Drawing and Painting student wins second prize

WAES’ Drawing and Painting level 2 student, Dom Hanley, has won second place in an art competition held at Café Art - a social initiative set up to empower people affected by homelessness, situated at The Hampstead School of Art in Penrose Gardens.

Mr Hanley, 52, who grew up in Kentish Town, said that his work, ‘Anima’, came at a time when he was starting to get his life back together. He received £250 for his acrylic on canvas, and also won the chance to be mentored by Geraldine Crimmins, a professional artist once homeless herself.

“I’ve got a long history of drug addiction and homelessness,” said Mr Hanley, “The past 30 years of my life have been utter chaos, I’ve been around the block a bit. I’m now two years clean. When I was painting ‘Anima’, I was going through quite a lot of mental turmoil. The only way I could work was in this kind of intuitive, semi-abstract way.”

WAES is very proud to support people such as Mr Hanley and initiatives such as Café Art. WAES strives to build relationships with such valuable community organisations and continue to support people like Dom through its community programmes.

If you wish to find out more about WAES’ community projects or creative courses then e-mail: info@waes.ac.uk or call 020 7297 7297.