Rogerstone-born artist and teacher Shaun Ray has spent the last two years leading musicpainting groups, which combine music with abstract art, for people with early-onset dementia. He spoke to Nicholas Thomas about his life and career.

AT SCHOOL in Bassaleg, I remember a student coming in when I was in sixth form doing my A-levels.

I was involved in art and drama, and she was the first one who liked my work, and she told me about a course called theatre design at Wimbledon College of Arts – it had never occurred to me before, but from that moment, that's what I was going to do.

I went off to do foundation after that, and my first, second and third college choices were all to go to Wimbledon.

It wasn't until my second year that I realised what would have happened had I not been accepted.

In Wimbledon there was a very particular way of working. There was a genius tutor that I had, his name was Richard Negri – he'd been Orson Welles' director at The Royal Court Theatre and he designed the Manchester Royal Exchange building.

We performed a lot, including at the Edinburgh Festival, and we worked with some fantastic people, but the important thing was the confidence to aim high which he gave me.

I still believe in that, so I think Wimbledon gave me a really good grounding.

I worked as a professional designer, as a design assistant, and we did some good shows – Antony and Cleopatra and Winnie, the Winston Churchill musical – in the West End.

But I walked away from theatre and started training to be a teacher.

The grounding in theatre meant I didn't have any hierarchy or pompousness in the way I looked at art, so the kids I taught at Aveling Park School in Walthamstow had a good deal because anything went, really.

I used to describe art as "a big pizza" to the kids, and I was giving them all the ingredients to taste.

We did puppet-making, costumes, fine art, clay – you name it, we did it.

One of the kids got in contact with me recently to say thank you. He was doing make-up on the Marvel film, Guardians of the Galaxy, for the character of Drax the Destroyer.

You hope and think that you've launched people in the right direction, and he took the time out to come back and say thanks, so that was really nice.

I then went into special needs teaching at Stormont House Special School in Hackney. That stood me in really good stead for my later work with the elderly and the vulnerable.

The kids had such low self-esteem, so I did these gigantic portraits all about building their self-confidence. They had two use two symbols that represented themselves, and the portraits were built up with the repetitions of these symbols. We won an award, and I remember John Peel presented it at the BBC. The kids saw Trevor Mcdonald there and thought they'd hit the jackpot.

I worked in teaching for a few years, but then as my mum got more infirm I decided to provide care for her.

We got on famously and it was a real privilege to be part of my mum's life and give something back.

Then I thought to myself: "How am I going to get back into the jobs market?"

While I was with my mum, in the Royal Gwent Hospital and looking after her, it became a real strain so I started to do my own painting.

I went back to a project – musicpainting –which I'd devised for Year 9 pupils to help them make sense of what abstract art is about.

We put the music on and then they did a painting to interpret it and then translate it into a sculpture.

I wanted something for my own mental health, which I could do at the end of the day.

It was a great relief, and when I did my MA in art, health and wellbeing at the University of South Wales in Treforest, I put the two together.

I had the dream to care for the carers – I was a carer myself and met other carers. Those gaps in between caring, there was never any quality time and I thought that was happening for so many other carers.

I met with Newport carers but the idea never came to fruition, but Chepstow Community Hospital put out an appeal saying they wanted to do activities and I took them up on their offer.

They put me in touch with people in the community who had early onset dementia, and every other ailment that goes with it.

The musicpainting group at Chepstow Community Hospital has been amazingly successful since it began two years ago.

Those who have never produced a painting or considered that they have any artistic ability , translate what is heard in music, into what can be seen on canvas. Joyous abstract paintings are the result and these have been on display at the hospital, brightening the environment for visitors and staff, since we began

I met a blind artist called Zoe Partington and had a bit of a revelation when she gave a speech. My own work was primarily visual, but after talking to her I really it would be perfect to create a tactile experience which would work in my workshops where I had people with macular degeneration. So now I've got people who build on the canvas with clay and papier mache, so that it's a tactile experience as well as a visual one.

Also, all my work has an accompanying piece of music, and I also do audio-description, so you can listen to the music I used to produce it, and if you can't see it, you can listen to how I made it.

Regarding my aspirations, one day I want my work to be on the walls of the Celtic Manor Resort, and I'm hoping musicpainting is going to grow. I'm looking at making a musicpainting recipe book for the health board to use in different wards. Meanwhile I carry on doing as much as I can with the time that I've got.

The musicpainting group is moving to Bulwark Senior Citizens' Hall in Cromwell Road on April 1.

Everyone in the group would like to say a big thank-you to the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board for supporting musicpainting for so long.

It has been a pleasure to be at the hospital working alongside so many wonderful members of staff. We will miss them, but we look forward a great future in our new home in Bulwark.

  • If you are interested in joining one of Shaun Ray's musicpainting groups, contact him on 07941 909415. To find out more about his work, visit his website: www.shaunray.wixsite.com/musicpainting