|
|
CENTREPIECES BOOKS
|
Centrepieces books published by Centrpieces Press |
|
|
|
TALES OF BEXLEY HOSPITAL by BRITTA VON ZWEIGBERGK
SYNOPSIS: A lighthearted look at daily life in Bexley Hospital - 1973-1996
From the patients point of view and also the staff. An account of Cynthia Pell's time as a patient in the Hospital.
Photographs and accounts of different departments.
|
|
CENTREPIECES
A Story of the Arts and Mental Health in Bexley by BRITTA VON ZWEIGBERGK
SYNOPSIS:
A History of Bexley Hospital and the formation of Centrepieces - Centrepieces started life as a project in Oxleas NHS Trust and proved very successful - most of the founder members were users of the art therapy department in Bexley Hospital - a strong bond existed between the two.
The book explores both - covering the closure of the Hospital and the founding of Centrepieces.
|
|
PEOPLE AND THEIR PICTURES 1
The art therapy department in Bexley Hospital Kent (1973-96) developed into a maelstrom of creative activity. For over two decades it attempted to create the possibility of some freedom of choice - a move away from the general ethos of institutionalisation. Over the years it evolved into a place where it was possible to find oneself through personal statements mostly in images, but sometimes in words.
'All corridors lead to the art therapy department' a patient once told me while another observed that the art therapy department and its interior 'reminds me of the inside of my head'
The book explores a small number of interesting, striking and enigmatic pieces of art, by description attempting to relate colours and shapes to moods and feelings, how they emerged in the first place, often not deliberately but past the internal censor and what ultimately the artists made of them.
|
|
|
PEOPLE AND THEIR PICTURES 2
A continuation of PEOPLE AND THEIR PICTURES 1 by BRITTA VON ZWEIGBERGK
SYNOPSIS: An in-depth look at Patients pictures - (all names have been changed. Several famous artists are also included and an in-depth look at a long term resident at the hospital's work over twenty years.
|
|
|
|
|
ASYLUM LIVES
A history of mental illness with special emphasis on the late twentieth century. It is a very useful source book for nursing students, art therapists,(particularly art therapy trainees) occupational therapists and all those interested in mental health issues. It particularly explores the anti psychiatry movement in the middle /late twentieth century and schizophrenia and creativity.
It has an extensive appendix with historical details of notable asylums and their inmates - Broadmoor, Bexley, Horton and Bethlem Royal among others.
Artworks are also shown - i.e. Richard Dadd in Bethlem Royal and Broadmoor, Louis Wain in Bethlem Royal, Cynthia Pell in Bexley Hospital plus others.
|
|
|
TALKING ABOUT ART: A Collection of Essays Exploring the Origins, Meaning and Function of Art in Human Society.
Intended as an introduction to a creative and exploratory way of thinking about art as it relates to ourselves, to society and even where it might have emerged from in the first place. The sources used are meant to encourage internal reflection and the desire to explore further.
The questions it asks are universal questions around our very existence and the problems of loneliness, isolation, love, meaning and death. How we relate to each other as humans and how in different ways this can be expressed through art.
|
|
|
PICTURES FROM THE EDGE:
A Visual Introduction Art Therapy in Bexley Hospital 1973-1996
This small volume introduces the reader to an alternative language - the language of art, a powerful means of communication - colours, lines and shapes have their own ability to express FEELINGS difficult to express in words. Paradoxically words are used in the exploration of meanings
- suggestions are not definitive like a dictionary, on the contrary, such ideas are flexible and can have multiple meanings, and like dreams are often unpredictable.
It has a companion volume shown on the right, words entirely written in the department by patients and collected by me.
Often amusing, profound, tragic, They reflect life in the Asylum during the latter part of the twentieth century.
|
|
|
|
