We sat down with Poppy in the studio for a chat about her experience of volunteering on True Colours projects with Radiate Arts
Above: Poppy outside Principality Building Society, where she displayed her quilt blocks as part of the True Colours Art Trail
What were your expectations going into volunteering with Radiate Arts?
Pretty much to just come in and do more creative things than I usually get the opportunity to do and just have fun with it really.
What sort of creative things did you want to do?
Just anything really, making things like masks and stuff doing any sort of art-based things like painting and drawing and sewing as well.
Which projects have you taken part in with True Colours?
The Art Therapy, the quilt blocks, being part of the art trail and the Teatime Tuesdays.
Have you learned anything new?
Yes, through the quilt blocks and stuff I’ve learned how to sew and sew quilt blocks, which I never knew how to do! Seeing the designs and then turning it into something physical in front of you, I’ve never been able to do that.
And through the art therapy it was learning the clay sculpting and learning new things about myself through the art therapy and through the cooking, learning to cook in different ways with different things, new recipes and things I can take home and make for myself again.
Above: One of Poppy's Queer Quilt Block designs
Have you met any new people?
Quite a few to be fair! I feel like it’s a different group of people that turn up at different things, like with the art therapy it was a different group of people than the people that came to the cooking. Yeah, there’s been a lot of people at each of them and its been nice to meet new people and you know - have conversations with different people than who I would meet in my regular life.
What do you think you've gained?
I’ve gained confidence. Learning new skills, gained confidence in – probably in my cooking skills cos they definitely wasn’t there! I’ve gained confidence by being out of the house a bit more and trying to find new hobbies because it’s not something I usually do because I tend to just sit in the house so its nice to get out a bit and have the confidence for that. So that’s been nice.
Would you recommend volunteering?
Oh yea, because it doesn’t feel like you’re volunteering to work it feels like you’re here to have fun and be creative and discover new things about yourself and make new friends and stuff so it doesn’t feel like you’re working so I definitely recommend it.
Interested in volunteering? We welcome applications from all interested parties.
You can give us a call on 01244 267806, by email at: office@radiatearts.co.uk or get in touch here
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