In my final two years at Grammar School it was decided that I might be technically challenged if I continued to attempt metal work. The advice I received bemused me a little because it was thought I should do better at Art. I was not noted for my skills with pencil, charcoal or paintbrush! Responding once to a request from my teacher for a self-portrait, I placed paper on the floor, lay down and proceeded to draw an outline of my head onto the paper. A semblance of a nose, two eyes and a mouth, drawn freehand completed the masterpiece. Mr Turner, my art teacher, was not impressed!

However, in one area, I soaked up all that Mr Turner taught us. Half the lessons were about Art Appreciation.  I discovered things like perspective, use of colour and how portrait art differed from landscape. I was introduced to Piero della Francesca, Fra Angelica, Velasquez, Gaugin, Turner, Constable and art movements such as Pre-Raphaelite, modernism and so much more. I learned about the place of art in life and about using one’s eyes and other senses to notice things. Appreciation of other arts such as Music, were to follow. I wish I had been able to talk with Mr Turner later in life. I would have thanked him for opening up such a gift. I have looked at art in many galleries, smaller exhibitions and in studios in of the homes of artist friends. I have also collected many paintings. Each one has its own story to tell. Each is a ‘go to’ when I have needed solace, inspiration or just an insight into the working of the soul.

I have enjoyed many conversations with artists of different kinds from a village potter in a north Essex village to people exhibiting paintings and collages and strange beings sculpted in country fairs or Tate Moderns. I have also got to know artists whom I now count as my friends.
One such is Kay Gibbons and I have used some of her work in my blog entries.
Kay lives now in Oxfordshire but I first became her friend when we were both in the North East.

She was interviewed recently on the Arts Musing Podcast, which is based in Oxford. The subject of the interview was Art as Healing .
She was introduced as a multi-media artist. Her work includes large abstract paintings, fluid sculpture some with sharp angles, drawing, paintings in oil, water colour, etc. She has specialized in stained glass with sections separated by lead as with church stained glass. Her first such stained glass window was a large window installed in the Phoenix ward in Littlemore Hospital, a major mental health unit. Her second window was the Warneford Window, of which there is an illustration in this article.  
Art was, I think, part of a personal self-exploration. It has been a life-long journey and in this respect plays a huge part in her personal development. It is the powerhouse of her creativity and a kind of anchor in times storm, of sadness and loss but also it has a role in bringing a calmness and an enjoyment. Coping with Long Covid has been a particular challenge but out of it her work with glass, in its decorated and colour forms has blossomed. She has come to a deeper understanding of symbolism and of the place art plays in creating wholeness of being. She combines this with a more meaningful association with literature. She says:

“My art is a visual poem with as many interpretations as there are viewers.”
Sometimes what we create takes on a deeper significance … quite unaware , quite unexpectedly.”
“Art”, she says, “is a precious gift in us all , whether with a pen, a brush , a chisel , the crafters knife,
 or with thread and needle or a ball of clay … or just a reassuring hand and simple smile.”

As someone who is discovering the place of poetry, of creative writing, of the use of pen rather than brush, I found some resonance in what she says. Mr Turner might even be pleased.” Musicians and writers would understand it too!

Her studio, which is mostly her home, teems with energy and enthusiasm. Examples of the various styles of art bring warmth and joy to the room. A sense of being part of a process of ‘becoming’. She speaks of the day that she recognized that she really was an artist. It brought great joy, (expressed as, Whoosh!) She loves what she is seeking to express because her art speaks when, in other ways, she has no voice. In such circumstances, art becomes a way of communication.
For Kay, art is not just a healing process, for the artist and for many who look on it is an act of contemplation. It digs deep into who we are as well as who the artis is. It is also something to be enjoyed. Kay says that it “it is precious. It can lighten dark spaces. It can be both an anchor and a casting fishing line. It can sculpt words into poems and take us to the furthest stars. It can bring summer to our winter. It is a precious gift not a pressured burden.” That makes a lot of sense to me.

I owe a great deal to Mr Turner who helped me to put the appreciation of art firmly into my soul. I owe even more to all the artists who have spoken to me with their work and who have given me insights not only into the creative process but to a way of allowing the soul to communicate with the world. As a Christian, it has also been a way in which God communicates with me. God is the original and constant artist who paints images onto our souls and gives us words to understand them.

Kay is one of those who have helped me to celebrate that. How grateful I am for her creative spirit and the joy with which she shares it. She says that the greatest joy about her art is to share a valuable experience and the excitement of life.
That excitement has been born from many tests, darknesses, disappointments; from, darkness into light. In it, faith has become real; art has become real; We become real.

To see much more of Kay’s art, simply look her up on Instagram.

To hear her on Sally Anne Stewart and Carole Theriault’s Oxford-based Podcast ArtMusings, look it up. I did on Google and it was easy to find.

Finally:   If a teacher has inspired you and helped in your personal development and appreciation in ways like Mr Turner did, don’t wait too long to thank them for the difference and enrichment of  your life which came through them.

[Mr G]