Returning to Art • by Amelia Critchlow

During an intense period of post-natal depression and solo parenting in my twenties, I had a dream telling me to return to the study of art. I had studied it at school and continued to dabble as an adult. This dream didn't leave me for five years (the time it took me to act on it) and after moving back to London, UK, with a child in tow in my mid-twenties I finally applied and returned to college to study art. The night before the course began I had another powerful dream and knew it was the right thing to do.

The Way I Survived
I spent a total of seven years studying at foundation level and then doing a Fine Art Degree at an art school in London. I did it part-time as I had to both parent and earn money. By this time I had had another child who I found out at the end of my degree has Aspergers Syndrome, and ironically found myself alone again fighting some of the toughest times in my life.

Art was quite simply the way I survived learning about, and coping with, my son's condition and dealing with a difficult split. I found myself processing my thoughts, feelings, and experiences through the form of mixed-media art. The exploration through visual imagery became a powerful way to understand using a different language, whilst at the same time allowing me to envision better things too. Art has become a celebration of all that others and I are, see, and also wish to be.

I enjoy working with people so much that I also undertook a teaching qualification whilst doing my degree and went on to run art workshops and funded projects within the community (which I still do). I particularly enjoy projects that work with individuals facing challenges, such as expelled or excluded young people, or refugee seekers. More recently, I got funding for a project to work with sufferers of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and worked with a friend to realize this art project, which you can see at livingwithautism.co.uk.

A Fuller Part of my Life
Art is such a fantastic tool for communication and sharing on both small and large scales, whether a professional artist or a person that creates purely for pleasure. I truly believe art and creativity is something we all benefit from doing. As a result, I developed an online experimental art e-course in 2010 with busy people and parents like me in mind, who may not always get childcare or have the finances to pay for it (see it at ameliacritchlow.co.uk/section354449.html). It allows for an opportunity to explore art from the comfort of home. I know how demanding parenting is, but also how scary and difficult it can be to start one's journey into art, or even just to take our art further (parent or not). I have been so happy to have people from all over the world participate, forming a community of art experimenters and also connecting with other people and parents (including those who care for children with autism). I love connecting with others.

It has been such a pleasure to make art an intrinsic part of my life. At the start of 2010, I could feel my art slipping as I had to contend with the demands of parenting and earning, and it was in January last year I decided it was “make or break” time for my art; either I honored it properly and made it a fuller part of my life, or I let it slip, and I knew I couldn't do that. In this past year I have set up and loved running the experimental art e-course and as a result returned to study my MA in Fine Art at Wimbledon School of Art in London where I get to explore my own art, and I feel so very, very grateful for having art in my life. It is an ongoing, unfolding journey where we often don't know where it will twist and turn next, and I find this so exciting and regenerative.

To learn more about Amelia Critchlow, visit ameliacritchlow.co.uk.

Comments

[Carol Weiler]

I love your story and your courage!

[Cara Branigan]

Your story is wonderful, and such an inspiration to me at this time. I'm a single mum to an eight year old, and I've recently completed a college art course, earning a BTEC National Diploma. It took me ages to go back to my education, because I just didn't think I was good enough and I also thought I wouldn't have time, with being a lone parent. I was supposed to go to uni this September just gone (to study for a degree in Illustration for Children), but I deferred it for a year because I was pregnant. Unfortunately, my twins were born prematurely and I lost them, but when I'm feeling sad, I find it helpful to sit down with my sketchpad and just draw. It's weird how just putting pencil to paper can help you cope with life, isn't it?