Where it all started

Originally, I trained as an Art Teacher. I taught many classes where over half the class were disengaged with low self confidence. I was often met with ‘I’m rubbish at Art’, or ‘I can’t draw’, where I then had to change the way students looked at Art. As I spoke to others, the more I realised that Adults too were holding back from creating, due to one persons negative view on their work, that had effected how they viewed their own. I have a vivid memory a couple of years ago, creating a painting that took 8 hours. For the whole 8 hours, I was internally verbally abusing the work I was creating. I asked myself, what was the point if I was being so cruel to myself?

LOOKUP was created after some traumatic life experiences. I physically and emotionally hit rock bottom. I was unable to return to my job as teacher, and had to rebuild myself, my health and my life. I never stopped going outside, the benefits outweighing the barriers. I had always worked in jobs where I gave so much of myself to others, I had nothing left for myself or loved ones. Being in this situation made me stop and reflect, be bored and think. I need creativity to function, but that had been sapped by burn out.

It was when that LOOKUP was born. How people experience Art needed to change. Not just adults, teenagers, or kids, but everyone! There was a huge opportunity that was being missed; using Art as a form of mindfulness.