Grayson Perry loves The Art Room

Virtually any charity promoting ART in any form will gain my tiny but hopefully not totally ineffectual support. Having taught creative courses of one kind or another to teenagers and adults, some coping with a wide variety of challenges, I feel a particular empathy for this kind of resourceful and imaginative empowerment. So when I heard about one of my hero's Grayson P's patronage, I looked them up.

The Art Room is a charity aimed at 5 - 16 year olds who are experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties. There are currently nine Art Rooms in schools in Oxfordshire, London and Edinburgh offering art as therapy to increase children’s self-esteem, self-confidence and independence.

Grayson Perry outlines his support of The Art Room in his 4th and last Reith Lecture on the5th November 2013

As part of his Reith Lectures, Playing to the Gallery, Grayson Perry’s final lecture on Tuesday 5th November looked back at his journey from the unconscious child playing with paint, to the award-winning successful artist of today. As part of this lecture, "I Found Myself in the Art World", Grayson talks at length about The Art Room and his discovery of the art studios. 

Below is an extract taken directly from Grayson’s lecture – to view the full transcript visit:  

 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9

"....I loved The Art Room because it seemed to formalise my own take on the relationship of therapy and art. And it’s a very pragmatic thing as well. You know they didn’t necessarily do the sort of typical things you do where you just do a painting that ends up being tacked to the fridge at home, you know or maybe lost. They gave them things like they would get some old furniture and get them to decorate it and then take that home, or a lampshade. And of course these children often come from houses where there might not be much furniture - so that idea of presenting the family with this object that you’ve made and the pride and the kind of feeling that they’ve changed the world a little bit, I think that’s a very powerful thing."   Grayson Perry

 

http://www.theartroom.org.uk/8-02-donate.html