Engage Your Rage

Sometimes the best ideas take years to arrive.

Back in 2009, I started an after-school art club in my local village primary school. It was called Art Cabin because it took place in a disused Portakabin. At the time, I had never taught art, never written a blog, and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. What I did have was a belief that creativity mattered, and a determination to give it a go.

Somehow, it worked.

Art Cabin became an instant success. Children stayed for years, only leaving when they moved on to secondary school. There were waiting lists. Parents used art club as a bargaining tool when their children weren't quite towing the line. And some parents even admitted they wished there was an Art Cabin for grown-ups.

For years, people have asked me the same question:

"When are you going to run an art club for adults?"

The answer, it turns out, is now.

As Hot Flush has evolved, I've found myself returning again and again to the thing that has shaped so much of my life: creativity.

As an artist and facilitator, I've witnessed first-hand how transformative making can be. Not because everyone secretly wants to become an artist, but because creativity gives us something many of us lose along the way, curiosity, confidence, playfulness, connection, and a chance to focus on ourselves for a change.

I've worked alongside social prescribers, Primary Care Networks, community groups and individuals navigating challenging periods in their lives. Time and again, I've seen how sitting around a table, making something with your hands and chatting with others can quietly improve wellbeing.

And that brings me to Engage Your Rage.

After months of thinking, sketching ideas and listening to conversations happening through Hot Flush, I'm excited to introduce a new creative club for women who want a little more creativity, connection and fun in their lives.

Despite the name, this isn't a place to sit around being angry. Although, let's be honest, the occasional rant may be therapeutic.

It's a welcoming, relaxed and inspiring space where creativity comes first.

While the idea has been inspired by conversations around perimenopause and menopause, the sessions won't be formal support groups. Instead, they'll focus on creativity, friendship, learning and wellbeing. A place where conversations can happen naturally if you want them to, but where there's no pressure to share anything at all.

Expect beginner-friendly art activities, opportunities to try something new, and plenty of encouragement.

No artistic experience required. No pressure to produce a masterpiece. And definitely no need to arrive already knowing what you're doing, I’ve built an entire career on that principle.

Just a chance to make, experiment, laugh, connect and perhaps rediscover a part of yourself that has been quietly waiting for some attention.

Because somewhere between work, family, responsibilities and hormones, many of us stop making time for play.

Maybe it's time we started again.

Engage Your Rage is an invitation to do just that.

I'd love you to join me.

Details coming soon!

The venue, dates and first project are sorted, so we're nearly there. The booking page is currently making its way through the machinery of civilisation, and I'll share the link as soon as it's live.

And it turns out I'm not the only one who thinks making things is good for us. Professor Daisy Fancourt's new book Art Cure brings together decades of scientific research exploring how engaging with the arts can support our health and wellbeing. So perhaps my instinct all those years ago, when I opened the doors of that slightly dubious Portakabin, wasn't quite as daft as I thought.

The science is now catching up with what many of us have experienced for ourselves: making things can make us feel better. Read UCL’s article about Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health.