Autistic and artistic

Hesley Group students are constantly amazing their staff, parents and friends with their artistic abilities. The latest to do so are the students at The Forum School, who have stunned local people with their talents during a successful exhibition at a local art centre.

Examples of line drawing, painting, photography, weaving and pottery produced by pupils at The Forum School have been exhibited for a fortnight at the Shaftesbury Art Centre and produced an array of encouraging comments from visitors.

The work, which was produced during the course of last year, ranged from paintings inspired by the masters such as Van Gogh and Monet to more modern media including photographs of play dough models and computer based art work.

The project was spearheaded by creative arts teacher Rachel Alner with the help of teaching assistant Barbara Arnold. As well as local people, the exhibition attracted attention from parents, friends of the school and friends and family of staff. All the children at The Forum visited the exhibition and a group of students from The Wing Centre received a warm welcome when they made the trip.

Head Gay Waters says: “All the subjects were amazing in their own right. Art often enables our pupils to express themselves. The old adage that children with autism are not creative just isn’t true and you can see from this exhibition that there is a lot of talent in these youngsters.

“If you take each child on their own and work with them to find a medium that suits them then their individuality will show through. Some may need a model to help them work like Van Gogh’s Sunflowers but others can complete a piece of art work on their own.

“The best memory of this exhibition for me will be the pleasure on the faces of the children. The children looked so proud when they walked into the exhibition to see their own work displayed. Every single child’s face lit up and beamed when they realised that their work was being appreciated.”

The school has applied for a national Artsmark from the Arts Council and is waiting to hear whether it has been successful in gaining either a gold, silver or bonze award. The mark includes the school’s work in music, as well as visual art and could set The Forum School apart from other schools in their field.