‘Art can be a powerful form of expression…’

I read that once on a postcard and it made me think, I remember saying to my friends that when I had children I would bring them up connected with art. Stories, poetry, paintings, drawings, sculptures, the theatre and so on.

My journey in the beginning of that wasn’t always easy due to some venues being inaccessible or some exhibitions that are great for kids; not being autism or learning disabled friendly.

How Art helps my son

There’s a calming yet sensory richness about the theatre; the costumes, the creativity and inspiration that goes on behind the scenes that gives us so much to talk about. The imagination of the story and the conversations we can have about the themes, the learning and lessons in there. The fact that he can get lost in another time, space or realm even and the interaction with the audience. He loves it.

Then there are the gallery’s where we can stroll around and use our imagination to describe what we see. We all see something different in art which makes it interesting and I learn a lot about how he is feeling when he describes his perception. It helps his speech and the formation of descriptive words and we can talk about how art encourages us to feel.

There are many times that I have found it to be therapeutic for him, and we have found some great venues to go to and re visit which I have listed below…

Our favourite art seeped places such as The Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Bradford Media Museum or the Bradford Industrial Museum, the Football Museum in Manchester or the People’s History Museum also in Manchester. There is art and inspiration in everything around us, if it was designed and made then it was inspired and created. From the environment itself to the structures we build there is so much that other people’s imagination and forms of expression have to offer and we enjoy finding more and more accessible places to enjoy and share with others.

Art in London

We recently explored difficulties and barriers with trips to London to I am aware of this as I share this particular website that I have used before but it maybe helpful for some of you nonetheless.

Artsline is a website which hosts information around accessibility and the world of art in London. You can go through a quick checklist to home in on your specifications which filters out so much of the work for you (well that’s my personal experience).

Artsline claim to host over 1000 art focused venues across London on their site with accessibility information at your finger tips. I even now use it for myself as i’m hearing impaired, I often forget about my own accessibility needs as i’m caring for my son and making sure that his needs are met and that he too can enjoy his experiences.

So if you do fancy a wintery trip out to share in some new year art related culture in London then I recommend a quick scan on Artsline to see if it can help guide you in any way.

Please do keep in touch, share your stories, challenges and experiences.