Time out: Art for bereaved kids

The impetus for Hawke’s Bay artist Deborah Smith putting her efforts into running free art classes for bereaved children was the death of her own father.

He was 42 when he died from melanoma; Smith was 18 and her siblings younger.

It was a very difficult time, with little distraction from the realities of losing a close family member, Smith said. “We were all at sea. There was nothing then and nothing now.”

Out of that, and after many years as a very successful photographer, Hastings-raised Smith had developed Cloud Workshop – “serious art workshops” for bereaved children and those with someone in their family suffering a life-threatening illness.

Smith, who now lives in Auckland, is putting on a workshop for between six and 18 children aged five to 18, next Sunday (July 12) in the Hastings City Art Gallery.

The workshops were not designed as therapy, Smith said, but often landed up “accidentally therapeutic”.

The point is to give the children a break away from the stress of grief, and let them spend time with a “bunch of kids in the same boat.”

It is not a painting class, said Smith. “This is really serious art using really good materials and cutting edge artistic ideas.”

The workshops are based on the styles of well-known artists, and sometimes the selected artist is able to attend the session. The Hastings one will be an “assemblage project”.

“Art is an invaluable tool that allows children to be creative, gives them a little bit of power, it shows them they can make something; sometimes it’s something quite private for the person missing from their lives; sometimes it is just something for them,” Smith said.

“Creativity is very, very important. It makes you look at things in a different way, use your imagination, think through things.”

Most children did not talk about their bereavement, preferring to use the time as a break from their grief, Smith said.

“At the beginning of the workshop I introduce myself and have one or two lines on why we’re all together. Then I say to them ‘we’re not here to bang on about it, but all the adults in the room are trained to hear you if you do want to talk to them’.”

The Hastings-raised artist and teacher runs the free workshops on a totally voluntary basis; saying they are her way of giving back after her successful career.

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