Arts in Care Homes

For the first National Day for Arts in Care Homes hosted on Tuesday 24^thSeptember, the Education Team hosted a busy day of activities within three local care homes. These workshops demonstrated the impact the arts can have in improving lives of older people and carers living within the Richmond borough.

The team worked with three professional artist and educators, Devon Turner, Michela Valsaniaand Lucy Evetts, to explore different themes found within the Borough Art Collection. Participants explore historical buildings, beautiful and iconic local views and portraits of the individuals who shape the history of Orleans House Gallery.

These workshops aimed to reduce social isolation in our local community through supporting connections with the collection, people and places. We also wanted to challenge people’s perception of aging through celebrating creativity and recognising older audiences’ active contributions to art.

Residents from Dalemead shared their experience felt making with our wonderful volunteer Ella:

“This takes me back to my dressmaking day’s at school – I was quite good at it”

“I have done painting and art but this is great fun”

Just like the residents at Dalemead, the participants at Cecil Court took their time to engaged with images from the collection before creating. Our brilliant volunteers Charlotte and Tanyafound it a lively place to visit, with all the residents contributing to the session and sharing stories that related to images and drew from a personal connection to the borough.

Our last session, hosted at Homemead saw residents enjoying more than just portraits from the Borough Art Collection. Artist Devon and volunteer Jane had the creating collage portraits, singing along to classics and even up and dancing!

Follow #ArtsinCareHomes on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest stories