Press Play is an exhibition featuring work from OutPost Arts’ Art Journal Project and Creative Toolbox Youth Group. Adults explored wellbeing using clay, paper, and homemade paint, while young participants responded to Mrs. Campbell’s Fifth Period with bold visual art and poetry. Together, the work celebrates creativity as a tool for growth and expression, and shows how creativity boosts wellbeing and self-expression for all ages.
About the Programme
Art Journal Project
Part 1 focused on black and white tone and texture. In a culminating workshop, participants worked with Ruth Elizabeth Jones to create clay goddesses and textured tiles and with Helen Walsh to craft paper vessels. These pieces reflect personal symbolism, mindful making and the transformation of simple materials into expressive forms.
Part 2 explored colour, form and shape. Led by Ed and Lucy Campbell from Old Mill Arts, participants learned traditional paint-making, using foraged pigments from across Dumfries and Galloway to create small-scale paintings on handmade paper. These works reveal intimate connections between maker, material and place.
Each piece marks a shift from uncertainty to creative confidence – capturing the impact of creativity on personal wellbeing in a supportive, reflective environment.
This collection showcases work created by adults who pressed play on their creative wellbeing journey from April to October 2025 – a hands-on exploration of materials and self-discovery.
Creative Toolbox Exhibition
This exhibition also features work by the Creative Toolbox Youth Group, developed in response to Mrs Campbell’s Fifth Period, a play by Leyla Josephine commissioned for WonderFools’ Positive Stories for Negative Times.
Young participants explored themes of character, place and identity through visual art, costume, collage and poetry. Their imaginative responses bring the play to life, offering fresh insight into its world through a variety of expressive forms.
A looped film adds depth and atmosphere to the space, rounding out a vibrant, multimedia portrait of the group’s creative journey – full of bold ideas, humour, reflection and collaboration.
