A variety of landscapes, cityscapes, and other paintings were on display as a part of a special art show that helped raise funds for a Singapore mental health organization and featured some very important artists — students of a special art therapy class who also suffer from mental illness.
Proceeds from the paintings sold during the exhibit went to help fund the mental health organization, and all of the works of art were created by students during the classes they attended. Scenes on paper and canvas ranged from colorful buildings vying for attention in the skylines of imagined cities, to scenes of peaceful repose at kampungs and beaches. All of the works were completed during the therapeutic art classes.
Though there are still a great many stigmas for sufferers of mental illnesses to overcome in terms of how they are perceived by other members of society, art is a common ground that allows people from all walks of life to express themselves. Art has been particularly therapeutic for some of the students in the class, including one who was even able to reduce his doctors’ visits thanks to the benefits of creating art. He practiced doing landscapes using pointillism painting, which is when works of art are created using small dots instead of broader brushstrokes, and said that concentrating on painting in that manner helped make the tremors in his hands more manageable. Pointillism painting became also something akin to physical therapy for the student, and the concentration helped him to focus, shrug off his stresses and anxieties, and reduce the amount of medication that he has to take for his mental illness.
Visitors of the art show said that just from looking at the masterpieces, it was evident that their creators put forth a lot of passion and effort to create each and every piece of art. They took pride in creating the best artwork they could imagine, and that pride transformed into confidence in all of the art students. Art has many benefits that people who have never taken an art class might have trouble imagining.
Start exploring art’s benefits for your own life by signing up to take an art class today. SGArtClass.com is a comprehensive website that lists a great many art classes available for enrollment. From pointillism painting to 3-D sculpture, fashion drawing to comic drawing, nail art to decorative painting, there is truly an art class for everyone. Use your art class to explore your feelings by asking your teacher to lead you on art journal exercises, which can be useful to eliminate stress from your life, examine your relationships with others, and process your feelings on everything from work to school to even major life changes, like divorces or deaths in the family. You can also use your art class to help you develop lifelong skills that will help you respond in healthy ways to everything life can throw at you.
To read more about the art experiences the patients had, go to http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/fighting-the-stigma-of-mental-health-issues-through-art.