Alice O'Brien uses hidden talent to paint 'beautiful' art, process relentless bullying and come out on top - ABC News

When Raylene Garwood first saw the artwork of 11-year-old Alice O'Brien advertised online, she was stunned.

"I was so interested in what she was producing, I reached out to the family," said Ms Garwood, a counsellor who works with traumatised war veterans in Tasmania.

It was then she learned that Alice had started painting to help recover from the trauma of severe bullying at school.

Ms Garwood, from Open Arms Veterans and Family Counselling in Launceston, invited Alice to run an art therapy workshop for traumatised female veterans.

"Hopefully they will be inspired by Alice, like I was," Ms Garwood, herself a former servicewoman, said.

Ms Garwood considers Alice's art a "powerful" expression of her experience.(ABC Northern Tasmania: Sarah Abbott)

Bullied all the way to hospital

Alice lives in a small town called Longford, about 15 minutes away from Launceston, and has not attended school since early September.

She now learns online from home.

Ms O'Brien is angry that stopping Alice being bullied meant withdrawing her from school.(ABC Northern Tasmania: Sarah Abbott)

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Alice's mother Jo O'Brien withdrew her daughter from school after her year-long experience of being bullied culminated in a serious incident.

"[It] ended up with Alice being diagnosed with concussion in [the] Emergency [Department]," Ms O'Brien said.

"And that was enough for me — I took her out of school."

The bullying took a psychological toll on Alice in ways that worried Ms O'Brien.

Not seeing the point of getting out of bed, worrying that everyone at school hated her, and becoming anxious about her clothing were some of the changes she saw in Alice.

"She was very, I would say, depressed, and at that stage, she was 10," Ms O'Brien said.

"And for a 10-year-old to be depressed … it's just ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous."

Alice has been learning online at home since leaving school.(ABC Northern Tasmania: Sarah Abbott)

New skills get 'huge' response

Keen to boost Alice's self-esteem, Ms O'Brien helped her daughter search for a new creative activity that she might enjoy.

Together they stumbled across acrylic pouring, a particular form of abstract painting they each thought was "beautiful", and which Alice decided to learn.

Alice starts a purple-themed "acrylic pour".(ABC Northern Tasmania: Sarah Abbott)

Alice is gradually regaining her self-esteem through the success of her paintings.(Supplied: Jo O'Brien)

Six weeks later, Alice's painted canvases began to accumulate around the house, and Ms O'Brien decided to advertise some of them online.

"I said to Alice, 'Let's put a few on Facebook and see if they'll sell'," she said.

Ms O'Brien said the response to the advertisement was "huge".

"Alice got about 180 reactions and we got probably 100 comments and messages — all of them positive — and lots and lots of orders," she said.

She has had over 60 orders since that first social media post, including an order from Italy, and currently has 29 commissioned pieces to produce. 

'Profound' art speaks of recovery

One of the orders came from Ms Garwood, who placed it after discussing Alice's bullying experience with Alice and her mum.

Ms Garwood was struck by the ability of Alice's art to "speak" to people.(ABC Northern Tasmania: Sarah Abbott)

"I asked Alice if she could tell me [through her art] what she thought about recovery from bullying," she said.

Ms Garwood described the finished piece as "perfect" and "profound".

"It's contextualised to Alice's experience of moving forward from the trauma of being bullied and her transition to online schooling," she said.

One of the many paintings done on commission by Alice.(Supplied: Jo O'Brien)

The picture hangs in Ms Garwood's office and, impressed by it, two colleagues have also now commissioned art from Alice.

"Every time I look at it I smile — it is just such a beautiful piece of work," Ms Garwood said.

Bullying a form of trauma

Ms Garwood draws parallels between Alice's experience at school and those of the traumatised veterans who she works with.

"Trauma is trauma … and bullying is a moral injury," she said.

Ms Garwood also believes Alice is on the same path to recovery as many of her clients, whose rehabilitation includes group art sessions, one of which she has invited Alice to lead.

"We're going to run an acrylic-pouring course by Alice," she said.

Alice and the form of abstract art she will teach local war vets.(ABC Northern Tasmania: Sarah Abbott)

The workshop, which may be the first of many, will be held in January and attended by up to eight local veterans.

"It's just a different … mechanism to get female veterans in a safe space doing something that is positive and hopefully being inspired by Alice," Ms Garwood said.

"As long as it takes them away from the sometimes overwhelming symptoms of their mental health, I'm happy."

Alice's mum makes sure she has plenty of opportunity to paint for fun as well as for customers.(Supplied: Jo O'Brien)

Saving 'every cent' she earns

Ms O'Brien believes Alice's own mental health is slowly improving largely due to other people's enjoyment of her art, but it is taking time to rebuild her self-esteem.

"I think when you have been put down for 12 months, you've got to work your way back up to feel good about yourself, and that's what I think's starting to happen now," she said.

"She's starting to believe that people actually like [her art] … she's selling a lot, so it's got to sink in."

Ms O'Brien says painting has improved Alice's mental health.(ABC Northern Tasmania: Sarah Abbott)

Alice, now working on her third round of orders, is saving "every cent" she earns to purchase her own pet.

"She one day plans to buy a turtle," Ms O'Brien said.

"She's animal-mad so that's what she really wants. I think she's already named it."

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2020-11-17 01:07:00Z
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