Full Circle Digital Magazine September 2013 | Page 50

COMMUNITY • HEARTS TO HANDS • ART IN THE FOREST

hearts to hands

community

Art in the Forest studio

Art in the Forest
When a picturesque property nestled above the Constantia valley was donated to the Light From Africa Foundation in 2011, ART in the FOREST was born. Led by Anthony Shapiro, this nonprofit social enterprise is now a well-established centre of ceramic excellence and education. ART in the FOREST is a thriving ceramic centre with full time artists, associate artists who rent cubicle space, and a communal space. The studio offers ongoing pottery classes, workshops and interactive ceramic courses such as ceramic science and ceramic history, taught in modules. Our gallery showcases up to 6 ceramic exhibitions per year featuring leading ceramicists of the country. We also offer clay children’s parties, holiday workshops and clay teambuilding events as well as various workshops by leading ceramic artists. Profits made at ART in the FOREST are donated to Light From Africa Foundation and used to fund outreach programmes that allows disadvantaged children to have access to art. What began with a few creative clay play sessions in the pottery studio led us on a journey to research the use of clay and other creative media in therapy. We connected with a team of experts and developed four core programmes with a long-term strategy to address the psychosocial needs of vulnerable children from early childhood development, through to the teenage years and into early adulthood. We then reached out to local grass roots organisations and children’s homes in Cape Town and Johannesburg to begin the process of piloting the programmes. Once we were good to go, we began to develop long-term plans with specific partner organisations for whom we facilitate our programmes for free. From the beginning, we included a programme especially developed for the adult care workers, teachers, and foster mums who nurture these children on a daily basis. Our programmes (Clay Class, Clay Care, Clay Play and Celebrating Me) address the multiple traumas that vulnerable children face with a common focus on self-esteem and creativity. We look into traumas such as the illness and death of parents, violence and exploitation, stigma and discrimination, isolation and loneliness.

Light From Africa Foundation Intention
All of Light From Africa Foundation’s therapeutic clay programmes are regular and ongoing. We aim to build the external and internal resources of our participants to help them cope with adversity whilst developing important life skills. In addition, we endeavour to develop resilience, create a nurturing and safe space, encourage creativity to explore feelings and give the participants an opportunity to see themselves as valuable and worthwhile. We aspire to deliver programmes that are culturally sensitive, collaborative, gender responsive, age-specific and inclusive whilst remaining informative through continuous learning.

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FULL CIRCLE DIGITAL MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2013