Cognition

About

‘Cognition’ is an exhibition of paintings created by two women artists and their autistic children. The aim of the show is to demonstrate diversity of cognitive processes in artistic expressions.

10% of sales of the paintings will be donated to National Autistic Society, the UK’s leading charity which since 1962 has been supporting autistic people and their families with advice and guidance.

Bringing up an autistic child can get really challenging at times. Especially when you are a single parent of an offspring who is dealing with complex needs, this may cause a lot of stress and impact your mental health. It makes you feel very alienated, when your entire focus is on welfare of your child, there is no time and space for other relationships. Art helps us to find the balance. The more we paint/ create the more connected we feel. We communicate our emotions through the paintings. It is a universal language, it is our therapy.

Magdalena del Mar gained her education and first art experience in South-East Poland where she was born. For the past 17 years, she has been living in UK and exhibiting regularly in London. Her main source of inspiration is water based scenery. Her endless combinations of different hues of blues and greens make her art relaxing and therapeutic. Magdalena’s interests include Spanish culture, astrology and art therapy.

Ania Pieniazek was in Katowice, in Poland and displayed a talent for art in early childhood. Ania attributes her artistic aptitude to her passion for art. She cites “an inner compulsion to be creative and many years of practice” as the drive behind her work. From the age of 10, she began to attend additional art classes and received tutoring from a number of well-established Polish artists. At the age of 13, she received her first oil paints from her father, and has worked in the medium for over 30 years now. Ania works mainly on canvas in oil or acrylic, and likes to experiment with colours and shapes often creating the pictures from her imagination. Since moving to London in 2005, Ania’s paintings have been exhibited in numerous solo and joint exhibitions. Her work is on display with multiple galleries throughout the UK, and can be found in the homes of collectors across the country.