Rebirth
Introduction
When a baby is born, so is the mum, and perhaps the dad too.
We look at multiple pressures and anxiety among young adults, especially expectant parents and parents struggling for balance in their lives at this time of so much change. The Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery has a long history of engaging with art for social action and we want toreach out to a diverse audience of young parents in the UK, China and beyond. We chose to base our outreach project on the experience of two paintings with the theme of ‘Mother and Child’ by the artists Meninsky and Lessore. Inspired by stories and creative artworks from four families, a series of collage posters have been designed to convey the emotions inspired by the paintings, communicatingthe healing power of art.
Art heals, as a therapeutic medium, enabling us to remember hope and happiness, appreciate sorrow, deepen self-understanding, rebalance our life and grow. We hope you, as new parents or parents to be, could be inspired and enlightened by these stories and artworks during a time of uncertainty.
当婴儿降生时，父母亲也会同时获得新生……
Stanley and Audrey Burton画廊在艺术促进社会改变上有着悠久的历史。由于受到Stanley and Audrey Burton画廊中两位艺术家Meninsky和Lessore的两幅以“母亲和孩子”为主题的画的启发，我们联想到身陷于更迭变换的时代，许多年轻人被繁多社会问题所困扰，特别那些即将作为准父母的夫妻，身处工作与生活的多重压力下，容易产生焦虑与压力。我们因此而萌生了创作这个展览的想法。该展览邀请了来自英国、中国等国家的年轻父母作为参与者，尝试通过艺术疗愈的概念帮助他们缓解焦虑不安的情绪。受访的四个家庭的故事和他们创作的艺术作品为我们的项目提供了灵感，我们设计了一系列的海报来记录他们在艺术疗愈中的感受和想法，以及我们希望传达的艺术疗愈的力量。
艺术治愈，作为一种心理疗愈媒介，能让我们铭记希望和幸福，欣赏悲伤，加深自我理解，平衡我们的生活和促进成长。同时，我们也希望你们，作为新手父母或即将成为父母的人，能够在这个特殊的时期，从这些故事和艺术作品中受到激励和启发，勇敢地接受来自生活的挑战。
1 Remembering
Wang Zheng describes his parenting life as like the colour of the Pacific Ocean.
An oil painter and a PhD student in the Central Academy of Fine Art, Wang Zheng is also a four-year-old girl’s father.
During his childhood, living near to the airport, aeroplanes were always part of his life. After growing up, he met a young lady who worked in an air crew and they got married. Flights are somehow special symbols in his life, recording his youth and also bringing his love into his life. After having their daughter, happiness like a colourful sunshine is forever shining for these young parents. Every time Wang Zheng talks about his baby girl, it's as if he's seeing her through colourful sunshine.
As a professional artist, creating art is his everyday life. He is constantly deepening his understanding of art. He believes art lets people record the stories in their hearts and allows them to express them freely and creatively.
作为中央美术学院油画系博士生，同时也是一位四岁小女孩的父亲，育儿生活在艺术家王铮眼里，是如太平洋一般海洋的颜色。
他从小在机场附近长大，飞机作为他童年时光中的陪伴，一直伴随着他长大。成年后，他与一位空乘相识，组建了自己的家庭。飞机在某种程度上是他生命中的特殊象征，记录着他的青春，也把爱带入了他的生活。有了女儿后，幸福就像一束灿烂的阳光照耀进了年轻父母的生活。每当他谈到自己的宝贝女儿时，他的眼神里涤荡着海水一般的柔情。
作为一名职业艺术家，创作艺术是他的日常生活。伴随着他对艺术的理解不断加深，王铮认为，人们可以通过艺术把自己的故事记录下来，并以自由且创造性地方式表现出来。
2 Hope
Paul and Hailey name themselves 꽃부리 “Flower couple in Leeds”.
Paul is pursuing his master's degree at the University of Leeds, while Hailey is dedicated to the art and aesthetics of being a florist.
Hailey considers flower design and arrangement as sculpture, playing with colour, textile, shape and space. It invokes her memories of how she began the journey of healing, where bouquets and their fragrance eased her stress from a heavy workload, always bringing joy to life. Therefore, they share their life of flowers through their YouTube channel꽃부리to bless more people.
In the eyes of Hailey, Paul has the perseverance and unyielding quality of tulips. Covered with snow, tulips endure the bitter winter cold before blooming most gorgeously in the spring.
However, the pandemic outbreak makes them deeply concerned about the uncertain future their child might be facing. In spite of this, they still hold to a strong faith and are happy to be expectant parents at this time. This couple imaginatively associate their future child with Lemon Yellow in sunny spring and Pacific Blue, with good wishes of joy and wisdom. You might feel refreshed when looking at the artwork – a child with a smiley face holds flowers, dancing in a cradle of hope.
Paul是一名利兹大学的学生，Hailey是一名花艺师。几年前，为了让生活变得更丰富有趣，Hailey决定学习插花艺术，以此来缓解工作的压力。来到利兹生活后，他们共同经营着YouTube中“花花夫妇在利兹”频道，与人们分享他们被花儿装点的生活。在Hailey的眼中，丈夫Paul就像冬季中的郁金香，坚毅不屈，因为郁金香可以忍受漫天冬雪纷飞的严寒，在来年的春天依然绽放出最绚丽的花朵。他们结婚时，充满生活的希望的种子的也在悄悄地萌芽。
但是，由于一些顾虑，他们结婚几年后还没有计划生孩子。尽管如此，他们仍然对未来的孩子有很高的期许与美好的祝愿。Hailey希望未来孩子是柠檬黄色，因为这代表着阳光明媚的春天；而Paul希望孩子是太空蓝色，这充满着智慧。当两种颜色结合时，他们会迎接一个婴孩，坐在希望的摇篮里，手握着鲜花，微笑着。
3 Self-understanding
Zenko and Hue Ling have three lovely children who are strongly encouraged to explore their own special colour-represented personalities. As a result, their eldest son has brought his imaginative world from his mind to make maps, creating an entirely new world and languages. Their daughter loves to writes poems and stories and to draw letters by hand beautifully.
As a mother, an interior designer, and a homeschooler, Hue Ling loves to share her passion, experiences and knowledge about art and design with her children not as a subject, but rather an ongoing lifestyle to create solutions in life. After moving as a family to a new country, Hue Ling felt emotionally challenged in overcoming this. Zenko as an IT engineer came up with an idea of co-creating an App “Color Matters” with his wife. This colouring App has been helping so many adult users to find enjoyment, calmness and sense of self by colouring artworks from artists around the world. At the same time, it has strengthened the bond between this husband and wife.
The couple believe that everyone is unique and parenting is to help the children to understand the Art of Life first：Who Am I and where Am I going? By finding their own true colours, later they can create something authentic that comes from their heart no matter what art medium is used.
每一位孩子受造都是奇妙可畏,独一无二。
因此在这个由艺术和爱纽系在一起的家庭，爸爸Zenko and 妈妈Hue Ling 不断鼓励三个孩子探索自己珍贵而独特的“专属色”，大儿子把脑袋美好的想象世界跃然纸上，绘制独一无二的地图，并且发明全新的语言体系。女儿自由写诗，书法和科幻小说。Hue Ling 坚持在家教学，身为室内设计师的她不断与孩子分享自己对于艺术的热诚，美学知识和经历。
全家人移民到新的国家之后，妻子抑郁情绪也让丈夫担心起来，作为软件工程师的Zenko决定创建一款电子涂色绘本App：Color matters ，帮助非艺术背景的普通人在涂色中治愈心灵，享受乐趣的同时找到自我价值。夫妻二人之间在共同运营App过程中关系变得更加紧密，也从用户和亲友的反馈中得到许多安慰和鼓励。他们相信父母的责任就是帮助孩子认识自己，了解自己，找到独有的颜色和风格，真实地表达自己的情绪和想法，不管用任何艺术媒介，他们都能描绘属于他们独特的未来。
4 Appreciation
Holly gave birth to her baby girl Amelie in April 2020, during the pandemic crisis, making it unforgettable for her family. This challenging situation further taught her to be grateful for life, especially for becoming a mother.
Surrounded by family and friends, who are thoughtful and creative, she feels beloved from the bottom of her heart. It is sweet to see that so many gorgeous gifts were created for this family, like a hand-made embroidered ball, knitted doll, handicrafts, cards, poems and a collage of photos…
Serendipitously, Holly found a knitted rainbow left on a park bench – as a reminder of the day before Amelie was born, it brings hope to Holly and helps her to leave her fears behind to better embrace this new season of life. Although taking care of her baby girl is tiring, she still tries to record the baby’s growth every day and celebrates every breakthrough in her life.
Working as a website designer and a creative strategist, Holly and her partner Mike cherish art as it heals souls invisibly, letting them reflect on life and appreciate it since art is always a part of ‘who we are’. Getting through this tough period, they would love to bind the whole family tightly together by taking part in more creative activities in the future.
在这段特殊的疫情期间，Holly可爱的女儿出生了，这对他们全家来说都是很难忘的。这段艰难的时期教会了她更加感恩生活，尤其感恩成为了一个母亲。被体贴、温暖的家人朋友们围绕，她从心底里感到深深的爱，并毫无畏惧的迎接有了孩子后的新生活。对她来说，虽然照顾孩子是疲惫的，但她仍然努力记录下孩子每时每刻的成长，并十分享受这个过程。
作为一位网站设计师，艺术成就了Holly的生活。同时，她十分珍惜艺术，因为艺术常常无形中疗愈着人们的灵魂，让人们思考生活、感恩生活。疫情结束后，Holly会带着全家去参与更多艺术活动，让艺术继续围绕家庭的生活。
Task delegation
Project design: Sixing Sun, Tao Xu, Ximing Chen, Yarong Wang, Yimeng Wen, Yufei Qiu.
Outreach & coordination : Yimeng Wen, Ximing Chen, Tao Xu
copywriting: : Sixing Sun, Ximing Chen, Yimeng Wen, Tao Xu, Yufei Qiu
Poster design: Yarong Wang
Poster copywriting : Ximing Chen
Marketing liaison：Ximing Chen
Technical liaison :Yarong Wang, Yufei Qiu
Administration: Sixing Sun