The workshop was led by led by artist Chloe Cooper on 30 August 2018:
This week I worked with young people who have been through the criminal justice system. As expected they were a lovely bunch who willingly got stuck in. We started off with some mindful breathing to bring us into the present and then did 3 minutes of mindful doodling -drawing either straight lines or curved shapes. Everyone then rolled a lump of clay into a ball and experimented with the placing of each ball to create a collaborative composition that was pleasing to all.
We then used chalk pastels to record what we could see, focusing on light and shadow. The last activity was to use coloured pens to pick out chosen letters from a page of newspaper to form a pattern and then to use inks to draw as many different patterns as possible onto an A3 sheet. We finished with more mindful breathing and a reminder that they could use this in their lives outside of the workshop.
Participants really enjoyed the mixture of materials used and also the mindful breathing and pauses between activities- one of them said it would help him to manage his anger, which was a great outcome for him – by Chloe Cooper
