Art to calm a restless mind

PRESS RELEASE 27 JULY 2020

THE POWER OF ART TO CALM A RESTLESS MIND

During lockdown many of us found comfort and joy in rediscovering forgotten creative talents or learning new skills – b-side put out a call to Portland residents and workers to send in images of their creative lockdown projects, and since the end of May these wonderful creations have been made into huge posters hung in the large street level windows of b-side’s project space on Portland. For every artwork displayed in the windows the b-side team have made a donation to Portland Food bank, Sandy Kirkby from b-side said

“ We had a fantastic and overwhelming response to our call out and have been truly amazed at the creative talents of those that sent work in. It’s not just been artists that have contributed for many people it’s been the first time they have ever picked up a paintbrush or shared their artwork. The results have been wonderful and really brighten up the high street, we hope that other shops in Fortuneswell join in too and display these posters to create a Fortuneswell outdoor gallery”

Next up to have their work displayed is Portlander Ray Mayall who has made some incredibly ingenuous model houses repurposing and transforming the stuff we throw away into quite amazing model houses some with smoking chimneys and lights!

“I struggle with extreme OCD, amongst other disabilities, and a disruption to my routine such as this lockdown has been, can be very detrimental to someone like me. It was important to find something to focus my restless mind on and make a new routine. Having done some modelling in the past, mostly on a much smaller scale, I began to rummage through the rubbish and recycling. Instead of seeing t-bag boxes, plastic pots, bottles and cans, I began to see roof tiles, towers, chimneys and terrain.

I spent many hours, days and weeks transforming rubbish into buildings, meticulously cutting and shaping cardboard, polystyrene, plastic and metal and attaching it together to make these creations, never truly knowing what might appear at the end. I gatheredanything I could find and incorporated it into each new piece.

It has been a calming and focusing experience for me and it’s really special to be able to share my creations with others and hopefully a chance toput a smile on people’s faces.”

Ray Mayall

Ray’s work can be seen in Outpost Project space on Fortuneswell, Portland until 12 August.

Download full press release below.

Photo Credit: Gina Bolt

Man standing next to a model house