“Rose Garden” — an exhibition of works created during art therapy workshops

The exhibition will be the culmination of the activities of the project “Common in Distress. Supportive art therapy activities”, implemented by the Galeria Bielska Foundation.

The exhibition in the historic garden of Wilia Sixt is a moving record of meetings and art therapy workshops attended by artists — people with experience of mental crisis, who, under the guidance of artists associated with the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, translated their emotions and tensions into the language of art, giving expression to individual sensitivity, showing hidden potential for creativity. The presented works were created in the unique space of the garden of Villa Sixta, which became for the participants a full-fledged partner in the process of recovery and search for inner balance — the intimate nature of this place and its openness to residents promote social integration and the combination of art with therapeutic activities.

The workshop lasted from March to the end of June 2026. Their participants were people in mental crisis attending therapeutic classes at the Bielski Center of Psychiatry Olszówka in Bielsko-Biała. The classes were conducted by artistic persons, who were also educators. The substantive assumptions of the project, the schedule of activities and the main thematic axis defined by the title of the workshops “Garden of the Rose” were developed by the lecturers of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice: Małgorzata Rozenau, Prof. Jolanta Jastrzęb, PhD, Judyta Bernaś and Dr. Michał Klasik. This group was supplemented by ASP students and representatives of partner institutions. Each workshop was attended by a diverse group of several people under the care of therapists of the Bielski Center of Psychiatry Olszówka.

Project “Common in Distress. Supporting Art Therapeutic Activities” is implemented by the Galeria Bielska Foundation in cooperation with the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, Bielsko Psychiatry Center — Olszówka in Bielsko-Biała and Bielska Gallery BWA. The main objective of the project, implemented in the years 2026 to 2027, is to counteract the stigmatization and social exclusion of people experiencing mental crisis. The activities use visual arts as a tool to support the therapeutic process and social education. The aim of the activities is to challenge the stereotypes about mental health that still exist in society, as well as to remove restrictions on the access of people in mental crisis to full participation in social and cultural life.

The coordinator of the project is Ala Gocka, art historian, educator of Galeria Bielska BWA.

“Rose Garden” — an exhibition of works created during art therapy workshops

Thursday, October 22, 2026, 12:00

Bielska BWA Gallery, Sixta Villa, Bielsko-Biala, 24 Adam Mickiewicz Street

Free admission