WellBIEN

At the Intersection of Art and Health – Ethical Questions and Dilemmas

Presentation of International Best Practices, Discussion, Networking
Saturday, 24 May, 16:00–18:00 @ Domačija Pr’ Lenart, Belo 1, Medvode

Pamela Whitaker: Stitching Together: Mobilising Textile Communities for Creative Health
Creative health “can contribute to the prevention of ill health, promote healthy behaviours, manage long-term conditions and promote recovery across the life course” (National Centre for Creative Health, UK). Integrated health care and the mapping of community health assets is becoming prominent within UK health systems. How can textile communities contribute to creative health? 

At the event, we will discuss training, ethics, supervision and health services which include cultural prescriptions and community textile practices within healthcare. What are the connections and distinctions between socially engaged artists, art therapists, creative health practitioners and arts and health providers? This will be a lively conversation aimed at supporting the development of health promotion and well-being, with an emphasis on showcasing good practices and creating connections between artists, specialists/master’s in art-based support and art therapists. Participants: Pamela Whitaker (Ireland), Aleksandra Schuller (Slovenia), Jasmina Ferček (Slovenia). 

The Arts on Prescription model, which has flourished in the UK and developed in parallel in Ireland, has already been adopted in Scandinavian countries—particularly in Sweden and Finland, which lead in both regulatory and investment terms. Schemes with a particular focus on children are also being implemented in Italy. The COVID-19 pandemic further encouraged many European countries and the EU to allocate funding for piloting and researching the prescription of art and related practices. In 2023, the Slovenian association Asociacija highlighted this issue to the Ministry of Health in its response to the draft Strategy for the Development of Primary Health Care Services until 2031.
https://www.asociacija.si/si/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Odziv-na-Strategijo_primarnega_zdravstva_FIN.pdf
https://www.asociacija.si/si/kultura-za-dusevno-zdravje/

Pamela Whitaker is a lecturer in art psychotherapy at the Belfast School of Art, Ulster University. She has recently co-authored an article with Lorna Dillon and Érika Silva titled Textile pedagogies: Stitching as reflective practice in the Journal for Applied Arts and Health, which highlights the conflict textiles collection at Ulster University. This collection of textiles, (produced in contexts of war, social injustice and adversity) was a focus for her curatorial contributions to the Stitching Solidarity: Activism in Textile Art symposium at Ulster University. She is a creative health researcher identifying community assets for mental health promotion, particularly in cultural, civic and natural environments.

https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/persons/pamela-whitaker
http://www.groundswell.ie/

With Textile into Resilience
Sunday, 1 June, 19:00–20:30 @ Škrlovec Tower, Kranj

A series of lectures by international art therapists will explore textiles as a medium for reflection, self-care, and collective empowerment. Emphasis will be placed on creative practices of sewing and storytelling through textiles, which bridge the fields of art, therapy, and socially engaged practice. The lectures will be followed by a group discussion.

Narrative Textiles and the Neurodevelopmental Framework 
Story Cloths in the Context of Trauma, Culture, and Connection 
Jasmina Pacek 

Sewing and textile arts are increasingly adopted by art therapists and mental health practitioners, particularly in communities where textile work holds cultural significance. Individuals create story cloths that visually communicate personal narratives through weaving, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, and sewing. Like traditional art therapy groups and open studio models, working with narrative textiles in community settings fosters connection, creativity, and emotional processing. These tactile, rhythmic practices provide a grounding and restorative way to cope with traumatic experiences while nurturing collective and individual healing.

Narrative textiles—such as story cloths—powerfully reflect culture, time, and purpose, especially within therapeutic and human rights contexts. The stories embedded in these textiles can span mythology, current events, and deeply personal experiences. This lecture explores the use of narrative textiles as a form of expressive art therapy, grounded in Bruce Perry’s neurodevelopmental model of trauma healing known as the “5 R’s” (2006): relational, repetitive, relevant, rewarding, and rhythmic. These five principles highlight the types of experiences that are essential for recovery from trauma.

Prof. Dr. Art. Jasmina Pacek, Univ.Spec.Art.Therapy, a Croatian-American artist and art therapist, teaches applied art and art therapy at the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek, Croatia. She focuses on using art therapy protocols, particularly the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC), to promote holistic brain function and personal growth among professional artists, students and a variety of clients.In her textile art therapy sessions, participants express their emotions through activities like weaving, knitting, and sewing, facilitating deeper emotional processing. This community-based approach fosters validation, support, and connection, helping to combat loneliness, shame, and fear.

https://layer.si/bien/en/kr/jasmina-pacek/ 

Raw Material
It’s Never Too Late to Mend 
Pamela Whitaker 

Pamela Whitaker is a lecturer in art psychotherapy at the Belfast School of Art, Ulster University. She has recently co-authored an article with Lorna Dillon and Érika Silva titled Textile pedagogies: Stitching as reflective practice in the Journal for Applied Arts and Health, which highlights the conflict textiles collection at Ulster University. This collection of textiles, (produced in contexts of war, social injustice and adversity) was a focus for her curatorial contributions to the Stitching Solidarity: Activism in Textile Art symposium at Ulster University. She is a creative health researcher identifying community assets for mental health promotion, particularly in cultural, civic and natural environments.

https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/textile-pedagogies-stitching-as-reflective-practice 

Stitch X Stitch
Threads for Wellbeing and Resistance
Savneet Talwar

This presentation focuses on the politics of cloth and how the simple act of knitting, sewing, quilting or weaving can play for self-care and resistance. Savneet Talwar will share examples of her personal textile craft practice and the historical role of fibers as a social material for movement building.

Savneet Talwar, PhD, is an art therapist, textile artist, and researcher. She employs stitching and mending as a form of slow activism. As a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she teaches art therapy and textile studies, guiding students in exploring textiles as a material that can strengthen communities, foster interpersonal connections, raise awareness of social and political issues, and advocate for social change.

Savneet also uses mending as a metaphor for restoring connection and psychological resilience. In a world dominated by fast consumption and indifference, her work creates a space for regeneration and an ethics of care. Her practice extends beyond therapeutic aspects—it offers a strategy for collective survival and conscious slowing down as a form of resistance.

https://layer.si/bien/en/kr/savneet-talwar/

reTHREAD – Self-care and community care through textiles and nature
Experiential training aimed at strengthening personal and professional competences in the use of art in helping professions
Monday, 2 June – Wednesday, 4 June @ Layer House, Kranj
https://layer.si/bien/en/kr/rethread/ 

The educational workshop programme integrates art, craft, art-therapeutic approaches, and nature-based practices. It is intended to strengthen personal and community competences in the use of textile art and craft practices within the psychosocial and cultural field. It encourages reflection and exploration of the effects of textile creation on individual and collective well-being. The workshop mentors come from diverse fields, including art therapy (Savneet Talwar, Jasmina Pacek, Oljana Karpus), socially engaged design (Oloop collective), creative community practices (Breja Preja, No-Border Craft), and the integration of art, ritual, mindfulness, and nature (Patricia Geraldes, Mateja Kavčič, Vita Ivičič, Brina Romana Gobec, Matija Samec).

The diverse approaches of the reTHREAD programme, curated by Jasmina Ferček (Oloop collective)—a textile artist and designer, and one of Slovenia’s leading experts in textile art-based support—will encourage participants in self-exploration, reflection, creativity, and expression, thereby strengthening them both personally and professionally.