News

It’s a New Dawn for Artist Tara
01 May 2013

Spring this year has brought an added bonus for artist Tara Patrick. Her work "Homage to the Bard” has been awarded first prize in thinkarts! New Dawn art competition which is on show at The Refectory, Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge until 20th May 2013 . Tara, who hails from Woodford in north-east London, rose to the challenge spurred on by her love of the works of Shakespeare. The thinkarts! competition challenged artists to use as a starting point the quote from Romeo and Juliet "what light through yonder window breaks” to explore themes around hope, recovery and wellbeing. The building which is now Southwark Cathedral was once Shakespeare’s parish church and his brother, Edmund, was buried there.

An oil on canvas, Tara said of her work "it was very much inspired by … the awesome stained glass windows at the Cathedral. It is a tribute to Shakespeare, whose work I adore. The intensity and play of light and dark inner states of consciousness in his work directly empathizes with my own struggles with Psychosis and Depression. The Painting expresses the light, the softness and the wonderful colours in the glass and lead images so lovingly constructed by Artists across the ages.”

A total of 24 new pieces of work were received and judged by a panel of judges representing Southwark Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe Education Department, and North East London Foundation Trust. Thinkarts!, a project of charity CREST, seeks to promote wellbeing through artistic expression -- creating opportunities for artists who are or who have experienced mental health problems to have their work more widely seen.

Of her struggle with mental illness and on hearing news of her award, Tara said "I have lived as a recluse for many years due to my mental illness. Painting has been my life ... yet no one other than family, has seen my art. . It is my Art that has kept me alive, giving me a reason to get up in the morning, and to go to bed at night.. What you have given me, as well as an awesome prize is the acknowledgement that my life as a struggling artist has not been in vain.”

Homage to the Bard can be seen alongside the other work submitted at the New Dawn Exhibition, The Refectory, Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge until 20th May 2013.

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