Explore creativity for wellbeing with the DAX Centre! Weekly creative activities throughout October

Yes it is a lot of info @StanD, such an amazing story. Feel free to return to it when you are able if you'd like, or maybe checking out the video 😊

And that's a very good pick up, I put the wrong captions on those images, I've switched them now

I definitely agree with on you on how clear it is that Edith loved to use colour to express herself

I think my favourite piece is the last one - the short jacket. The level of detail is incredible, with all of the intricate embroidery starting to look almost like it's created in watercolor. It reminds me of a garden in spring time 💮

https://www.alexgrey.com/art/tattoos/ @Jynx (if U haven't seen b4) & everyone❤️ I am amazed by Alex Grey. I might buy his card deck. Thanks so much for introducing me. He is fascinating & unique in his expression, & equally familiar and grounded, it is difficult to express. Very Cool. TY

Edit: correct link hopefully!

Hello all!

Our deep dive into the treasures of the Cunningham Dax Collection continues this week, with the fourth letter of the CHIME framework... M for Meaning and Purpose!

Finding Meaning

This week, we are reflecting on living a meaningful and purposeful life, as defined by YOU. (Not by others.)

Feeling that you have purpose and meaning in your everyday life can be really important to recovery. What inspires and drives you each day? What’s something you look forward to or are working toward? Big or small – it may be your family, friends, pets, projects, learning, looking after yourself or others, or even just the goal on a sunny day to make the most of the sunshine.

What can Meaning and Purpose look like?

- Having a daily plan or daily routine.

- Receiving and providing support.

- Taking care of your pets.

- Attending education and support groups.

Content Warning: This post mentions substance abuse, hospitalization, recovery, depression and schizophrenia in the artist story.

This Weeks Artwork: Artworks by James Dickson

James has several artworks in the Cunningham Dax Collection. The majority of his artworks are intricately drawn with black ink on paper. Upon first glance, they can seem overwhelming with their detail, but if you take time to look closely, you’ll find many examples of small, almost hidden symbols that we can draw meaning from.

For example, can you find the mushrooms and the birds in the artwork Minerals and Energy below?

Minerals and Energy, James Dickson, 1980, Ink on Paper, Courtesy of The Dax Centre.

James Dickson’s Story

James was born in 1949 and experiences a turbulent childhood. In his teenage years, he began feeling lost and sad, and by the time he reached Year 11, James felt difficulties looming large over him.

In addition, the Vietnam War was in progress and conscription was being used to find soldiers. To avoid being drafted, James voluntarily joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

Throughout him time in the RAAF as a young man, Dickson developed issues with substance abuse and became addicted to alcohol. In addition, he was experiencing other mental health issues.

Dickson was eventually admitted to hospital and diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia.

After 12 weeks in hospital, James was discharged. However, he continued to attend group therapy sessions.

James got a job and began to socialize once again, but unfortunately due to substance abuse, he had to reenter hospital.

His psychiatrist suggested he read the book The Teachings of Don Juan. Inspired by the text, James began to find a different way to see things and began experimenting with art.

James says of his art practice:

“These drawings just started coming out of me and it played a big part in being able to live differently...when I was drawing, I could let everything go. Suddenly I have a creative outlet. Art also helped me stop taking risks with substances. The drawings helped me understand my thoughts – they were like my own tarot cards, and suddenly I felt like I was putting down something meaningful.”

Benito’s Treasure, James Dickson, 1980, Ink on Paper, Courtesy of The Dax Centre.

Madalik Eagle Bird, James Dickson, 1980, Ink on Paper, Courtesy of The Dax Centre.

The Abalone, James Dickson, 1980, Ink on Paper, Courtesy of The Dax Centre.

Transport Thing, James Dickson, 1980, Ink on Paper, Courtesy of The Dax Centre.

Creative Prompts:

1. What does Meaning and Purpose look like for you?

James Dickson was able to find purpose and meaning in his art practice, which helped in his recovery.

What are things in your everyday life that feel meaningful and give you purpose?

Comment on this thread with your answers.

2. Purposeful Looking

When we talk about ‘meaning’ in relation to artworks, we often are looking for symbols or representative features that we can build interpretations from. The meaning of artworks is subjective – it will be different for everyone.

A big part of the role of art historians and curators, like those that work at The Dax Centre, is to research artist stories and learn about their lives, and interpret the artworks in this context. They also work with symbols present in the artwork to help construct meaning.

Having examined the artworks and read James Dickson’s artist stories, what meanings do you draw from the artworks above? What symbols can you identify?

To make discussion easier, here are the titles of the artworks in order above:

1. Minerals and Energy

2. Benito’s Treasure

3. Madalik Eagle Bird

4. The Abalone

5. Transport Thing

3. Creating Meaning

Taking inspiration from Jame Dickson’s artworks, this creative prompt encourages you to create a black pen ink drawing.

Grab an ink black pen (or a nice and sharp pencil) and some blank sheets of paper.

Reflect on your own mental health journey, what gives you meaning.

Write down five words.

For each word, draw a symbol next to it that represents that word. Take inspiration from the style of James’ drawings – they can be abstract or life-like, intricate (using thin, fine lines) or robust (thick, chunky lines).

Now, draw a rectangle on your sheet of paper.

Using repetitive drawings, fill the rectangle with the symbols you’ve created, as James has used repetitive symbols to create his artworks. The symbols can take on different sizes and iterations as you recreate them over and over inside your rectangle. Just as meaning and purpose change throughout our lives.

Take a picture of your artwork and share it on to the thread. You’re welcome to share the meaning of your symbols, or just the image – up to you!

Hello @Ru-bee @rav3n @Jynx & Everyone

Wow, this is quite overwhelming for this week. I am not complaining, I am eating it up. I am not sure I can do all the prompts, I will like to choose & engage. Thankyou very much for including all this information. On side note, I appreciate that we can talk about schizophrenia within positive frame (no pun intended) (I have difficulty finding words), I think His pictures, are examples of tyding, or making order, when one is feeling overwhelmed , or complicated.

I think his use of symbology is similar to what we were discussing re: Alex Grey, & I think ppl suggested they can see depth of spirituality in arts I have posted (I am humbled). It is brilliant for me to be seen.

I feel connection with James Dickson, in the way he explained, the art pours out of him. And, a place he felt he can finally Rest. So interesting, he compares to Tarot Cards - I never thought of it this way

I will post my most recent. I am not sure what is says. I see so much, that I don't like.

I feel like I can do better. It is cumbersome. And there is way too much bush!!😶

I need to think about my answers

Here is Tree by StanD

Oh I love it @StanD!! It makes me think of the Tree of Life. Thanks for sharing 😊

Yes I was reminded of the discussion of Alex Grey too @StanD

Yes, please feel free to just respond to any prompts that speak to you. There's also no time pressure, this thread won't be going anywhere so feel free to return to any of the prompts at a later time too! It's so lovely to see how you're engaging with these works.

Looking at your painting makes me think of energy and life, flowing from the roots up to the tips of the trees. Thank you for sharing it

Hi everyone!

For our final creative prompt inspired by the CHIME framework, we are exploring E for EMPOWERMENT!

Empowerment can seem like a big word, often associated with a lot of ‘big-picture’ ideas. For example, we might associate it with political or social movements, or conversations around identity.

In the context of recovery and the CHIME framework, we like to think about empowerment on an everyday level. Empowerment is about feeling like you understand the connection between your actions and their outcomes, day to day. We encourage you to ask yourself – what can I do that’s within my control right now?

What can Empowerment look like?

- Be honest – say if you’re having a bad day.

- Have self-compassion.

- Choose to take part in positive things.

- Keep yourself involved.

- Doing what is in your control.

- Structuring your days.

- Set your daily alarms.

- Set one goal each day.

- Find out what is available in your local area. Please note: In keeping with the Community Guidelines, the SANE Forums are an anonymous space. Please be sure that no images or art shared contains information that could reveal identity or location (e.g. street names, wider shots of houses, number plates, landmarks or recognizable geographical features, or ANY faces, even if it’s not your own).

TRIGGER WARNING: This artist story and artist statement mention eating disorders, specifically Bulimia Nervosa, therapy and recovery.

The Empowerment of Emma McEvoy

To help us reflect on empowerment, we will be looking at artworks by Cunningham Dax Collection artist, Emma McEvoy.

Emma McEvoy found empowerment in her recovery from Bulimia Nervosa, a type of eating disorder, through her photography practice. Photography gave McEvoy a way of understanding and expressing her experiences. It allowed her to find her voice and follow her passion for creativity, empowered by her ability to share her story through her artwork.

One of the important parts of recovery is taking part in positive things. For McEvoy, this was creating her series of photographs and having the self-compassion to acknowledge that recovery isn’t linear while she was developing her photography skills.

Find below Emma McEvoy’s artist statement below the artworks.

Terrible Depth, Beautiful Surface, Emma McEvoy, photograph digital print on rag, 2011. Courtesy of The Dax Centre.

Artist chosen quotation to go with this artwork:

“There is a brokeness out of which comes the unbroken. There is a shatteredness out of which blooms the unshatterable. There is a sorrow beyond all grief, which leads to to joy. And a fragility out of whose depths emerges strength.” - Rashaniq

The Paper Crane, Emma McEvoy, photograph digital print on rag, 2012. Courtesy of The Dax Centre.

Artist chosen quotation to go with this artwork:

“I always wonder why birds choose to fly in the same place when they can fly anywhere on earth, then I ask myself the same question.” - Harun Yahya

The Suffering, Emma McEvoy, photograph digital print on rag, 2011. Courtesy of The Dax Centre.

Artist chosen quotation to go with this artwork:

“Being locked up is one thing, but to have no concept of confinement, to be ignorant of its terms and never understand that struggle is useless - that’s what hell must be like.” David Sedaris

Emma McEvoy Artist Statement

“They say the art we create is an extension of ourselves; of our past, our hopes, our struggles, our dreams, and very often our pain. Art is and has been an expression of the journey I have found myself on and the many roads it has led me to.

My attraction to art began at a very young age, having suffered from what I was sure was an eating disorder for many years, I found comfort in making art. It was not until I was nineteen and finally sought help that I was diagnosed with Bulimia Nervosa and entered recovery. In the six long, intense, at times extremely difficult and at times extremely rewarding years since, art has become something so much more than ‘making pretty things.’

Photography, being my medium of choice, has become my truest love, and even more so the voice I could not find when I was struggling. I photograph from the inside out. It is my way of expressing the inexpressible; it has become the golden key that unlocks some of the secret doors inside of me. Photography gives me a way to make my innermost thoughts, feelings, beliefs, fears and dreams visible, it has been a pathway to healing the wounds I had been carrying around for so long and has provided me with a way to reconnect with myself on a deeper level.

Struggling to articulate myself in therapy, I found solace in creating images that would act as bridges between my world and this world. It was a way between my inability to speak and my longing to be understood. Through this creative process another piece of my burden was shed. My pain lessened and I felt a little less heavy.

These images are a part of an ongoing series that I started developing during the early stages of my recovery when I was still very much engaged in my eating disorder and have continued on to some years later when I started to actually embrace recovery and seek freedom outside of this illness. This series in an intimate journey that takes you on a not so linear path. Just like life, recovery isn’t always smooth sailing. While I consider myself to be doing really

well in recovery and am headed in the right direction, recovery is something that I work on daily and will need to be conscious of for some time.

The images I create today reflect this contrast in experiences, some are dark and some are light to mirror the road recovery takes you on. The biggest difference between then and now is that no matter what curve ball recovery or life throws at me, at the end of the

day I will always believe that 100% recovery is possible and that is what I will continue to strive for. And I hope others who are on the same road will strive for that too.

Not wanting to go down the shock factor path and add to all the misconceptions or encourage judgement, I have looked past the symptoms and behaviors and focused on the thoughts and feelings. My images are symbolic and have an aspect of surrealism to emphasize the way the eating disordered mind can often convince us to think, feel, and see things about ourselves that are often completely inaccurate. A lot of people think eating disorders are all about food, weight, and unusual behaviors but not many people understand that this is actually the eating disorder’s way of distracting everyone from what is really going on deep inside.

I want to show you that, I want to take you inside.

My art has a voice, if you listen quietly you will hear them speak.”

- Emma McEvoy, Artist Statement 2013

Creative Prompts:

1. Power to you!

Comment your thoughts on the artwork shared above. What comes to mind when you are looking at the artworks and reading about Emma McEvoy’s story? Why is it important that we find things that make us feel empowered?

Your response might be in the form of a poem, a list of words that pop into your head or even a short story from your life!

The power is in your hands to shape your response to these artworks however you like! It’s always so interesting to hear different points of view on the same artworks!

2. Echoes of Empowerment - Share your empowering quotes!

With each of her artworks, Emma McEvoy provides a quotation from a famous figure. This adds context to her creations, to better help her audience understand the artworks, and could potentially have been inspiration for the creation of the artworks.

Even just a short and sweet quote can be a great little pick me up! For example,

“She believed she could, so she did,” - R.S. Grey

Share below some quotes that make you feel empowered, or that speak to what empowerment means to you!

3. Capture Your Empowerment and Find Your Voice

Take the second prompt even further. Using a camera or your smartphone, take a photograph that is inspired by the quote you chose above, or by your personal definition of empowerment.

This might be a literal interpretation, like a picture of the hill you are planning to walk up as your goal for the day, or a picture of your houseplants as a symbol of the structure in your week of looking after them. Or it might be an abstract interpretation – a pattern or cloud formation that inspires you to make creative goals or share your ideas with friends or family.

Your voice deserves to be heard – no matter what shape or form that may take. Share your version of empowerment here, and inspire others to find empowerment in their day too!

We can’t wait to see what you share!

Remember to follow community guidelines when uploading your responses.

Hello @Ru-bee

I wrote you an entire reply, & then my phone rang, & now I cannot see what I had typed!

In short I think Emma McEvoys' artwork is brilliant, powerful, disturbing, & full of hope.

The padlock butterfly affected me most. It is difficult for me to look at. I understand what she is saying.

The paper crane is strength & determination. Fierce, Hungry for Life

The Ladder is surrealist. Initially I had sense of immediate connection, however, I feel like the title she named it as, - feels helpless. Terrible depth, beautiful surface.

I interpret this as things being superficial OR real (terrible) This makes me sad. I do like how the girl is obviously climbing up & looking up to see where she is choosing to go .