvases in the future and plans to use his time off the ward to buy some more. 

Milena's group have been looking at colour work by Howard Hodgkins and Picasso - looking forward to seeing what this inspires the group to create. 

We have started to prepare one of the large canvases by painting it a sky like pale blue... I thought it might be interesting to just break the tension on that daunting white surface!

We also did some photography of hands to work into on the computer next week. So keep watching! 

Quotes of note

Female Ward

“I look forward to next time!”

“Oh that looks beautiful!” – a patient astonished after she changed the printing colour on her bag.

“I am really pleased with this” Staff member admiring his shopping bag!

Male Ward

‘Can I work on a large canvas? I want to paint something really big’.  Patient

‘I want to see what the computer does to my hand’.  Patient

‘Oh they’re really lovely – amazing colours’ – staff referring to the prints we made.

  

Hidden Places - Week 4

Seacroft Hospital - Ward 2 - Secure forensic psychiatry. 

This session Milena and I have been using various printing techniques to produce colourful images. Milena has been using Lino to make printing blocks and I have been using press foam. This week the participants have been very creative and have made lots of abstract and natural themed pieces.

Milena's group has been printing on T-shirts and other fabrics whilst the men have mainly been working on paper that has been processed to make it look textured.

Lino cuts and press foam are great as it's very quick and easy to get lots of repeated images.  Can't wait to wash over the designs next session with some colourful dyes. These will be perfect for collaging onto the large canvases that will soon adorn the entrance area of Ward 2. 

Quotes of note - 

"I really like this, I’ve got a T-shirt, can I print it next time"

"I’m going to buy some canvases when I get my town leave" 

See you next week!