A therapist who introduced violent prisoners – including murderer Jimmy Boyle – to art has died.
Joyce Laing worked in Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow from 1973. The prison’s special unit pioneered art therapy as a method of rehabilitation.
Laing died on Sunday in her early 90s. Born in Aberdeen, she studied at Gray’s School of Art before becoming Scotland’s first art therapist.
She went on to work with patients in mental health wards and prisoners, most notably at the Barlinnie special unit, which accommodated Scotland’s most violent and unmanageable inmates.
In a BBC Radio Scotland interview in 2007, Laing spoke about her experiences. She said: “If you can channel that energy into positive creation instead of a destructive creation, then you’re on to a winner.”
Psychotherapist Sara Trevelyan married Boyle in 1980 while he was an inmate in the Barlinnie special unit. She said: “Jimmy was inspired by Joyce to go on a journey of expressing his talents through sculpture.
“Joyce saw how the work of each individual could express their inner state of being. She knew it was a key to transformation for many of these people.”
Boyle went on to become a successful sculptor and author.
Laing donated more than 1100 pieces of art to Glasgow Museums in 2012. Next year an exhibit celebrating 50 years of the Barlinnie artwork will be shown at Kelvingrove Art Gallery.
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