HANDMADE WELLBEING PROJECT INSPIRES CAMELOT HOUSE RESIDENTS
Artwork produced by five elderly residents of Camelot House in Wellington is featuring in an exhibition being staged this week in the town, in the local offices of not-for-profit arts organisation Superact.
The exhibition is the culmination of the Handmade Wellbeing project, which is a collaboration celebrating the importance and value of creativity in care settings, between Somerset-based Superact and three partner institutions based in Finland, Austria and Estonia.
It will showcase artwork created by residents in Wellington and Devon care homes with the support of community artists.
The Camelot House residents have been working on a clay tile wall hanging, bearing the imprint of their own hand for over a month, with support from Somerset ceramicist Mary Kembery, project lead-artist Jon Lincoln Gordon, and Wellington artist Ruth Fielder.
The participants have produced individual templates from which they have developed clay models, finished off with a variety of textures and paints. The completed wall hanging will be returned to Camelot House after the exhibition and displayed for residents and families to enjoy.
Project manager, Janine Stedman said: “We use the arts to help improve health and well-being in various community settings. The aim of this particular project was to help people with dementia maintain stronger links with a fading past.
“Our participants found focusing on their hands very empowering. There is an often-misplaced perception of people with dementia sitting with closed hands on their laps. The work that the group at Camelot House produced amply demonstrates that they can still reach out and engage with their inner creativity.
“Our hosts at Camelot House made us very welcome and both staff and residents were so enthusiastic about having us there and producing the lovely artwork. We are very much hoping to work together again.”
Clare Woodhead, operations manager for Camelot Care, said: “There is evidence that this kind of project has a positive effect on support staff as well as residents because it’s such a great way of keeping people with dementia engaged and stimulated.
“Benefits for participants can include a reduction in drug usage, and for care home operators such activities can contribute to reducing staff turnover so it’s a winner all round, really, and we’d be delighted to get more involved.”
The art exhibition was preceded by a one-day conference examining the issues covered over the two years the Handmade Wellbeing project has been running, focusing on why the use of creativity in care homes is so important.
The project attracted €46,000 worth of European funding, under the Erasmus scheme, to promote study of and share best practices for learning, and the partners will now jointly develop an education model to coach arts and crafts professionals and educators to work with the elderly in care.
The Handmade Wellbeing art exhibition will be open on Friday 24 March from 2pm to 5pm and on Saturday 25 March from 10am to 4pm in Tonedale Mill, Wellington, TA21 0AW.
For further information about Superact see www.superact.org.uk
