OUAN602 - PPP3: Henshaws' Arts and Crafts

OUAN602 - PPP3:

Henshaws' Arts and Crafts

I applied at Henshaws' art and crafts center in Knaresborough a few days ago for the role of classroom assistant. Henshaws has been a huge part of my life from being a small child as we would often visit the center as it was a mere three miles away from our home and was really nice to walk to in the summer through the Knaresborough countryside and fields. It taught me from a young age that everybody is different and some people have 'disabilities'. After visiting Henshaws I would say to my mum that the blind, deaf, and severely autistic students that worked their to create beautiful multisensory works of art "didn't have disabilities because they made such amazing things". I didn't see their difficulties as a hindrance, but rather the fuel for them to make unusual and abstract things that portrayed a world that they each experienced in unique ways.

We'd go there on school trips and I'd always be really proud to tell my class that I visited the center all the time and supported the workers by sometimes buying little bits of their art whenever they had exhibitions. I believe that art is for everyone of all backgrounds, and by working in a high school art class voluntarily for a year full of very able and privileged students, and then onto Inkwell with students with mental difficulties, I believe that I could work at Henshaws as I have then experienced art with every kind of artist. Knowing that feels really nice as I'm able to immerse myself in a world which is diverse and full of people with all kinds of abilities, which will allow me to understand the world better and exactly how therapeutic and helpful arts and crafts can be.

I've yet to hear from them, but I hope I do as I'd be ecstatic to work such amazing and talented people. Not only is Henshaws a charity, but it is also educational (they run a college at the back of my family home). I would love to learn sign language and find out other ways in which I can help and teach. Henshaws are incredibly successful at what they do as they make art on a completely new level. They teach us that by learning a little about the artists and just how diverse and talented they are, you can appreciate their work that little bit more.