Kicking off the month, Headspace Port Macquarie held a Mind Your Art exhibition at the Glasshouse on October 5 which will be open to members of the public for October. 

This year’s Mental Health month these is ‘Share he Journey’ which focuses on the importance of social connections, the journey to better mental health and people’s ability to cope with life’s challenges.

The art competition was open to young people aged 12 -25 years old across two categories, with entrants required to design on a small canvas. 

The artwork was judged by local artists Mel Casey, Adam Murray and Simon Luxton, with Bonnie Rudd and Lilli McLean Prosser declared the winners in the 12-17 year old category and Amy Barnewall and Singrid Wharton the winners in the 18-25 year old category. 

Winner Amy Barnewall said she was speechless at her win.

“The theme for the art work is ‘share the journey’ and I guess for me art says what words can’t,” Ms Barnewall said.

Judges, Mel Casey, Adam Murray and Simon Luxton said that the competition was stiff and although it was a hard job picking the winners, all the judges agreed in the end.

“Going into the judging process we didn’t really have a set format but we began by picking the most eye catching designs and those with great colour and that aligned with the theme,” Ms Casey said.

“One other thing that really helped us was looking at the names of the artwork.

“That really gave us an insight into the artists motives and thoughts while they were designing their pieces,” she said.

“In the end we all agreed with who we picked as winners; we each shortlisted the ones we thought should win and then to collaborated to get the overall winners,” Ms Luxton said.

All artwork will be on display at the Glasshouse for the month of October.