Angela aims to get people on the "write' path to good mental health

Angela Reed, founder of South Shields-based Creative Calligraphy, is placing creativity and wellbeing at the centre of her milestone year – by passing on her writing skills to more people.

The former Gazette journalist has been awarded an Arts Council England (ACE) project grant – which she aims to use to increase the number of organisations in South Tyneside and Sunderland, which already use art in a therapeutic way.

They are Age Concern Tyneside South, Arts 4 Wellbeing, Bright Futures North East and Women’s Health in South Tyneside, all based in South Shields, as well as Community Opportunities in Sunderland.

The two weekly calligraphy groups Angela runs at Mortimer Community Centre in South Shields will also benefit from the £2,808 grant.

The groups will work with guest artists Kerry Cook, from The Art Room Sunderland, and Carrie Dennison, from Crafts for Wellbeing, learning new skills which will complement their calligraphy - including watercolours, metal embossing and lino printing.

Angela, 42, who lives in South Shields with her husband Michael, 42, and their two children, James, 14, and Sophie, 12, launched Creative Calligraphy in May 2014 and started running workshops for The Cultural Spring project around 18 months later.

She now runs classes throughout the North East, both independently and on behalf of organisations such as Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, Newcastle Arts Centre and The Biscuit Factory in Newcastle.

She said: “One of the most common things people tell me after they’ve attended a workshop is how relaxing and mindful they have found it.

“This led to my increasing interest in the positive impact calligraphy – and other creative experiences – can have on people’s mental health and wellbeing and I wanted to explore this further with a number of organisations I have been interested in working with for some time.”

She added: “I’m delighted that this has been made possible with funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and I’m grateful to the organisations involved for their support from the initial idea stage.

“I hope the Calligraphy and Creative Wellbeing project will introduce new audiences to calligraphy.”

For more information about Creative Calligraphy, go to www.creative-calligraphy.co.uk

PANEL

Calligraphy – beautiful writing - is the design and execution of lettering.

The term is thought to derive from the Greek words for “beauty” (kallos) and “to write” (graphein).

Modern calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions – decorative signs and book pages – to fine-art pieces.

It is the second time Angela has received an ACE grant.

The last one – Inspired by Lindisfarne – in 2022, coinciding with the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibition in Newcastle.

Members of her weekly groups visited the exhibition and created their own responses to it – leading to an exhibition that toured The Customs House in South Shields, 17Nineteen in Sunderland and South Shields Museum and Art Gallery last year.