Chris - Enterprise
One of my favourite old artists, a brilliant man called Friedrich Hundertwasser, described everything he did creatively as being like the lines on an onion. They begin at the same point and drift away from each other and then connect up together again. A few weeks ago I realised that it’s been a year since I first started working at BbBC. I got involved with the Centre through a placement as part of the New Deal which is the government’s back to work training for unemployed people.
Now that it’s been a year since I started, I realise that everything I’ve learned, all my experiences are all growing back together. The nature of the Centre and my experience here are just like the onion. I’ve worked with different youth groups making art and pottery. I’ve been on hikes and day-trips. I’ve painted murals and banners. I’ve been involved in the preparation of a Christmas party themed on the desert.
The objectives of these and many other activities have little to do with art therapy. What I’ve learned has been very relevant to therapy but less obviously. I’ve learned more about myself, I’ve learned about group dynamics, I’ve learned about communication. I’ve learned about making an idea happen, I’ve learned new skills that have helped me develop as a person, I guess you call them life-skills. To begin with I didn’t see my role here as that of an artist, I thought I was here to learn about art therapy.
I think the organic nature of the Centre encourages people’s creative qualities. My artistic side have been put to use anywhere possible, I got involved in the community care group which developed my skills as an artist to an amazing extent in terms of art therapy. It taught me about another kind of art therapy, one in a very personal community setting, and a kind of basic therapy which the Centre was creating for people who weren’t necessarily ill but were benefiting from the services the Centre catalyses.
I have had a really amazing time here, I’ve learnt so much. I can’t put most of into words. A lot of intangible experiences are very basic in their nature, they just grow. Again, like the onion.
I have really intense memories of my year here. I remember walking into the Centre on a September morning, just when you know the summer is just giving up but there is still something in the air..Coming into the park and seeing all the flowers and willow weaving.
The Centre has such a strong sense of community. It’s so different to the rest of London I know. Even touches like the old wooden frames in the GP waiting room, the free juice that they serve here to the mother and baby group. Local artists showing their work around the place. The integration of different racial communities. How the Centre works to provide a positive example to the younger generation. How all these things interact in developing something new and exciting.
Chris wrote this story in 2003. Since then, he has continued to learn and grow, and in 2006 took over the leadership of the Signs of Life public art social enterprise.
