Location: Eye, Suffolk

"I accept never seen [this resident] so absorbed and content before."

About the Project

Art in intendance homes tin provide many opportunities for residents to employ their imagination, brand connections and reminisce. Arts participation offers a chance for residents to express themselves, learn a new skill (or return to an one-time one), and form a stronger sense of personal identity that tin can sometimes be macerated in intendance. Part of Care United kingdom, the country'south largest independent provider of intendance, Hartismere Identify in Eye provides residential, nursing and dementia intendance for older people. Paintings in Hospitals was supported by the Dunhill Medical Trust to bring fine art and inventiveness into care homes in the East of England to improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable older people. Nosotros worked with the residents and staff of three Care Uk care homes, including Hartismere Place.

Our project was carefully designed to support care habitation residents in three means. We aimed to:

  • Provide the knowledge and confidence for residents to experience a greater sense of ownership and control over their care home environment
  • Humanise the care environment and create more meaningful visual interest for residents
  • Provide activities that promote self-expression, promote reminiscence, and reduce loneliness through social interaction.

Paintings in Hospitals sculpture-making activity with residents of Hartismere Place, Eye.

The Art and Activities

This project involved residents in the selection and curation of a new 10-artwork display at Hartismere Identify. It also provided residents with the opportunity to learn and express themselves creatively in a applied artmaking workshop. Nosotros worked aslope carers to ensure that more vulnerable residents, including those who were unable to communicate verbally, could participate.

The activities took the form of:

  • An artwork option workshop, including a grouping discussion about art and memories, and a vote on preferences.
  • A artistic clay sculpture making workshop inspired past birds in the called artworks.

Roger Hardy, St Ives Seagull, 2002. Part of the Paintings in Hospitals collection at Hartismere Place.

Roger Hardy, St Ives Seagull, 2002. Part of the Paintings in Hospitals collection at Hartismere Place.

With some gentle encouragement and inspiration, residents became lively and highly engaged in the discussion workshop. They were guided through an open group chat about opinions of sure types of artwork and many participants shared memories evoked by the art they were viewing. The follow-up sculpture-making workshop provided a brand-new experience for the participants and was a happy and expressive session that prepare a precedent for future activities at the care home.

Affect

Feedback from residents and carers about Hartismere Identify's new artwork brandish and our artmaking workshop was overwhelmingly positive, with some residents and staff asking for more. Inspired by the initial artwork discussion session, our sculpture-making workshop utilised air-drying clay: something the residents had never used before and enjoyed.

Viewing the care home'due south new artworks for reference, each participating resident fabricated their very ain bird sculpture, discussing the artworks, the birds, their shapes and colours as they went. A couple, who were married and both residents at the care home, discussed the birds they had seen and liked in the past. They also reminisced virtually their married life together and their former pet cat. The group constantly chatted to each other virtually what their bird sculpture was looking like. When each sculpture dried, residents were able to paint them in colour to bring them to life. Information technology is hoped that they can then put them on display in their rooms or around the care dwelling, should they wish.

Using clay proved to be a very constructive way of enabling older individuals to express themselves, especially for people who were limited to nonverbal communication. It has also been shown to be a calming sensory experience for residents with dementia. The human action of creation and the process itself is fifty-fifty more important than the resulting artwork in this workshop. 1 carer remarked that they had never seen a particular resident and then captivated and focused on a job before and, although the resident was unable to limited themselves verbally, they were clearly enjoying their sculpting feel.

Frans Wesselman, Black Headed Dupe. Part of the Paintings in Hospitals collection at Hartismere Identify.

"I similar this artwork. It reminds me of my sailing days."

Side by side Steps

The final selection of 10 artworks that would make the biggest impact on residents' wellbeing went on display at Hartismere Place for the following two years. After participating in the clay sculpture-making workshop with Paintings in Hospitals, carers felt more confident in leading similar such activities in the futurity. Options for more art appointment activities from Paintings in Hospitals, including further artmaking workshops inspired past the artworks on display, are available to ensure continued interaction and the making of meaningful connections with the residents' new art.

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