Saturday 19 May 2012

Arts Council Funding for iPad engAGE...

This week i found out i have been successful in Arts Council Funding which means iPad engAGE will begin!! This is the initial part of the project and will act as a Pilot Study to build on in the future. It will engage individuals living with dementia in highly creative activities using iPad technology!

Keep Posted for Updates and Developments for this Project!

Arts and Imagination Lecture at The Lowry

I am very excited about the lecture - 'Arts and Imagination' which is taking place this Thursday at The Lowry in Manchester...it will be great to have stimulating conversation about a subject that is very much in the public eye today!

Storybox

This week as part of the Storybox Project we travelled the world in an hour and a half!! Each participant got a worldwide ticket and we went all the way to Australia, Japan, Italy and Spain....which included some Flamenco Dancing, Drinking Sangria, Tai Chi and Waltzing - we have never felt so Jet Lagged....we then flew back to the UK with a Paper Aeroplane action!

It was great fun and the staff and participants are really engaged - looking forward to next weeks session, based on the theme - 'SEA'.

Creative Legacy Project...

Photograph taken from the first session - Themed on Identity


The Creative Legacy Project is now well underway, and collaboratively brings together three Residential Care Homes in the Middlesbrough area together each Month.

Yesterdays session was based on the Seaside in which we started the session with Ice Creams and singing songs such as 'Oh i do like to be beside the Seaside' etc...we then developed new stories and created multiple messages in bottles. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the session and we are looking forward to the next one! We are now looking into ways on how to sustain the project in these care facilities...

Manchester Metropolitan University Lecture..

I will be presenting a lecture this Thursday the 24th of May at Manchester Metropolitan University from 4 until 5pm. The lecture will be taking place in GM 7.  I will be discussing my journey into Art and Health and sharing ideas and debate around the Big Society today.
Feel free to come along...

Breeze 2012

Creative Workshops for this years Breeze Festival 2012 have been confirmed!! I will be facilitating all types of projects using an Upcycled Recycled Theme...during June / July / August.

Keep Posted at www.bespokeartworkshops.co.uk for Photographs from the events!

NEWS...

I will be using the 'Enriching Life with Creative Expression' blog for all types of projects now, alongside specific Arts and Dementia Projects.

Freeborough Academy Workshop






I facilitated an Art Workshop at Freeborough Academy with the theme of 'What it would be like to live on a Desert Island'. It was great fun and the Year 8's made some fantastic Desert Island Scenes!

Sunday 6 May 2012

Devising Psychosis Performance...






The Devising Psychosis final Performance was last week at the Jubilee Theatre in Newcastle! And it was absolutly fantastic...the day consisted of the performance, talks by practitioners and doctors and also some interactive art work pieces which demonstrated positive health and well-being (photographed above)...my role on the project is to develop a blog as a tool for future discussion and to document the creative journey from start to finish. It will be going live in the next couple of weeks and will be added to this blog...so keep posted! 

Presentation at The Northern School Of Ballet, Leeds..

As part of the Annual General Meeting for the East Pennines Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, it was held at the Northern School of Ballet in Leeds.

I was asked to present my Fellowship around America and to share my knowledge and ideas of how it can be developed back in the UK. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but as per usual i ran out of time and could quite easily have carried on (with alot more to say)..

My presentation was very interactive, with two examples of good and bad art practice alongside powerful video and sound clips.

I hope to keep presenting!!

Kidz Konnekt Poster Project..

Kidz Konnekt have employed me to develop and design posters and banners for the annual fun day, working alongside the all girl group on a Thursday night...the first session consisted of exploring potential type and imagery which will be formalised for next sessions to decide on the specific design!

(Photographs of the final Posters will be updates ASAP)..

Tyne and Wear Museums, Newcastle - MOMA Project...

Equal Arts (Alice Thwaite) also travelled to the United States as part of a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship and observed the 'Meet Me at MOMA' programme in New York...Alice is the Director of Equal Arts which provides opportunities and creative projects for Older People. Alice has close links with the Royal Academy of Art in London in which the MOMA model has been adapted...therefore we now aspire to develop this across the Tyne and Wear Museums in Newcastle...

I have attended the two seminars in preparation for the project and i will be working on the training and development of staff facilitating the 'Meet Me' sessions in the various Newcastle Museums and Galleries.

I feel ever so honoured to be able to use this model here in the UK and i hope it is as successful as the Museum of Modern Arts Programme...

Lecture at Manchester Metropolitan University..

I will be presenting a Lecture at Manchester Metropolitan University - open to all Art and Design Students on the 24th of May...this will concentrate on my personal journey in Arts and Health as well as provide fresh insights into how an Art Degree can be used or implemented...feel free to come along!

Creative Legacy Project...

I am the lead Artist on the project 'Creative Legacy' which works with four care homes in the Middlesbrough area, creating a Creative Legacy to implement stimulating and inspiring art activities. The session will be taking place monthly at Nunthorpe Hall in Nunthorpe Village which brings together various residents and staff to implement similar practice back in their care setting.

The first one last week started off very well and certainly engaged the residents...we now hope and will assist the staff in making this permanent on their calendar.

This project is in rememberance of Mary Passman who thoroughly enjoyed Creative Activity....

Hartlepool Marina Museum and Middlesbrough Archives..

Hartlepool Marina Museum coordinated a session at Victoria House for around 10 residents using props, imagery and objects from the 1920's to the 1940's...

Middlesbrough Archives have also provided unbelievable photographs of Middlesbrough dating back to the 1800's...it is ever so interesting to see what has stayed the same and what has altered over the years...

Briarwood Nursing Home, Eston

On a freelance basis i am facilitating various themed creative days at Briarwood Nursing Home in Eston.
With the theme of St.Georges Day, the residents and i made medals in response to our own celebrations throughout our lives and engaged through a storymaking process responding to various objects and imagery. It was really interesting finding out about how different people celebrated their 18th and 21st birthdays years ago! Plus the outcomes were great!! (Apologies for no photographs)...

The Storybox Project...

The Storybox Project, funded by the Library Theatre Company and Cornerhouse and Manchester has finally started!! Lowri and I are collaborating art forms - both Visual Arts and Theatre to facilitate an exciting Storytelling Project....we have met all of the groups that we will be working with and have delivered four taster sessions! The groups we are working with are unbelievable and no doubt will inspire us in the work that we do...

There are many exciting themes on their way - with the first session based on Travelling the World in which we will be singing worldwide songs, learning languages, wearing Japanese atire and developing the crafts of each country...and so forth!!


This is one of the poetry outcomes from an initial session:


 POEM

She’s working with a Helmet,

Deep Sea Diver,

A Pest,

Are you alright Love?

It’s ok,

At a garage,

Protect her eyes from the sparks,

A welder of Aeroplanes,

Parachute Jump,

A Jumper,

Its Old,

I wouldn’t wear it,

A Waistcoat,

A Bodice,

Someone who is rich and fancy,

A night club in Kairo,

Ladies of the Boulevard,

A Wedding Dress,

Its got holes in it,

Light and New,

Someone in a different Country,

From Belgium, fine son they make,

It touches the mattresses,

Fur – nice one side, rough on the other,

You can always tell by looking at the back. Cloth – Manufactured, Leather its real!

Pussycat Pussycat,

Dogs,

A Mink Fur Coat,

Centre Square in Kairo,

The Girls and Boys are meeting,

The music starts and they come forward,

Looking for a fella,

You can’t see much in the shadows,

Fancy Dancy,

It feels new,

Its stiff, Its not a crepe but a firm net,

Nice Colour Blue,

A veil to protect your mouth,

Made of Plastic,

It looks like somebody is washing,

Silky Soft,

Nice Colour,

Incepid,

Theres a power in Yellow,

It feels alright,

In Amsterdam or Kairo?

Silk and Shrine,

The Lady of the Night,

It looks Good,

Shiny, Soft, Yellow Like a Buttercup,

It would make a nice scarf, babies jumper,

The Sun needs to come in to stop it been stagnated – let the air in!

The Curtains,

A College of Facts.

Stimulating Activities at Victoria House Care Centre...

My freelance projects are now contributing and feeding into my part time job as Activities Coordinator at Victoria House Care Centre....so i began experimenting with Theatre and improvisational stories developed from props. Props included Feather Bowers, Smells of Lavendar, Photographs of fashion from the 1930's and so on... (Similar to the Storybox Project i am leading in Manchester).

The outcomes were unbelievable and everyone in the room was engaged one way or another!! The story stemmed into a man going on holiday to New York to get mugged of all of his life savings to then meet a lady to scam back to taking him back to the UK! All the residents were laughing, acting it out and incorporating all of the props (sensory based) into it too! This proves that the 'NEW' is exciting and playful and can really empower and energise individuals living in residential care!

Victoria House Care Centre, Sensory Development...





At Victoria House Care Centre i was allocated the job of developing the Sensory Room and Sensory based activities for individuals living with Dementia at the later stages of the disease. Due to the last parts of the brain affected, the Senses can enable empowerment and control.

I designed around 8 aprons which can be worn to stimulate and explore the senses. Materials such as plastic bags, elastic bands, leather, feathers and buttons were all used. Since the aprons have been in action there have been huge changes in behaviour, engagement and verbal control. One of the men who wears these aprons and takes part in many sensory based activities has now begun speaking again and interacting with staff - a huge improvement! I am now looking at other ways of communication through Pex (Image association)...KEEP POSTED!
First of all - a big apologies for not writing and updating my blog / website for a while! Life has been very hectic with new projects and developments...