by Simon Waller

Sometimes you remember things, things you hear, things you see, things you read. They might make you smile, make you laugh, help you to understand, help you to forget. You might not know your going to remember them, they may not seem profound or important they may seem mundane and ordinary but really they are just camouflaged as the ordinary pretending to be barely noticeable. Things can just lay dormant in your mind ticking away like a time tomb of enlightenment waiting to explode and shower you with insight, to change your life, your outlook, your attitude, your ambition, the way you look at life and perhaps the way life looks at you.

Something crept into a dark and dusty corner of my mind many years ago and hid, I can remember hearing it which is strange as it was over thirty years ago and as at the time it had no effect on me, it wasn’t a life changing moment, there was not flash of inspiration and it didn’t strike me as being profound at the time. I was watching Arthur, the tale of a lovable drunk finding his way in the world with guidance from his butler Hobson. Discussing his drinking with his wife to be Arthur defends his antics by proclaiming, “Not everyone that drinks is a poet, some of us drink because we are not poets…”

Recently I helped to organise a creative arts project for a group of people I am lucky to work with. When we first talked about what we would do, what we wanted to achieve, how we would go about it everyone was quick to tell me that they couldn’t be creative because they were not artistic. Arthur’s words exploded in my consciousness and I suddenly saw the oxymoron as the poetry it was and it made me think. Are all artists creative and is all creativity art? I don’t pretend to know the answer and I think there is no answer, not a right answer or a wrong answer anyway and maybe that’s the point.

My friends and colleagues ultimately worked creatively, sometimes together, sometimes alone and produced what I would describe as art. I wouldn’t say art because as a piece it looked pretty, like a grand master or looked like it should be called art. But to me when I looked at the end result it felt like art, it was uplifting, it made me smile, feel good, laugh. I could see beyond the images, the physicality and the practicality, I could see the joy of individuals surpassing their expectations, the wonder of mastering new skills and techniques, and the satisfaction of sharing a task. I could see the friendships formed by people that seldom spoke; I could see pride, satisfaction, something to take home more important than a pay packet. So to me what I could see was Art, to me the journey was about Creativity but an abstract Creativity, the Creation of friendships, bonds, new beliefs, self-esteem, ambitions and desires.

The things I have heard, learnt, seen and come to understand whilst working with my colleagues and friends are not to be confined to the darkness of my sub-consciousness for recall at a time far off, they are to be recalled daily, hourly, constantly to inspire me, pick me up, make me smile, make me feel warm and remind me how lucky I am to do the job that I do with such great people.