Joanne wants to make Tiny Changes through art

A woman from Selkirk has received funding of £5,000 from the Tiny Changes charity to run art workshops for people across the Borders.
Joanne ThomsonJoanne Thomson
Joanne Thomson

Joanne Thomson applied to the charity, set up in memory of Frightened Rabbit lead singer Scott Hutchison to help people get immersed in art as a form of mindfulness.

She told The Southern: “The idea came to me as I ran a series of successful health and well-being Friday workshops for teachers and school staff including yoga, aerobics and Zen Art, run by Chris Dolan, a local art teacher.

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"The staff attending the Zen Art session commented how immersive, relaxing and calming the process was, so when the opportunity arose to run workshops for the 14-30 yrs age group, for people experiencing episodes of poor mental health, I applied and was delighted the Tiny Change Fund agreed to support the sessions.”Joanne is currently recruiting local artists to lead different themed sessions, as well as venues to host the small group art workshops.

"Chris, who is Selkirk High School’s art teacher, has already agreed to host one workshop on the theme of ‘nature’.

If you are an artist or venue who would like to be involved, contact Joanne on [email protected].

All costs, including materials, has been provided by the grant.

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Places to take part in the art workshops will be advertised through Borders high schools and mental health organisations in May.

Joanne added: “The grant is allowing us to run these pilot workshops and we hope that an exhibition and sale of work might fund more workshops in future, so we do hope people will come along to the exhibition when the workshops end.”

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