Artists Together – Claire Weetman

Since November 2020 I’ve been working as the lead artist on St Helens Cultural Hubs ‘Artists Together’. It started under the stewardship of Mark Storor, who brought together and nurtured the creativity of a collection of artists of all disciplines in St Helens. It’s been a challenge so far to bring us together, with the advice to stay apart forming a looming backdrop to our efforts, but, with the generosity and patience of a wonderful group of artists we’ve spent some time ‘together’ on zoom gatherings, at virtual exhibitions and out on walks led by artists from the group.

Each of our monthly sessions have had a focus for sharing experiences, work and ideas, and January’s session was called ‘How to keep going’. It resulted in this set of instructions, which you may also find useful:

How to keep going (what is your gold?) Don't be precious Loosen up Meditate, recharge, chill out Look inside Who's your soundboard? When is your time? Where is your space? "I can help you to do this." Step by step, what small thing comes next? Let's find other ways to do things How can I pivot? Use what you've already got, use it differently. Say “ I am an artist”! be kind to yourself. An incomplete work is still work, that's like gold to you.

There’s more planned, as we hopefully are able to do more activity face-to-face too. If you’re an artist, and in St Helens, then you’re welcome to come and be together with us. Get in touch via the arts service: artsservice@sthelens.gov.uk