This season has presented many challenges for our clients, but also some surprising opportunities.
One of our clients, Alan, loves to cook. He would often tell his mentor of roasts and meals he’d prepared, but getting hold of new recipes to try proved difficult at this time when he had usually relied on the library for this, and has historically always struggled to get on with the internet.
Having a mentor helped with this - every few weeks he asked for a new recipe, and his mentor searched out something and texted it to him. As a result he succeeded in making bread and butter pudding, apple crumble and Victoria sponge, and sent mouth-watering descriptions of each to his mentor!
While some people bake, others have been expressing their creativity through transforming materials into works of a non-edible nature. Our client Mark has an exceptional talent in paper modelling, and over the last few months has produced many detailed pieces including intricately folded page art showing text and images, as well as colourful 3D character models. Another client, Steve, has taken his art a step further using computer software to create delicate abstract designs called fractals. These beautiful patterns are found everywhere in nature as well as mathematics, eg. snowflakes, ferns, trees and markings to be found on birds, animals and fish. Each pattern is slightly different to the next (as in snowflakes, where no two are ever the same), and the subtle differences between the related patterns create variations infinite in their diversity. Steve says, “to put it simply, fractals are nature's art.”
Both our community chaplain Rowland and another client, Patrick, have photographed beauty in nature, capturing some stunning images of flora and fauna that reminds us how beautiful this part of the world is. From baking new recipes to taking photographs, these varied and amazing expressions of creativity map our individual journeys through lockdown, and show how opportunities can be found to create and celebrate life, even in unusual and anxious times.
To see more examples of the wonderful work our clients have created, click on our facebook page.
