Vulnerable adults show their art at Chichester gallery

Prestige and self-esteem await at Chichester's Oxmarket Centre of Arts for a group of vulnerable adults now showing their work.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th May 2017, 08:49 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 03:11 BST
Some of the exhibitorsSome of the exhibitors
Some of the exhibitors

The exhibition by Leaholme Artists runs until June 4.

The artists are all members of a class which is run by the WEA reaching out programme for vulnerable adults, which meets each Tuesday afternoon at Leaholme in Gilmore Road, Chichester. Students’ work ranges from landscape, abstract art and poster design to portraiture.

Anne Hollis, reaching-our co-ordinator for the WEA Chichester branch, providing courses for vulnerable adults, said: “Leaholme is a series of flats which provide support for vulnerable adults, some with learning disabilities. There are 12 in the group, and as far as I know, they all have something in the show. People choose their own medium, so it is very varied.

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“Art is something that people of any age and almost any disadvantage can do, but it is also a social opportunity to meet other people, and I know that they also have fun as well.

“This is the first time we have done the exhibition at the Oxmarket. We have done a couple of exhibitions in the library and one at New Park Road, but we have been very lucky. The reaching-out programme have had a very nice grant from Chichester Cathedral which has enabled us to do this.

“The most obvious success is the prestige and self-esteem which it gives the artists. Everything is for sale, and you also think of the number of people that attend the exhibition. But the most important aspect is the prestige, that people can still do interesting artwork right through into their 80s and 90s.”

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