Art & Wellbeing

- creativity / art for wellbeing

- creativity / art & spirituality

- creativity / art & health

There are a lot of terms that are used to describe the many different ways that creativity and art can impact and benefit our health, physically, mentally and spiritually. It is also an area where there is an increasing amount of research catching up with what a lot of artists, indigenous cultures and more have known for a long time.

At the gallery we have a variety of accomplished artists who exhibit and sell their work, but becoming a professional artist is in no way the only reason for engaging in creative and artistic practices. Creativity is increasingly being incorporated into the health system, aged care, disability care, and therapy. It is also a fundamental aspect of many spiritual practices.

It is also interesting that of the many artists who show their work in the Art & Alchemy Gallery have personal stories of how creativity and art practices have been vital in their own experience of ill-health or other crises of life.

A key focus on the Art & Alchemy Gallery is in how beneficial creativity is, in many ways and we feel that our particular area of interest is in how people can, and do, engage with art in their everyday life and the benefits.

As part of this we offer several creativity based courses and retreats where the focus is not on teaching a particular skill or technique, but on the development and engagement with the creative process. To do this, we draw on a range of up to date books and articles that reflect the ongoing research being done in this area. Our facilitators also draw on their personal experiences of their engagement with creativity as well, combining personal experience and current research.

Our creative professional development sessions are drawn from the facilitators experience as well as the same texts and information that our creative classes & courses are drawn from.

Our key Facilitator: Dr Karly Edgar

Karly's Story

Karly's path to the gallery has been a varied one where the engagement in creative practices has been a vital part of her experience of chronic ill health and spirituality. She works from the definition of spirituality as not only being faith and religion but as encompassing everything that is most important to us and how we live.

Her own engagement in creativity was refined after a chronic health diagnosis which limited her ability to physically do repetitive activities due to significant pain (and art making is essentially, a series of repetitive activities). Because of this inability to do anything repetitive for too long without pain, she deliberately began to move between different mediums of art. This inability wasn't just that she did one activity for 1 hour followed by a different one, but that she would do one creative action for 30mins followed by 2 days of recovery, and then she would engage in a different medium. This type of flexibility flowed into her ability to experiment, try new things and to play with the materials, a process that has become fundamental to her art making practice.

Her interest and experience in art and creativity has led to a variety of professional positions, including teaching, working in aged and conducting a PhD in palliative care where she researched the highly valued, volunteer-facilitate Biography Program offered by Eastern Palliative Care. She initially applied for the PhD scholarship because of her own exploration of life storytelling through art, in particular abstract and mixed media.

Her personal experience combined with her teaching and academic experiences has resulted in the creative professional development courses, classes and retreats we now offer.

Creativity Courses

Currently Art & Alchemy Gallery offers several creativity courses, as outlined below. You can book into the ones currently offered by going to book courses page, but if the one you are interested in is not currently on the program, feel free to get int touch with us to ask when it will next be on the program. Alternatively, if you have a group or a business who might be interested in it, we can discuss offering it as a private course.

one that focuses on developing creativity in everyday life for wellbeing (and of course, fun!) and one that is more specifically for people who are interested in the visual arts (in any medium), designed to connect them with likeminded others, and to encourage creative thinking, creative exploration, and to help develop creative habits (whatever their medium).

Creative Wellbeing

This course is designed for anyone who would like to be more creative in their everyday life, and anyone who would like to learn more about the various benefits of daily (or at least regular) creative engagement, even if you feel you have no artistic skill. This is for anyone, not just those who identify as artists or creatives.

The benefits of of creativity for wellbeing isincreasingly documented, and this course is based on several well respected and researched texts as well as drawing on Karly's personal experience.

Offered over 4 sessions or a single day retreat

Creative Habits

This course is designed to connect and inspire creatives - whatevr that means for you. It is not about developing your technique but about developing goood habits, exploring your ability to be creative in life, helping people to think creatively and , those who are returning to artistic work after a period without much engagement, those who might be a bit creatively stuck or those who would like to be challeneged to extend their artistic and creative engagement.

Somewhat modelled on the structure of The Artist's Way by Julian Cameron, this course draws from several contemporary texts written by artists to encourage and inspire.

Offered over 4 sessions or a single day retreat

Creativity as a Spiritual Practice*

This retreat is the opportunity to learn about how creative practices can be incorporated into a spiritual practice.

While all creativity courses include practical exercises, this is specifically a retreat where participants are led through a series of practices, with the opportunity to then reflect on if and how the practices may have been useful for the individual and how they might like to move forward with developing creativity into spirituality.

Offered over 4 sessions or a single day retreat

*Please note: Karly comes from a liturgical, protestant Christian background but these session are not in any way Christian, evanglical, or even religious. This background was the pathway into her interest in the integration of spirituality and creativity.

There is no specific religious material included. However, it is important to note that may of the exercises draw on a variety of traditional spiritual practices so if you have any experience of high control or fundamental religious groups (in any religion), you may want to speak to Karly about this before signing up so you understand what is involved.

* Second general note - it's important to note that none of these sessions are art therapy - this is a distinct form of therapy with therapists who have specialised training. Some of the exercises and activities in these sessions may feel 'therapeutic' but are not a replacement for therapy (art or otherwise). Please speak to our staff if you have any questions about this distinction.

Creative Life Storytelling

Lifestorytelling is an overarching word Karly uses to describe the various ways we can tell our own stories (or help others tell theirs). More about this can be found here. As part of this series, we also offer some creatively focused sessions such as thos below.

Shadow Box Memories for All Souls

This is desinged for anyone who has some specific memorabilia or memories that they would like to put into a shadow box to commemerate a person (or event, period of time, experience etc.). Shadow boxes are framed boxes with glass like a frame but with some depth so small items can be placed within them. See the defined sizes of the boxes that can be provided, or you can supply your own. This may be a lengthy process, as sometimes it can be highly emotional to create this type of memory box, so this session focuses on planning and designing a way forward even if it is not completed.