WHAT to do with a creative child? It’s that time of the year that I feel overwhelmed with the recommendation to buy your child or grandchild a sketchbook, crayons, pencils or felt tips. These once expensive items can be bought for as little as £1 in your newsagent, bargain shop or somewhere like hobby craft.
All children have an imagination but in some families for different reasons this gets squeezed out of them. These materials can give endless satisfaction and joy, to say nothing of a bit of peace and quiet. I live in a street where every year one of the families living there give a wee New Year party just after all the rush and fuss has finished. In true Christmas intergenerational style we have all ages but it can be difficult for the kids. My solution was a wee space with some paper and art materials.
The primary school children got stuck in and the teenagers ended up sitting around helping them . Anything to get away from the oldies.
Art is a gift that if you see it emerging can give endless interest and satisfaction, it’s an impulse that has moved society on through the ages and it will continue to, no matter what the naysayers predict or no matter how many comments about ‘the only thing you will ever draw is the dole’ you will get. It can move your life in different directions and you can end up in spaces and places you can only imagine.
Other ideas for ways to bring people out into the arts is a gift token from Duncairn Arts Centre, www.the duncairn.com
I’d particularly recommend the music offering there and it’s a delight to go out of an evening into its cosy surrounds. Super Sundays of course are free but the music is well worth paying for.
Their art workshops are reasonably priced compared to the city centre and usually include materials. There is beginner’s sewing with Bernie Carlin, Sketch and Paint with Leah Davis, Creative Writing with Aoibh Clarke and an East Asian calligraphy workshop. There’s a whole plethora of options that you can book online at www.duncairn artcentre.com
Belfast print workshop is always good for high quality prints (www.bpw.org.uk) and printmaking classes. An etching class at the organisation was my entry back into the art world after spending years working on peacelines and it introduced me back into exhibiting and having work in collections.
Whatever you decide to do or how you decide to celebrate Christmas and the New Year, the best advice I ever heard about it is to take some time to step back and notice the person on the edges, the person who maybe struggling, and see if you can have a chat with them, offering your little bit of seasonal goodwill to all men and women.
And there is nothing left for me to say other than Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
