Health / Mindfulness
Creative wellbeing from art enterprise run by mother and daughter
Creative manifestation, mindfulness with heart and more are at the centre of a new business run by a mother and daughter from Redland.
Located on Whiteladies Road inside Tom Dickens/The Minter-Kemp Gallery, The Energy Cog hopes to become a place where creativity is used to better wellbeing.
Run by Hebe Dickins and her mother Claire, the pair offer workshops and courses in art journaling, energy psychology and mindfulness.
is needed now More than ever
“Claire and I have always been involved in mind/body modalities and always saw the intrinsic link with people’s creative selves,” says Hebe, who also works as a community host at Origin Workspace, yoga and mindfulness teacher and therapist.
“Claire is a visual artist and I trained as an actor at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, so both have creative backgrounds.”
Claire and Hebe want The Energy Cog to be accessible for as many people as possible. Photo: The Energy Cog
The pair say that they haven’t seen an approach like theirs before. Using art journaling classes and creating mindfulness with art, they hope the Energy Cog can become an accessible place for people to engage in positive mental wellbeing.
Claire and Hebe stress that the workshops and courses they run aren’t art therapy, but also aren’t a standard art class, instead being a way for people to look after themselves using art and science.
“It’s different to other classes because we go into the science behind creativity, making it more plausible for people to see it as a legitimate means of looking after themselves,” Hebe says.
“There is a huge need for resilience building and wellbeing support, and we want to add ourselves to the movement of practitioners. The more of us out there, the more normal and accepted looking after our mental and emotional wellbeing will become.
“It’s also important to us that we get ourselves in a position whereby we can have a bigger reach and make it even more affordable and accessible.”
Hebe and Claire hope to open in June. Photo: The Energy Cog
The Energy Cog has been 20 years in creation. Claire started using art as a healer while raising her four children and working as an artist. 28-year-old Hebe is trained in therapy back has a background in acting.
Using their creative backgrounds and knowledge of wellbeing, they hope that they can support others in the same way they have helped through art.
Opening at the end of June, the pair have already planned a workshop on the power of art journaling, a five-week course on the same subject and a four-week course on mindfulness with heart, which combines mindfulness and heart coherence.
“We want people to have access to creativity, especially at a time when it’s often considered less important,” says Hebe. “These are not standard art classes, but about creativity in its rawest form – something that is SO needed.”
Main photo: The Energy Cog
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