Poetry without words – expressions of mental health using art
Second Step are pleased to announce that starting Saturday 3 July artwork created on the Bristol Wellbeing College course Poem Brut will be exhibited at Boston Tea Party in Stoke’s Croft. The exhibition, named Poetry Without Words, will run throughout the month of July, ending on Saturday 31 July.
The exhibition was originally displayed online due to the Covid-19 restrictions, but now it can be displayed in a physical setting – giving the course attendees, and the rest of us, the opportunity to see their artwork for real.
Poem Brut is a six-week course based around the Poem Brut movement, where attendees learn to approach creativity without being hindered by the traditions and conventions we have come to understand as making valid art, poetry and visual poetry.
The course was facilitated by poet and publisher Paul Hawkins, who designed the course as someone with lived experience of mental health problems, and someone who uses mental health services.
Bristol Wellbeing College have run the course three times since September 2020 and each time have been overwhelmed by the commitment of the learners who joined. Their dedication to their artwork and belief in one another has built a wonderful body of authentic artwork. Their combined visual poetry and creative writing comes together to express what it is to be human when, sometimes, there are no words.
“Poem Brut takes the history and background of various art movements and encourages you to use this inspiration in a way that serves you. Through the course I have learned how to relax into art as a therapeutic activity and a means to express feelings without having to be wordy about it all the time.”
Chrissy – course attendee
You can watch a video about Poem Brut created by one of the course participants below:
If you are interested in attending the next Poem Brut course please contact: bristol.wellbeing.college@second-step.co.uk.
