Self-taught artist Nicolette Amos finds she can control some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s when she starts to paint.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers.
00:06 Lovely to be speaking to Nicolette. Now Nicolette, you are organising a fabulous sounding exhibition
00:11 at Colonnade House in Worthing from August 1st to 12th. Now it's the first ever exhibition
00:17 for the Worthing and Washington Parkinson's UK group. And it's a number of artists who've
00:23 come together. And you were saying that, surprisingly in many ways, there is an increase in creativity
00:30 with a Parkinson's diagnosis very often, isn't there? Have you found that to be the case
00:35 for you?
00:36 Yes, definitely. When I was diagnosed, I did a little bit of painting to start off with,
00:44 but then once I was diagnosed, I just felt the need that I had to do something creative.
00:51 And I started doing watercolour paintings, coloured pencil paintings, and then I've got
00:57 into acrylics and I've done sort of abstract paintings, all sorts of different styles.
01:05 But one of my favourite things to paint is the jellyfish.
01:08 Oh, fantastic.
01:09 Which people seem to like. Strange subject, but they go down well with people.
01:15 No, you've got to find your thing. But it's so interesting, you said that it was a need.
01:19 Tell me more about that need. Did you not feel the need to do art before the diagnosis,
01:24 do you think?
01:25 Not really, no. I didn't really do much art. It was just a compulsion. It might be something
01:34 to do with the drugs they give you, or the way your brain has changed slightly. I think
01:39 it's something to do with the dopamine.
01:42 But is it therapeutic as well? Does it help in terms of managing symptoms?
01:49 It does. It does. A lot of people find that if they've got trembling hands and that, there's
01:55 myself and another lady in the group, when we're doing art, our hands don't tremble at
02:00 all.
02:01 It's fantastic, isn't it? So it does sort of focus the concentration that you need.
02:06 You're so in on it and you're just lost in what you're doing. And it's very therapeutic.
02:12 And you were saying that you kind of knew before your diagnosis what it was, didn't
02:17 you? You recognised it, sadly.
02:19 I did, yeah, because my dad had Parkinson's, so I knew what symptoms he'd had. But not
02:26 everyone has the same symptoms.
02:28 Did that make it easier for you to cope, do you think?
02:33 To cope?
02:34 Yeah.
02:35 I think so, because it wasn't terribly, terribly bad with Parkinson's. So, I don't know, sorry.
02:50 So it's lovely to bring this group together for the exhibition. And clearly, you've got
02:53 a number of people taking part, which is great, isn't it?
02:57 Yes, it's for people with Parkinson's and also their carers as well. So not everybody
03:03 in the group actually has Parkinson's, but we just have an art group every two weeks
03:13 and every month.
03:14 Excuse the coughing, sorry. What's the hope with the exhibition then? What do you want
03:19 to achieve?
03:20 Well, we'd like to raise enough money to donate to Parkinson's UK to help find a cure.
03:28 Fantastic. Well, good luck with that. It's at Colonnade House in Worthing from August
03:33 1st to 12th. Lovely to speak to you and I hope it goes brilliantly.
03:38 Thank you very much.
03:39 Thank you.