Creativity, art and Parkinson’s disease

A local artist who produces colourful and thought-provoking collages has discovered that her creativity is helping her come to terms with her Parkinson’s disease.

‘I don’t have any particular plan when I make these collages,’ says Judy White. ‘I don’t have any particular knowledge. But I’m sincerely amazed at the results.’

Judy, who, with her husband Martin, came to live in Shropshire 50 years ago, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and the associated dementia with Lewy bodies in 2019. Through art, this retired academic researcher has found not only an outlet for her innermost feelings but also something akin to salvation.

Judy uses a mix of watercolour paints, cut-out photographs, bits of foil and fragments of fabric to produce her arresting creations. She’s been working in collaboration with artist and arts tutor Caris Jackson on a project that has seen Judy look deep into her own thoughts and memories, her likes and dislikes, her passions, even her fears.

Caris says: ‘We’ve been producing these notebooks where Judy and I have conversations and jot down anything that means something to her. This is all part of the creative process.’ From these seemingly disconnected words: aesthetics, landscapes, fossils, layers, politics, crafts, listening, space, geology, and beauty, come ideas for the collages.

Seven of Judy’s creations went to make up her first exhibition, entitled ‘Conversations with the Mind’ and staged at The Bolthole arts centre in Ironbridge, in August. Says Caris: ‘It was a truly beautiful and uplifting exhibition which we are honoured to have played a part in. These extraordinary pictures are the result of 18 months of us working together.’

Now living in Wellington, Judy and Martin (a retired town planner and later stage actor, who performed at the Edinburgh Festival and went on tour with the plays of George Bernard Shaw) agree that creating art has proved to be a revelation, giving Judy fresh impetus.

The creative process

‘The process is really simple. Someone says something, and it’s quite interesting, and then I take a bit of charcoal or a bit of paint,’ says Judy. ‘I’m not showing off,’ she adds, ‘but the process… it feels quite big.’ Martin said: ‘It’s been something for Judy to focus on. It’s really helped.’

Parents to two sons and now with a lifetime of memories to share, Martin and Judy, now chatting over coffee and cake in The Bolthole café, agree that involvement in the arts appears to have been something of a game-changer. Caris explains that the creative process seems to help Judy look back over her eventful life and make sense of things: ‘It enables Judy to take time to reflect and to really express herself.’

As a young woman, Huddersfield-born Judy’s first degree, in geography, was from the University of Birmingham. She then worked for the Countryside Commission before going on to gain her doctorate at Cambridge University. She went on to work in academic research at Birmingham and North London Universities, and was responsible for a wide range of commissions, mostly in local government, covering leisure, gambling, and professional development.

It was really only after retiring that Judy began to take an interest in creating art, and that new interest has brought fresh colours into her life.