Created to create - a story of connections to art

Created to create – a story of connecting to art

Time and resources are important factors to consider in extra care settings, and so you may be wondering how people can still contribute to a Circles approach when both those factors can be limited. So here I will share an example of how both a team member and people living at a setting brought what they knew and had active ‘roles’ in connecting people to the things that mattered to them.

Sarah was a team member who often supported activities in her setting – she had some great ideas and facilitated a number of creative craft sessions with people. I was working with Sarah to support her to think about how people within settings can come together around shared interests and exploring how those people can contribute to that Circle. Sarah talked about how a local retired artist had been hosting a couple of taster art classes for people living there. She was concerned about the cost and therefore the accessibility of these art sessions moving forward.  Four people wanted to be part of this session, and they could not afford to pay the contributions needed to maintain this. But we were already seeing the positive impact this connection to art was having for those four people involved. They really had pride in the pieces they produced, hanging them on the walls in their rooms and engaging with others in the group, where previously they were not engaged with other sessions or people in the setting.  

I spoke with Sarah about how she had been involved in the creative group before and how she felt about helping out with an art Circle. She talked about how she loves art and would like to be involved, but added that she is not an expert. However, she told me that there was a former artist who had recently move into the setting with her husband. Sarah had chatted with this former artist and relayed to me how passionate she was about art and of her life history as an artist. I asked Sarah how she would feel about approaching this lady, talking with her about her time as an artist and asking if she would like to be part of this art Circle too, asking would she be happy to help people out if they were unsure of a technique or approach? Sarah was happy to do this, and our artist lady was happy to be part of the group. So, the art Circle began, they met for an hour once a month. People within the group could focus on any type of art that they liked, and they had their own equipment such as pens, paint and paper. If anything was missing Sarah would pop into the store cupboard to see if they had anything that would do the job. Some people drew landscapes, others portrait and one lady painting by numbers. People were encouraged to paint and draw in between Circle meetings, to progress with pieces they had started in the group and team members would chat with them about their individual art pieces when they were completing care calls.

I just want to add a personal note on contribution here, when lockdown hit last year, I became involved with virtual sessions via our Circles Connected Facebook page. I decided I wanted to learn to sketch, something I had wanted to do since being at school over 30 years ago! I bought a book called ‘How to sketch’ and made a short video based on my efforts from the first lesson in the book. I (tentatively) posted the video on our Facebook page and people began to comment on how they had always wanted to learn to draw too. They wanted to know if I would host virtual sketch sessions – well I was shocked and added that yes, I would love to meet virtually but reiterated that I am no expert. Well, you know it has not mattered that I do not know how to sketch a house, a rose or a koala bear before we meet for each lesson because we are all learning together. We are all connecting to a passion for art, but more than that it is the opportunity to connect to each other for 40 mins each week. We chat about our practice sketches in-between sessions and offer encouragement to each other in the post chat. I record myself sketching so people who cannot join us live can watch the video and still be part of the conversation on the post.

So, Circles roles are something we can all play a part in, and that can work with the time and resources we have available to us. We can still maintain connection to a passion by chatting with an individual about the things that matter even if we are not part of a Circle meeting. We do not have to be an expert, instead can be a learner and contributor at the same time. And we may be able to use technology to connect when we are unable to meet face to face, or make recordings of our contributions to share with others at a time that works for them.