Get creative with Hospital Rooms’ Digital Art School
We’ve teamed up with our mental health charity partner, Hospital Rooms, to invite you to Digital Art School: the chance for anyone to get creative in artist led workshops.
We are thrilled to announce the launch of our latest initiative with long-standing charity partners Hospital Rooms. We’re coming together to extend their Digital Art School, launched by the charity to bring virtual workshops hosted by internationally acclaimed artists to people in mental health units, the general public and you, our Seasalt Friends.
Hospital Rooms is an arts and mental health charity founded by Cornish curator Niamh White and artist Tim Shaw. They believe in the power of art to provide joy as well as aid recovery, commissioning extraordinary, museum quality art for all patients in NHS mental health inpatient units across the UK to enjoy.
Our primary giving partner since 2018, this autumn Seasalt will donate £45,000 generated from the purchases of socks and face coverings by our amazing customers to support two key Hospital Rooms projects. The first is the Bethlem Mother and Baby Unit in Beckenham, Kent where the charity will be working collaboratively with artists, mums and staff to transform the ward into a creative hub within the hospital, filling it with beautiful and inspiring art which patients, visitors and staff can enjoy as well as running in-unit workshops and an exhibition. Bethlem helps mothers in psychological distress by providing a range of specialist treatment. They are a truly special facility who keep mother and baby together, helping them to bond and recover. We are so glad to be contributing to their important work.
The second initiative is the charity’s recently launched Digital Art School. While Hospital Rooms’ usual work within mental health units was put on hold due to social distancing, they joined forces with a host of the very best artists and art educators to lead a series of free, interactive, online art workshops remotely from their studios and homes. The artists leading these sessions have exhibited in many of the world class galleries and have taught in some of the country’s most prestigious art schools, including Royal Academy Schools, Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins. In the workshops, they introduce guests to their creative practice and guide them to create their own artworks.
Initially set to run for seven weeks over the summer, the project was met with such enthusiasm, with hundreds of people tuning in to make art together, that Hospital Rooms have now, with an additional £20,000 from Seasalt, been able to facilitate another two series of the virtual workshops. These sessions are for people in mental health units and anyone else who wants to create alongside our brilliant Cornish artists from the comfort of their own home.
Join in with Digital Art School
Six contemporary Cornish artists and Hospital Rooms founder Tim A Shaw will be hosting tutorials. They are all available now and completely free for anyone to access from our blog, where we also have an introduction to each workshop and artist, including an exclusive interview.
Abigail Reynolds: Transparent colours and shapes
Andy Harper: Black & White Paintings
Nina Royle: Make your own paint using egg tempera
Naomi Frears: Monoprinting using plastic, paint and paper
Jonty Lees: Exploring everyday objects
From collaging to creating a sketch book, painting with eggs (it’s an ancient artistic technique!) to potato printing, these approachable sessions will help you create work you can be proud of, as well as being a potentially life changing tool for mental health inpatient service users.
You can do these tutorials any time you like, but Hospital Rooms will be hosting sessions on their YouTube channel for you to join in and #createalong with others – head to the artist blogs for more details and to join in.
