Stories


Dickinson is proud to announce its recent partnership with The Art Room charity


 Founded in 2002, The Art Room is an organisation that helps 5-16 year-olds experiencing emotional and behavioural challenges, using art as a form of therapy. With eight art rooms at present in Oxfordshire, London and Edinburgh, the charity offers a unique methodology to boost the students’ self-esteem and confidence through art sessions complementing mainstream education and offers a safe and much-needed refuge.

“Dickinson have been amazing to The Art Room. The initial understanding of the work that we do to support children and young people facing challenges in their lives has been exemplary. They truly understand our ethos and share our belief that art is a transformative practice, enabling self-development by harnessing an individual’s creative power.”
– Susie Pickering, Communications, The Art Room 


This September we held a workshop and lunch in the gallery for The Art Room students from Northolt High School, Ealing. Following a tour of our London gallery, we encouraged the students to create versions of their favourite paintings from amongst the various Old Master, Impressionist & Modern pictures on view. Providing the students with a new and exciting creative environment, the day also gave the Dickinson team a fresh perspective on the paintings that hang in the gallery.

“It was a great pleasure welcoming the talented Northolt students to the gallery and exhibiting their work alongside the original paintings. It has been a privilege to be a small part of the invaluable work The Art Room does, and we at Dickinson are immensely proud of this continued partnership.”
– Emma Ward, Managing Director, Dickinson


Following the workshop, the students’ work was professionally framed and hung alongside the original pictures in a special exhibition last month. Returning to the gallery to see their work at an evening reception, the students had the opportunity to explain their exhibited work to a number of the Patrons and Supporters of The Art Room, including artists Grayson Perry and Jenny Saville, as well as esteemed Museum Directors Nicholas Cullinan (The National Portrait Gallery) and Martin Roth (The Victoria & Albert Museum).

“This was truly an evening to savour. We at Dickinson and the assembled Art Room Patrons were amazed by the creativity shown by the young students in their free interpretations of works by the Masters displayed on the Dickinson walls . Hung side by side with the works of the Masters the students’ pictures astonished everyone present.  They showed that young boys and girls need little encouragement to become inspired  and uplifted by great art.”
– James Roundell, Director, Dickinson 


“The opportunities Dickinson have given our students from Northolt and the hugely generous and fantastically successful dinner the gallery hosted for our supporters has been a highlight of the year for The Art Room. We are enormously grateful and hope the partnership continues for many more years.”
Julie Beattie, The Art Room
“I was moved to see our students standing proudly next to their works of art, framed so beautifully, in line with all of those greats and articulating themselves so well about their interpretation of the pieces. There are few children in the whole world who can say that they have had that experience.”
Gloria Lowe, Head Teacher, Northolt High School

 We look forward to collaborating further with The Art Room, and encourage you to support the work of this remarkable charity. Find out more by visiting their website: www.theartroom.org.uk