Hope

“Hope can be found in many places: in the rolling out of the vaccine, thoughts of Christmas spent with loved ones, plans for the future and our faith and spirituality, to name a few. Hope does not discount suffering, hope looks suffering and hurt right in the eyes and still sees a spark of goodness …

Let’s Get Physical

“Your body is a temple of the divine spirit” 1 Corinthians 6 Take a look at the first image. This is a very old print that I made when at Art College. What does it say to you? The second image is by Aishan Yu and was made as part of an ongoing project at …

Non-judging: mindfulness pillar 2

Tim of Blackbird Mindfulness takes us through the second attitude to foster in mindfulness of ‘non-judging’. This series of podcasts on the pillars of mindfulness gives us a chance to try mindfulness for the first time or to learn more about it if you have tried it before. This month Tim encourages us to notice …

Add an Event

“The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer Take a look at the first picture. This is the artwork which I made a few years ago for a city centre …

Festive Craftivism: spreading gratitude and hope

2020 has been quite a year. As a nation we have not known grief, loneliness and restrictions on our daily lives in most of our living memories. We have felt powerless to stop the many plights on our society: covid-19, climate change, racism and discrimination in all its forms. However, we are powerful, we do …

We all stand together

“Humanity is our ultimate community, and everyone plays a crucial role.” Yehuda Berg Take a look at the first picture. This is a community artwork that I made during the same residency that produced Flock, which I talked about in May. It is called Murmur and took the idea of how starlings flock together making …

Reflection on creativity

A guided meditation about the power of creativity for positive change. We explore it as an outlet in difficult times, as a way of connecting with one another and asking for the world we want to see. There is a stilling exercise, some time of silence and some reflections about creativity to ponder. Please do …

Beautiful Margins

‘Come to the edge’, He said. They said, ‘we are afraid’. ‘Come to the edge’, He said. They came. He pushed them, and they flew. (Christopher Logue) Take a look at the first image. This is an artwork by Hilary Jack which is on show at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I use this image as …

Privileged Thinking

“Think for yourselves, and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too” Voltaire Take a look at the first image. This is a very old artwork, dealing with the issue of racism, made in 2005. The artist’s book contained three images based on the Isihara test used by opticians to determine colour-blindness. Each image, …

Patience: mindfulness pillar 1

Over the next few months we are releasing a series of podcasts introducing the pillars of mindfulness. This month the pillar Tim, of Blackbird Mindfulness, is sharing is patience. In mindfulness patience is a form of wisdom and certainly a virtue. Tim shares the value of giving ourselves time, having a patient attitude and staying …