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Art With Jess, Manchester (2026)

02/10/2026

✨ Culture Club - Redefining What It Means to Draw✨

This session of the Culture club was drawing. I wanted to create a session that re-wired the brain from the usual rhetoric of “I can’t draw”. Exploring the idea that drawing skillfully and being creative are not necessarily the same thing.

Rather than focusing on producing a “good” or technically perfect drawing, the session encouraged participants to question what they consider skill, creativity, and success in art.

We began by challenging the traditional idea of drawing skillfully. Through discussion and practical exercises, participants explored the difference between technical skill—control, accuracy, proportion and technique—and creativity, which can involve experimentation, imagination, risk-taking and finding unexpected ways to communicate an idea.

Drawing Together
The first exercise involved working in pairs with a string attached to a pen. Each person had a degree of control over the movement of the pen, meaning that the outcome could not be completely predicted or controlled by one individual.

The exercise encourages you to let go of the expectation that they should be able to control the drawing perfectly. Instead, they had

The resulting drawings became less about individual technical ability and more about collaboration, movement and spontaneity.

The second exercise - Participants were then given scrap paper to draw on. This was intentional: by taking away the value associated with a fresh, pristine sheet of paper, I wanted to create distance from the pressure to make something “good.”

The scrap paper became a space where mistakes were less intimidating and experimentation felt more acceptable. This challenged perfectionism and created an environment where failure could become part of the creative process.

Finally, the last exercise participants were given a blank sheet of white paper and access to a range of materials, with much greater freedom over what and how they wanted to create.

After progressively removing control and expectations throughout the earlier exercises, this final stage gave participants complete ownership of their creative decisions.

The progression from each exercise was designed to shift the focus away from producing a technically “skilled” drawing and towards discovering an individual's own creative response.

01/10/2026

✨USE IT OR LOSE IT ✨

Libraries are so much more than shelves full of books. They are places where children discover a love of reading, people learn new skills, older residents find company, families attend activities, and people who may not have access to a computer or the internet can get online.
And yet our public libraries are under pressure.

In England, 298 static libraries have closed since 2010 without being replaced or relocated, according to the latest Government figures. There were 2,866 static libraries open at the end of 2024.
But closures aren't the only concern. Libraries have also seen reductions in opening hours and changes to the way services are provided.

At the same time, libraries are still being used. The Office for National Statistics reports that 25% of adults visited a public library or mobile library in person during 2023–24, up from 19.5% the previous year.
And what do libraries actually provide?
📖 Literacy and education — a safe place for children to read, learn and develop confidence.

💻 Digital access — computers, internet access and help for people who might otherwise be digitally excluded.

👵 Connection and companionship — libraries can provide a welcoming place for older people and others who may otherwise experience loneliness.

👨‍👩‍👧 Family activities — story time, children's groups, holiday activities and learning opportunities.

🤝 Community — a free, accessible place where people can meet, participate and feel part of their local area.

🏥 Health and wellbeing — Government research has identified libraries as places that can help reduce social isolation, support wellbeing and improve access to health information.

Libraries are one of the few places left where you don't have to spend money to belong.

You don't have to buy a coffee. You don't have to pay an entrance fee. You don't have to be a customer. You can simply walk through the door.

But if we stop using our libraries, it becomes much harder to demonstrate how valuable they are to our communities.

So borrow a book. Take your children. Join a group. Use the computers. Attend an event. Talk to your local library. Tell other people about what it offers.

Because if we want our libraries to be here for the next generation, we need to show that we value them now.

📚 Use your library. Support your library. Protect your library.

21/09/2026

✨HOW DO ARTISTS STEAL?✨

For our last session with Talk About It Mate
we finished the Art For Wellbeing project on one of art’s most interesting questions:

When does inspiration become copying?

Artists have always borrowed, referenced, reworked and responded to the work of others. But where do we draw the line between influence, inspiration, borrowing, copying and stealing?

We explored questions such as:
🎨 Can anything truly be original?�🎨Is copying a form of learning?�🎨Is copying someone’s style different from copying their artwork?�🎨How much can you change an existing idea before it becomes your own?
🎨Does making money from someone else’s idea change the ethics?�🎨Can an artwork be both a copy AND something completely new?

The group also considered the idea that artists rarely create from nothing. We absorb the things we see, experience and encounter, and often transform them into something new.

Rather than asking “Is this right or wrong?”, we asked:
What has been borrowed? What has changed? And what new meaning has been created?

Because sometimes creativity isn’t about inventing something from nothing.Sometimes it’s about taking what already exists and seeing it differently.

18/09/2026

🖼️ It’s just throwing paintings on a wall 🖼️

What happens when an artwork makes you uncomfortable, challenges your beliefs, or sparks a strong emotional reaction?

In this session with Talk About It Mate we explored curating through difficult artworks and considered what it means to decide how art is presented to an audience.

The group explored the curatorial process by thinking about:

Why has this artwork been chosen?
�How does the way it is displayed change how we experience it?
�What feelings or thoughts does the artwork provoke?
�Should every artwork be shown, regardless of how challenging it may be?�
What responsibility does a curator have towards artists and audiences?

We then put this into practice by considering how we would curate a selection of artworks ourselves — thinking about the space, context, placement and information we would provide.

The activity encouraged conversations around choice, perspective, responsibility and interpretation, while showing that curating isn’t simply about choosing what looks good together.

It is about creating a relationship between the artwork, the artist, the space and the audience.

✨ Sometimes the most difficult artworks can create the most interesting conversations✨

16/09/2026

✨Rotten to the core 🍎 ✨

What if there’s more to a picture than what we can see?

This session with Talk About It Mate we explored Hidden Meanings in Art — looking beyond the surface to discover how artists use symbols, objects, colour, composition and imagery to communicate ideas and emotions.

We started by looking at artworks without knowing their context and I challenged the guys to interpret what they thought the artist was trying to say. This opened up conversations around perspective, assumptions and how differently we can interpret the same image.

The guys then created their own artwork containing a hidden message, feeling or idea — without directly explaining what it meant, using symbolism as their guidance.

The artworks were shared and interpreted by others before the artists revealed their original intentions.

This created a great opportunity to explore the difference between what we intend to communicate and how other people perceive us.

Sometimes art can say something that words can’t, and sometimes, what we see in someone else’s art tells us just as much about ourselves as it does about the artist.

Apple work- “rotten to the core” to symbolise dysfunctional families

Bent dart - “rejection”

28/08/2026

✨ Simon Says (TAIM edition)✨

Today with Talk About It Mate we looked at Conceptual Art; what’s more meaningful, the process, the concept or the final piece? Looking into artists like Yoko Ono, Sol Lewitt and others in looking at how one can distinguish between ownership and authenticity within conceptual art.

This exercise explored communication, interpretation, trust and control through drawing.

The guys worked in pairs, with one person taking the role of the “Director” and the other becoming the “Artist.” The Director thinks of an image, object or idea and must describe it verbally, while the Artist attempts to draw what they hear.

The Artist cannot ask questions, and the Director cannot gesture or draw — meaning the final artwork is entirely dependent on how effectively the two people communicate and interpret one another.

Once the drawings are complete, the pair compares what was imagined with what was created.

Then I added a twist, I was the director and all the guys was the artist, and this was the results, I had 13 different forms of creative expression all through the same directions.

A lot of the time, people seem to think the arts is just drawing; or painting but it can be a lot more than that, it can be practising expressing ideas, seeing things from other peoples perspectives, It also demonstrates how easily messages can become misunderstood and how communication is a two-way process.

Loved this guys, so glad to see you all exploring and getting more involved in the arts!

10/08/2026

✨ART PERSPECTIVE✨

At Talk About It Mate, art isn’t about being “good” at drawing. It’s about creating a space to explore how we see ourselves, how others see us, and why those perspectives don’t always match.

Recently we’ve been using art exercises alongside open debates around authenticity and perspective within the arts. A lot of the time, people feel disconnect with art because they think it is above them.

Conversations within perception, authenticity and artist/artworks can really help one understand that’s it’s all just perspective and whether you think it’s “right” or “wrong” it is still a valid aesthetic perspective!

Can you ever see something exactly as someone else does? Does art have one correct interpretation? Can the everyday be art? Does it have an expiry date ? These were the questions we explored within work like Tracey Emin “My Bed”, William De Kooning and his woman series and my abstract work; deciphering just from image alone, what makes something an artwork, how can you tell if something is in a gallery from say a painting you painted last week?

These conversations can start with a drawing, a painting or an interpretation of an artwork, but quickly become about something much bigger;

How we navigate everyday life.

The assumptions we make about other people.The stories we tell ourselves.The pressure to present ourselves in a certain way. The difference between who we are and who we think we’re expected to be.

Art gives us a way to talk about these things without always having to talk about them directly.

There’s no right answer.

Just different perspectives, honest conversations and a chance to look at things differently.

Sometimes changing the way you see something can change the way you understand it. So that’s why for this exercise, I got the guys to interoperate the artworks in front of them, in THEIR own personal style, and this is the results.

07/08/2026

✨The Power of Influence ✨

Sometimes creativity and purpose begin with something as simple as being introduced to a band.

For me, that band was Sam Fender.
His music doesn’t just tell stories, it shines a light on subjects that are often left unspoken, especially men’s mental health and su***de prevention.

Listening to his lyrics made me more aware of the pressures many men carry and the importance of creating spaces where those conversations can happen. Not long after, I experienced my own personal situation with a family member that deepened my understanding of how vital support and connection really are.

It changed the way I viewed mental health and strengthened my belief that creativity can be a powerful way to express what words sometimes can’t.

Presently, I have the privilege of helping facilitate art sessions with Talk About It Mate on a weekly basis. Watching people connect, create, and open up through art has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my career.

It’s a reminder that influence can come from anywhere—a song, an artist, a conversation—and that inspiration has the power to create a ripple effect.

What started with listening to music has become part of my journey in helping others find connection, confidence, and expression through creativity.

Today, with Talk about it Mate, I gave them lyrics of different songs from Sam fender and to express it creatively on what they think it’s represents, whilst having discussions about the power of influence, the difference between influence and copying in art history, and reflections of the lyrics themselves.

Creativity isn’t about creating from nothing, it’s about observing, absorbing, and transforming influences into something uniquely your own.

29/07/2026

✨ Auguste Herbin✨

Artist appreciation is more than admiring a finished painting—it’s taking time to understand the ideas, emotions, and lived experiences behind the work, and that’s what me and the guys from Talk About It Mate did.

Despite people’s reactions towards abstract art as “easy” or the phrase of “a child can do it” which are all valid aesthetic experiences or thoughts, however, exploring abstract art invites us to slow down, question what we see, and discover meaning that isn’t always obvious.

Artists such as Auguste Herbin challenged traditional ways of seeing, reminding us that colour, form, and composition can speak as powerfully as words.

Art appreciation isn’t about having the “right” interpretation. It’s about curiosity, conversation, and allowing yourself to connect with creativity in your own way.

For many people, especially within mental health communities, engaging with the arts offers a space to reflect, process emotions, and experience moments of calm, connection, and possibility.

Every gallery visit, creative workshop, and shared conversation helps build a culture where expression is valued and every perspective has a place.

Moral of the post: Keep exploring. Keep asking questions. Keep celebrating the artists who encourage us to see the world—and ourselves—from new perspectives.

*the first 2 images are not my own*

CreativeCommunity

22/07/2026

✨Hygge Game✨

Hygge is a Danish and Norwegian word that roughly translates to coziness.

Using the Hygge Game with Talk About It Mate alongside simple doodling activities, creates a relaxed and welcoming space where connection can happen naturally.

Not everyone finds it easy to talk about how they’re feeling. Having a game to spark conversation and a pen in hand to sketch thoughts, symbols, or ideas can take the pressure off. Doodling isn’t about being artistic—it’s about giving people another way to reflect, express themselves, and join the conversation.

We’ve found that this combination encourages meaningful discussions, shared laughter, reflection, and connection. Sometimes a simple drawing says what words can’t.

Creating spaces where men can connect without pressure is an important part of supporting mental wellbeing. Every conversation, every sketch, and every shared experience helps build a stronger sense of community.

PeerSupport

Art With Jess

02/10/2026

01/10/2026

21/09/2026

18/09/2026

16/09/2026

28/08/2026

10/08/2026

07/08/2026

29/07/2026

22/07/2026

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