George and Caitlyn (Year 13) have been working hard on organising a local exhibition to raise money for the charity Young Minds. We asked George a few questions about the project and the importance of promoting mental health awareness to young people at Queen Elizabeth’s.
What is the inspiration behind this project?
Mental health awareness is something that is vital for young people- in the UK, 84 men a week die due to suicide. Having personally experienced the heartbreaking results of mental health after losing my friend last year, this is an issue I was keen to promote through this exhibition.
Tell us more about your collaboration with The Arts Society Dove Valley
The school has previously worked with Andrew Bownes (treasurer of the Arts Society Dove Valley) in last years exhibition entitled ‘Unconventional Beauty’. Having met with Andrew last year, we have developed on the established work that was completed by Holly Herring and the Art Department to create the exhibition this year. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Andrew, and to have his support throughout this process has been valuable to both myself and Caitlyn. We hope this collaboration continues for many years and becomes an annual event for the community.
Organising an exhibition sounds like a lot of hard work! Can you tell us about about the process?
Initially, myself and Caitlyn met with Andrew on multiple occasions and began exploring dates, times, themes and work to be included in the Exhibition. It has been useful to have the direction of Andrew, whilst being allowed to tailor this exhibition towards our interests and charities that are important to us. In December, myself and Caitlyn put some examples of exemplary student work in an empty shop space to begin promoting the exhibition. We also have plans for a guest speaker to open the exhibition, a radio promotion, as well as promoting the exhibition in local newspapers and magazines. We are currently working on the layout of the work in the space as well as contacting the charities we are raising money for.
I understand you are keen to make this a whole school effort. How can our students get involved?
The support of the teaching staff at QEGS has been hugely beneficial in encouraging students to be involved in this exhibition. Having spoken with my art teachers, Miss J Fowler and Mrs D Davis, I asked if I could go into classes to discuss mental well being. As part of these lessons, I ran a workshop in how to make white paper roses. This was part of an idea for an outcome i have had, to make a large-scale outcome of the number ’84’, symbolic of the number of men who kill themselves per week in the UK. These numbers will be covered in 1,355 white paper roses, each hand-made, one for each child at QEGS, as every child can be vulnerable. There was also an assembly to promote mental well being, and myself and Mr Garrity are currently in discussions surrounding a non-uniform day later in the year to raise further money for Young Minds
Sounds great! When is the exhibition opening and can anyone attend?
Yes of course! The exhibition will be open to invited guests on the 28th April at 6pm, but will be open to the public the following day from 10-3pm. We hope to see you there! For more information, follow QEGS Art Department Instagram- @QEGS_artdept , and my art Instagram- @georgepmartin2002
