“Art is the highest form of hope.”
– Gerhard Richter
Captains Of Our Soul: Championing The Hope That Art Brings
Art For Hope began while exploring the roles of art, expression and imagination in rapidly changing times of new technology, digitalization, disruption and polarisation.
It has expanded into a larger project to include:
Paintings created to fund humanitarian work around the world with organisations I’m closely connected to (know exactly where the money is going)
VIEW AVAILABLE PAINTINGS HERE
and an ever-expanding collection of inspiring art stories, news and clippings below.
When In Doubt, Draw
Some of you may know how art helped me when I was younger. Click here to find out more.
This is why I share drawing: not simply as a skill, but as a way of working through doubts and developing resources.
“If You Trust Us, We’ll Surprise You”
Heard these words while talking to Jane Best, Executive Director of Refugees Empowerment International.
They inspired the Art For Hope painting I created for their fundraising gala, called TRUST / 信頼
Hope In Humanity
What began as a collection of clippings exploring what it means to be human, has grown into a compilation of art and stories to uplift and inspire.
Powerful examples, and powerful champions, on the importance of art and the value of imagination. There are many reasons to remain hopeful.
Welcome To Art For Hope
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The Power Of The Mural
Read The Royal Drawing School Article Here
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Art Of Now: Recovery | Art That Helps Healing: Freedom From Torture
“I can’t wait to just go back to the studio…art has been really helpful since I’ve been here and I feel peaceful – whatever I put on paper, I just feel peaceful.”
Listen To The BBC Radio Programme Here
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Sesame Street Opens Up To Refugees
Featuring new characters refugee children can relate to, like Jad who had to leave his home and loves to express himself through art.
Read the NY Times article here
Join us and visit our Art For Hope corner at the annual RIJ Gala 2020!
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Artist Sasha Leech (my art teacher!): Rules For Myself
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Cave Art | BBC Radio 4 In Our Time | Listen Here
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“the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
― George Eliot / Mary Ann Evans, Middlemarch, 1819-1880
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“We need art more than ever”
As I see it, Artists in their own words | Antony Gormley RA Article Here
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“My wife doesn’t do anything, she is just at home.” A father of a student from Kerala always used to introduce his wife to others like this. But the student always saw his mother busy with so much housework. So he painted her while doing her work and titled it ‘My Mother & Mothers In The Neighbourhood’. His school teacher was so impressed by this painting done by a year 9 student, Anujath Vinyal, from Thrissur that he sent it to the government office. In this painting he has depicted the unpaid work done by women working at home. The painting has been selected as the cover of the Gender Budget document of the government of Kerala for 2020-2021.
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“Art has become a part of my life. I do it every day… it’s become such a part of me now… I’m drawing every day… I do it (draw) automatic. I don’t know what it’s going to be when I start. I just do lines and see what happens.
So some of it turns out to be rubbish, sometimes it turns out to be something. It’s a joy.”
Sir Billy Connolly On art & Drawing | Article Here
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How do you cope with the unexpected death of your partner of 19 years?
That was the question facing Gary Andrews, 57, when his 41-year-old wife Joy died suddenly almost a year ago.
Over the last 12 months he has discovered that, for him, the answer is doodling – a doodle a day to be precise.
BBC Article About Gary’s Story Here
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Refugees International Japan Smart Art Project Malumat | Read The Stories Here
“I love painting… I have made a lot of new friends!… I feel proud and happy to see my artwork on the wall… when Malumat called me I was so happy, I had hope.”
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A two year inquiry into practice and research in the arts in health and social care
TO improve awareness of the benefits that the arts can bring to health and wellbeing
READ & DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE
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“Pick me up and look me over. What do you see? Not much meets the eye — there’s some wood, lacquer, the printed labeling, graphite lead, a bit of metal, and an eraser.”
Look Closer: BBC Article ’50 things that made the modern economy’
read article here
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“I go to see pictures like going to the doctor.”
Lucian Freud | Learn more about his work: RA Article Here
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Delivering Amazing Arts Education
The RSA’s Report On Arts-Rich Schools
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Quentin Blake | Article Here
BBC Radio London 2018 Interview Here
“I don’t know how imagination works.
I mean, people do say to you, where do you get your ideas from?
And I don’t know really and I think the best thing is to start drawing.
If you start drawing, you think, you start, you draw something…
And then it sort of grows somehow or another…
It’s very curious because if you’re doing a book, it’s probably got characters in it and you’re not quite sure what they look like to begin with, but you get to know them by drawing them…
Even on occasion I’ve gone and sat down and done some drawings to cheer myself up… if it’s needed…
I think a lot of people should draw… it’s another language in a way…
I think if you draw you find out things that perhaps you didn’t know…
There’ll be something in there that you saw… you will have taken something away from what it is
I think a lot of young people get discouraged because they can’t do photographic realism or something…
Drawing isn’t like that, it’s another language and you can talk it in different accents so to speak.”
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“To draw is to see, to learn, to understand…”
Make Your Mark: The Enduring Joy Of Drawing
The Guardian, Read Article Here
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Want To Be More Creative?
“If your creativity is driven by a desire to get attention, you are never going to be creatively fulfilled.”
Watch Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s TED Talk
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upanishads & Bhagavad Gita
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BBC Story Works: The Freedom Of Time | Article Here
“Imagine a future where work has become a distant memory.
A future where we have more time to make our dreams a reality.
And a future where, as robots take on more and more, we may have to redefine our sense of purpose.”
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Life Drawing Aids Body Confidence | Telegraph Article Here
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TC (Tokyo Creators) Kids | Rainbow Song (It’s A Happy, Lucky Day) LISTEN HERE
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Oldest Known Drawing Found In South Africa, BBC | Read Article Here
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HENRY FRASER | READ HENRY’s STORY & SEE HIs PAINTINGS HERE
“My life changed whilst on holiday in Portugal with my friends back in 2009. I ran into the sea, dived into the surf and damaged my spinal cord leaving me unable to move my arms and legs. My new life began that day…
Being challenged in life is inevitable, but I believe that being defeated is optional.”
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John Berger, Ways Of Seeing | 4 Part 1972 BBC Programme Link
Online Book Link
Drawing is a constant correcting of errors….maybe a great deal of creation is actually like that…there’s not really a point where you’re suddenly aware that there’s nothing more to correct and if you were aware of that, it would probably be very bad.
-John Berger
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Plastic Matter Exhibition | Read BBC Article Here
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One Line, One Note, One Movement | Anneliese Nakahara-Knight’s Article Here
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Charlie Mackesy | I Love His Drawings! Check Out His Website Here
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The Power Of Art by Simon Schama | 2006 Eight Part BBC Series
Artists From The Series & A Selection Of Their Work In The UK
“Great art has dreadful manners. The greatest paintings grab you in a headlock, rough up your composure, and then proceed in short order to re-arrange your reality.”
-Simon Schama
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Drawing Can Change Your Brain | BUSTLE Article Here
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Paintings In Hospitals | Art Inspiring Health & Well Being Check Out Their Work Here
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51 BENEFITS OF ARTS EDUCATION FOR KIDS | Learn more about the benefits of Arts Education for children at We The Parents
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Regularly engaging with museums and galleries can contribute to an individual’s sense of wellbeing | Read the report here
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Art, Truth & Power | Listen To The BBC Radio 4 Programme Here
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Art As Therapy by Alain de Botton & John Armstrong – GREAT book | Brainpickings Article Here
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David Attenborough On Prioritising The Arts | Read BBC Article Here
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Aeham Ahmad, The Pianist From Syria | Buy His Book & Listen To This Song About Hope Across Borders
The story of two people, Aeham Ahmad and Edgar Knecht, two pianists, who, in this grotesquely polarized world, were unlikely to find each other, but who met, became friends and ultimately inspired each other – through their music.
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Art Classes To Cure Loneliness | Read The FRIEZE Article Here
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BBC Radio 4 Programme The Digital Human | Fantastic series documenting our relationship with all things digital | Listen Here
BBC Radio 4 Programme The New Age Of Capitalism | The Attention Economy Listen Here & Artificial Intelligence Listen Here
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The Book Momo by Michael Ende (my favourite book in the world) A must read! | Film Version Here
“Life holds one great but quite commonplace mystery.
Though shared by each of us and known to all, it seldom rates a second thought.
That mystery, which most of us take for granted and never think twice about, is time.
Calendars and clocks exist to measure time, but that signifies little because we all know that an hour can seem an eternity or pass in a flash, according to how we spend it.”
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Drawing: A Gift Of Nature | Guardian Article Here
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Sun Xun | Drawing, Animation & History Explored Watch Video Here
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Attitude To Arts In School | The Times Article Here
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Go To Nature:
The Ideas Of John Ruskin | 200 Years Of Ruskin Project Here
For The Love Of Trees: Hermann Hesse | Full Passage Here
What Trees Teach Us About Life & Happiness | BBC Article Here
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Art: Powerful Medicine Against Dementia | Guardian Article Here
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The Big Draw: Why Drawing Is Important | Watch The Video Here
“If you look around at beautifully made buildings, great signs, great advertising, we are completely surrounded by things that were once sketched out by human hand, human mind and a human heart.”
– Andrew Marr
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“With art lessons and trips to museums on prescription, the links between culture and health are being reconsidered.”
Article For FRIEZE by Chris Sharratt | Read The Article Here
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The Painter’s Keys: In Praise Of Drawing | Article Here
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Why Do We Draw? David Pearson | Watch Here
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Drawing Change | Top Books On Visual Facilitation Here
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Drawn To Success, The Guardian | Article Here
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“Well, I’m livin’ in a foreign country but I’m bound to cross the line
Beauty walks a razor’s edge, someday I’ll make it mine
If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born
Come in, she said
I’ll give ya shelter from the storm”
Bob Dylan | Listen To Shelter From The Storm
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The Elements Of Drawing: John Ruskin’s Teaching Collection At Oxford Great resource! Explore Here
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Spanish anatomist Santiago Ramon y Cajal’s drawing of a Purkinje cell | This is in our brain! Remind you of anything?!
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Andria Zafirakou, Art & Textiles Teacher, Winner Of The Global Teaching Prize Article Here
On Teaching Article Here
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Learn About The World’s Largest Drawing Festival | Article Here
The Big Draw Website Here
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Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Stop Snapping, Start Sketching | Article Here
You See More When You Draw: Start Drawing | Rijksmuseum Website
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BBC R4 Bringing Up Britain: Are We Bringing Up Children Creative Enough For The Future They Face?
Listen To The Programme Here
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The National Gallery London Sketching Guidelines: Clear and fair | Guidelines Here
In Tokyo, I’ve been told to stop sketching! (with a pencil, when the room isn’t crowded)
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The Arts In Education, The Guardian | Article Here
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Drawing At Work, Ros Taylor Company | Article Here
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“Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I’m gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love”
Leonard Cohen | Listen To Dance Me To The End Of Love
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RSA Journal: Addressing The Challenge Of Automation | Watch Ryan Avant’s Talk For The RSA Here
Bank Of England Chief Economist Warns On AI Job Threat | Read The Article Here
Andy Haldane, Chief Economist of the Bank of England, issuing a warning that the UK will need a skills revolution to avoid “large swathes” of people becoming “technologically unemployed” as artificial intelligence makes many jobs obsolete.
The possible disruption of what is known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution could be “on a much greater scale” than anything felt during the First Industrial Revolution of the Victorian era.
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Creativity & Vulnerability: Brene Brown at The RSA | Talk Here
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“One has to begin to reach younger people at an earlier age to shape their minds in a critical way of looking at images and what they mean how to interpret imagery… You need to know how ideas and emotions are expressed through a visual form…
How to make an emotional and psychological point to an audience we have to begin to teach our younger people how to use this powerful tool because we know film, the image, can be so so strong not only for good use, but also for bad use, look at World War 2…
Images are very powerful and we need to teach younger people how to use them and at least how to interpret them.
Visual literacy should be taught…there are others who cannot afford to get a camera…where I came from we couldn’t afford any 8mm cameras or anything like that. I drew pictures; I imagined that they moved, but I drew them.
You’re training the eye and the heart of the student to look at a film in a different way by asking questions and pointing out different ideas, concepts suggestions…you’re training them to look at a story given to them in visual terms and to take it seriously…
This is why it’s so important because so much of society today is done visually, and even subliminally, that it could be dangerous, and one has to know that it’s a very, very powerful tool.”
Martin Scorsese On Visual Literacy | Watch Here
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Seok Chang-woo: The Artist Who Uses His Body To Paint | Watch Here
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Ivan Harbour, Big Draw Patron On Drawing, Architecture & The Big Draw | Watch Here
“Drawing.. whether expressing myself… designing buildings… has been key to putting my thoughts down in ways that are difficult to express through words.
...a powerful communication tool… it remains absolutely relevant in our modern world. Everyone can draw. It’s universal enough that you can have a wobbly line or a straight one – it really doesn’t matter.
Drawing has and will continue to have a role in society as an absolute primary way of communicating because it is a universal language.
By drawing, the speed at which you can convey information and ideas… lets people realise that they’re able to have an input… contribution and evolution – elements which are fundamental to the design process.”
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RSA Animates: Drawing As A Powerful Communication Tool | WAtch Here
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Drawing: The Best Way To Learn | Article Here
“We have misfiled the significance of drawing because we see it as a professional skill instead of a personal capacity… this essential confusion has stunted our understanding of drawing and kept it from being seen as a tool for learning above all else…
If you take a step back, and define drawing as symbolic mark-making, it’s obvious that all human beings draw.
Diagrams, maps, doodles, smiley faces: These are all drawings!
If practiced in the service of inquiry and understanding, drawing does enforce modesty… You quickly discover how little you know.
Drawing makes us slow down, be patient, pay attention… Observation itself is respectful, above all else.
It might seem sort of nutty, but I do think that drawing can be a form of citizenship… Observation, inquiry, and steady effort are good for us.” – Design Historian D.B. Dowd
At its core, drawing is a problem-solving tool. Scientists are often avid doodlers, like the Fields-Medal-winning mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, for instance:
“The process of drawing something helps you somehow to stay connected… I am a slow thinker, and have to spend a lot of time before I can clean up my ideas and make progress.”
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The Artist, Richard Long’s Website Here
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BBC The Secret Of Drawing Series | Watch Here
A four part series, presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon, exploring how drawing has shaped our lives. Discover the history of drawing and its relevance to the modern world.
“Once upon a time, the ability to draw was seen as the first and most essential skill of any artist…
…drawing’s widely perceived as an old fashioned activity, many modern art schools don’t even teach it…
I’d like to challenge the tedious, modern prejudice that it’s trendy not to draw…
…drawing is the single most fruitful and vital artistic skill at work in the world today…
…drawing lies behind almost everything around us in the modern world.”
– BBC, The Secret Of Drawing
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Hannah Fry: How To Be Human In The Age Of The Machine | Listen Here
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The answer may be simple. And perhaps we knew all along.
Read it in this article about the Scarpati family and their work with wild horses.
Maybe the last line will resonate somewhere in you too.
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divyamariekato
