Newsletters

Due to all the uncertainly surrounding our third lockdown and for personal reasons I have decided to put Personspace on a Covid Hiatus for the time being. I’m in the process of doing a review and as the situation changes will re-evaluate the hiatus and update the website.

Take Care everyone and as ever, stay very safe.

Warmest Wishes in the coldest of seasons.

Eve

Visual Arts Facilitator and Co-ordinator

Where to start!?

It’s June 2020 and never did I think way back in December 2019 when I wrote my last newsletter, that the next one would be six months down the line.

Fast forward to the present day and we’re well aware that Covid-19 has wreaked havoc with our plans and forced us to make many significant changes to our daily lives. Having only operated for a few months before going into lockdown it was amazing to see so many artists and organisations creating online platforms and engaging with new technologies. After an intense few months before and during setting up Personspace and then going down myself very early in March with Coronavirus-like symptoms, it seemed that Personspace and I would be best served if I spent some time ‘catching-up with myself’.

I have so often in the past looked up at the darkened skies and wished for the world to stop a while, so I could get off.  Well, it did. Gravity resisted, the earth kept spinning but in between giving my attention to trying family matters and the wellbeing of my body and spirit, I was able to engage with myself again in a way I hadn’t done since art college days.

No apologies. Get up, play with colour, paint and ideas, feel the warm rays of the sun and dance with joy and trepidation - in front of Zoom.  And be grateful every day for my little green bit of outside space.

How Personspace will move forward from hereon in is uncertain.  But it will - a little jaded, but resilient with newly acquired perspectives. The exhibition on Tinnitus and Hyperacusis has been put on hold and has temporarily been replaced with an online resource of artists, musicians and practitioners who have engaged with the theme in their work. I hope this will continue to grow. For the time being, future exhibitions will have a virtual presence. Projects with Creative People and Places (CPP) will continue as planned, with some revisions and updates. In keeping with the times, we are also part of the Hounslow Virtual Studio Initiative.

I also have some new pieces of my own art work on display here.

It’s been said so many times before and as we’re easing ourselves out of lockdown, I will continue to say: Stay safe and take care of yourselves and others.

With warm wishes

Eve

Visual Arts Facilitator and Co-ordinator

Now that the country has voted and the contentious issue of Brexit looks set to be decided, we can only hope for a less volatile and more stable climate in the year ahead.

Three projects will feature in the year ahead. The exciting History of Animals in Hounslow project is making good progress towards its spring opening. The Hidden Disabilities project is more challenging and therefore slower to get off the ground but is now finally on its way to a summer opening. The intention is to link it with the What you do not see... exhibition which will expand on the theme of what it means to live with a hidden disability. These exhibitions are very close to my heart as I experienced them first-hand with a close relative which was devastating and heartbreaking. Together they will explore and highlight the extremely distressing impact on the sufferers whilst raising awareness.

At this time of year, while getting into the party spirit and enjoying all the seasonal fun it's easy to forget that the revelry and noise levels can increase to unacceptably high levels. It can be relatively simple to protect your own hearing from these unsafe levels of sound with a suitable pair of attenuating ear protectors. For more information on decibel levels and ear protection visit the brilliant campaign www.plugem.co.uk. Information on Hyperacusis, where there is altered sound tolerance and increased sensitivity to everyday sound which can be experienced as uncomfortable, intrusive and painful can be found on The Hyperacusis Network. In the case of Hyperacusis, ear protection can help prevent the condition but having got, it overprotection of the ears may be counter-productive.

Not enough is known about these conditions and in my experience even GPs are not well-informed. The more we are prepared to openly discuss these issues from a variety of perspectives, the greater our understanding. Most What you do not see... sufferers will be familiar with the go-to book Living with What you do not see.... One of the writers, Dr David Baguley, wrote an interesting piece on their depictions in literature, music, film and paintings Hearing, What you do not see... in the arts. If we raise the profile of these conditions in the arts then they will get more of the attention they deserve and we can begin to get a better understanding of the lived experience of sufferers and carers.

Season's Greetings to all and may your celebrations be peaceful, joyful and within decibel levels!

With warm wishes

Eve

Visual Arts Facilitator and Co-ordinator

We’ve reached the end of the first ‘Painting the Blues’ workshop and are now ready to mount the exhibition at a local cafe. Working in our well-stocked art room in the discreet confines of Beresford House it felt as if we were at home in our own little private lodge overlooking the park. Dogs and dog-owners come and go after playful walks through the autumn leaves. Looking out of the window and into the private garden below it’s easy to enjoy some moments of respite from the business of our daunting daily lives.

Taking the creative, private work outside of these walls and celebrating it in the community provides a link back to that community. It not only celebrates developing creative potential but lets the wider community know that we are very much a part of it. Mental health issues should not prevent us from enjoying a full and varied life and we should be proud to share our efforts with others.

In recent months, mental health matters and wellbeing have been the focus of much attention and have been instrumental in raising awareness. Those who are struggling to cope should feel able to express themselves freely with acceptance. Sadly, this still remains an aspiration rather than a reality. The people attending the workshop chose to remain anonymous for fear of being stigmatised and labelled and asked not to be named.

There was a recurrence in our discussions on Hidden Disabilities, one of our other projects. A clear conflict emerged between wanting to be identified as having a hidden disability and choosing not to reveal the disability. Whatever our participants decide we have to respect their decision to choose as they see fit and have incorporated this in the design and outcomes of the exhibition spaces.

As the nights draw in it’s tempting to curl up and let the glow of the moon and stars ease us into our home comforts. With many exhibition spaces open till later, resist and head for a late night opening; share the excitement of discovering art in a variety of spaces.

With warm wishes

Eve

Visual Arts Facilitator and Co-ordinator

Person Space is up and running!

If you’ve found your way to this page and it’s your first visit, a hearty welcome!

After much hard graft with my patient and hardworking collaborators it’s really exciting to see the project coming together. As this is a roving gallery without the fixed premises of a conventional gallery, it is particularly important to be able to provide a meeting space that will serve as a fulcrum. This is where you, the public, the artists, volunteers, collaborators, contributors and everyone with an interest in this project can come together. We hope this website will serve that purpose.

We are pleased to be starting our life in collaboration with Creative Spaces in Hounslow whose creative input in the borough has created such diverse and colourful art in the community. Our ‘Painting the Blues....’ workshop will shortly be running in a second venue with an exhibition to follow. Another exhibition is being planned to expand on the theme of hidden disabilities. This will highlight the many difficulties associated with specific disabilities. Initially, we hope to run three events a year and are planning a very varied programme over the next few years.

Person Space is in the process of being set up as a Social Enterprise Community Interest Company (CIC). This means we aim to make a profit and the challenge will be to do this without compromising our artistic integrity. We intend to reinvest our profits back into the community to create positive social change. It’s business for good and when we profit, society profits.

This is the first newsletter for Person Space and I very much look forward to updating you again soon in regular monthly newsletters. We’d love you to keep in touch. If you find what we’re up to interesting and rewarding, then please spread the news so that others can link with us.

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Warm wishes

Eve Windrich
Founder, Visual Arts Facilitator and Co-ordinator