A Year in the Making: Our Art Exhibition Opens This May

A Year in the Making: Our Art Exhibition Opens This May

A year ago, a group of women walked through the doors of The Sunflower Women’s Centre not knowing quite what to expect. Some were on waiting lists for therapy. Some were navigating recovery. Some just needed somewhere to be.

What happened next is about to go on the walls.

The Exhibition

We are so proud to announce that our art exhibition opens at Leadworks in Stonehouse, Plymouth, on Friday, 15th May and runs until 20th May. Every piece on display was created by a Mindful Art Club participant, as part of a twelve-month project funded by the Livewell Foundation, in partnership with Greenspace Community Hub, Gifted Women, Sunflower Women’s Centre and Leadworks Projects CIC.

This is not just an art exhibition. It is proof of what happens when women feel safe enough to create.

Come to the Opening Night

We would love you to join us for a very special free opening night on Friday, 15th May. Doors open at 7 pm, with performances beginning at 7.30 pm.

The evening includes live acoustic music from local songwriter Abi Bee, poetry from established female poets and newcomers to the scene, and personal stories from Plymouth women about how mindful art has helped them through some of life’s hardest chapters.

There will be plenty of time to mingle, browse the exhibition and meet the artists themselves.

In Their Own Words

Ellen Wilton, who attended our weekly sessions, put it better than we ever could:

“I’ve been fighting for therapy for years. Some things in life are only meant to be said to a professional, like a therapist. So while I was on a waiting list, I showed up at Mindful Art Club. I cried. I identified with people. I got the warmest welcome from Emma and Peggy. I left having not felt the one thing I thought I would encounter: judgement. My life has improved in so many ways because of mindful art.”

How to Come Along

The opening night is free. If you would like to come, please register via Eventbrite so we know to expect you. Any donations on Eventbrite, or on the night, go directly towards supporting more people in Plymouth through our ongoing programme.

Leadworks, 170 Rendle Street, Stonehouse, PL1 1TP. Doors open 7 pm, performances from 7.30pm.

We cannot wait to see you there.

Peggy and Emma

x

You can also be a part of this project by coming along to our women’s group on Fridays at 1.00pm at Greenspace, 30 Mutley Plain.

She Let Go, a poem by Safire Rose

She Let Go

Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

Safire Rose

Sometimes, mindfulness can be as simple as momentarily letting go of any thoughts about the past, or concerns about the future. It can be as easy as taking your pen for a walk and doodling on a blank page, letting go of any judgement of whether the image is good or bad.

Sometimes Emma likes to read out this poem, while people are drawing in our art sessions.

She Let Go.

She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear.

She let go of the judgments.

She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.

She let go of the committee of indecision within her.

She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.

Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice.

She didn’t read a book on how to let go.

She didn’t search the scriptures.

She just let go.

She let go of all of the memories that held her back.

She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.

She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go.

She didn’t journal about it.

She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.

She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.

She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.

She just let go.

She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.

She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.

She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.

She didn’t call the prayer line.

She didn’t utter one word.

She just let go.

No one was around when it happened.

There was no applause or congratulations.

No one thanked her or praised her.

No one noticed a thing.

Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort.

There was no struggle.

It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.

It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be.

A small smile came over her face.

A light breeze blew through her.

And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.

(c) 2003. Safire Rose

Safire Rose is a poet, teacher, speaker and spiritual life coach based in Los Angeles.

Now we’d love to hear from you. What are your thoughts on letting go? What did you think of the poem? Leave us a comment below.

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