Local artist Dionne Pollock presents the Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Alderman Stephen Ross with a digital print of Mossley Mill.
Local artist Dionne Pollock recently presented the Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Alderman Stephen Ross with a digital print of Mossley Mill, from her quirky collection of digital art prints.
Dionne who suffers from poor mental health has found solace in creating art even during her darkest days and has chosen Mental Health Awareness Week 15-21 May 2023 to share her story.
Dionne from Newtownabbey has lived with mental health issues for many years but has found the past three years extremely testing. She said:
“During these particularly tough times the one thing constant in my life was my love for art, I am a creative person by nature and I found great comfort creating art which has definitely been a contributing factor in my recovery.”
Dionne started to build a small collection of work from pictures she had taken from various trips across Northern Ireland, she said:
“Through my own experiences I wanted to give something back, sharing my art with family and friends and people I have encountered through my battle with mental health, opened up a platform for me to share stories and memories. It became very evident to me how common poor mental health actually is, and that you should never feel embarrassed about it.”
“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you don’t know about. Be kind, always.” – Robin Williams
Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Alderman Stephen Ross said:
“It was great to meet with Dionne, I was humbled by her story and I greatly admire her honesty and courage. Dionne is a very creative person who despite her own struggles is committed to helping others through her art. I would encourage you to check out her work and support her business.”
Dionne added: “I am on my own journey of appreciating the small things in life and focusing on what we have instead of what we don’t have. I want to create pieces of art based on our ‘lovely wee country’ which I hope will have sentimental value to people and help make them happy”
“At the end it is not about what you have or even what you have accomplished. It’s about who you lifted up, who you made better. It’s about what you give back.” – Denzel Washington
To view Dionne’s work please visit dionnepollock.com or Instagram @dionnepollockart
For more information on Mental Health Awareness Week please visit https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk