'Creativity is Contagious' - An exhibition of hope, by Cam Williams.

There's not much I can say that really comes close to describing the impact of the Coronavirus and the series of lockdowns and the many, many tiers (Tears?). With so many of us isolated from friends and family and the majority of creative spaces closed with no clear end in sight, It would have been easy to focus on the negative.

However, the Good Things Collective wanted to do something a little differently.

What started as an idea via a Facebook group, turned into a powerful and eclectic mix of images, music, poetry, textiles, photography, and other media combined with personal spoken word testimonies from the artists as we went into 2021. There was both a physical display in The Arndale and a live streaming of the Exhibition. (A video of the exhibition is available via the Good Things Collective Facebook page and on the website here)

My piece, ' At Home' was created from driftwood, acrylic paint, sea-glass and some fishing net that I found discarded on the beach. I have always found a sense of connection and the feeling of having my emotions reflected when near the sea ( a recurring idea within my art). Walking along Morecambe Prom is something that I've found especially important during lockdown. I wanted to express how standing on the end of the jetty with the spray on your face looking into the vast sea makes you feel both incredibly alone but also less overwhelmed and your problems whole lot smaller. It was so very uplifting to be involved with the exhibition and have my work displayed alongside so many other talented people.

Isolation, bleakness, resilience, a sense of loss, beauty in the everyday, enjoying the mundane and the spectacular ; all themes that crop up through many pieces within the exhibition. It is a testament to a difficult year but also the importance of connection, the importance of other people . The Coronavirus may be contagious but, to paraphrase Einstein, so is creativity and I hope it's something that is passed on again and again as restrictions are eased and more spaces become available to us.