A message from Creative Minds re’ Coronavirus & Art Activity Boxes

03/19/2020

Dear clients,

As the coronavirus situation escalates we want to reassure you of our full support and understanding during this difficult and concerning time. As many of you are aware, immediate steps have been taken by our clients, especially the care sector to restrict visitors in order to protect the most vulnerable people in our society. These measures are absolutely necessary to ensure the protection and safety of our vulnerable population across the country.

However in times of restriction and isolation the importance of activities and stimulation becomes ever more apparent. Their importance to peoples health and wellbeing cannot be understated, whether it’s music, arts & crafts, poetry, sowing, other crafts or forms of entertainment.

In light of the restrictive measures implemented across the country, in particular in the care sector we as a community of artists have been working hard to develop ‘Art Activity Boxes’.

Our Art Activity Boxes contain accessible pre-planned sessions with all the art mediums, materials and equipment required, which can be delivered straight to your doorstep.

The Art Activity Boxes are priced at £35 each (based on one session plan) and can be delivered on a monthly/weekly basis.

Example Art Activity Box by Judy & Caroline, CM Artists based in Salisbury

To find out more and enquire please click below…

Art Activity Boxes

*Please be aware that this is dependent on where our artists are located and we may not be able to deliver to you if you are too far away*

Thank you for your support and we wish all of our clients the very best. We’ll get through this together!

Creative Minds.

Creative Minds celebrates Arts in Care Homes Day!

10/01/2019

On Tuesday 24^th September we welcomed the first ever National Arts in Care Homes Day. We were thrilled to see the value of the Arts in Care being recognised across the country and many organisations got involved to celebrate. CM Artists ran sessions in care homes to mark the occasion, and for us, it was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the amazing work our artists do in care settings across the country, empowering people through their sessions and spreading joy through creativity.

On the day, residents at Ardath Care Home in Bexhill (Sussex Housing) had fun with CM Artist Sarah working in wool to create bright and colourful Mexican-style wall hangings.

Up in Birmingham residents at Wilson Lodge had a messy but fabulous morning using printing inks with wooden blocks with CM Artist Deborah.

In High Wycombe, residents at Catherine Court Care Home had a relaxing morning with CM Artist Karen, creating aboriginal-style autumn leaves.

In Weston-super-Mare residents at Park House Residential Home created cocktails to decorate the home’s golden drinks cabinet with CM Artist Susannah.

Over in Derby, residents at The Laurels Nursing Home laughed and sang as they worked together to create a striking communal sunflower collage. It looks wonderful on display!

Sigita, the Manager at Ardath Care Home told us how she feels the art sessions are benefitting the residents at the home:

“The residents get so much from their art sessions – especially those living with dementia. Often relatives join in the sessions, as it gives them the chance to spend some quality time with loved ones. The social aspect really benefits the residents with lots of conversations, stories shared, plus fun and laughter.

“Many residents have never even painted before, but Sarah encourages them to give it a go, and not be too concerned with the outcome. They are always surprised and proud of what they have accomplished. We have one resident who is now blind, but Sarah kindly encouraged her to take part in a recent session and guided her along the way. She produced a truly beautiful painting and was delighted with what she had achieved!”

“The art sessions really lift the resident’s spirits and they look forward to them every week.”

To find out more about the Arts in Care Homes Day visit:
https://artsincarehomes.org.uk/

Children at a Kenyan School Get Creative!

12/07/2018

Our CM Artist Grace is a trustee of Dominion Schools Africa – a charity that provides financial support to a Kenyan school and helps to assist the school in providing high-quality education. In November, she went out to Gachie, in Nairobi to visit the school. The school year runs from January – November, so she arrived just as they were preparing for their end of year graduation which celebrates the 6-7 year old’s moving up to the junior school.

Grace saw this as a perfect opportunity for the children to get creative in preparation for graduation day. There is very little creative work in their school curriculum, and the school didn’t have many artistic resources. Grace had taken over some paint brushes and the school had pots of powder paint. That morning, Grace went shopping with the school’s head teacher and purchased some sturdy material to paint on. They decided to make some wall hangings on the theme of the biblical creation story.

Children from the school dropped in and out throughout the day and absolutely loved getting involved! Many had never had the opportunity to paint on such a large scale before. They even made some of their own paint using local earth mixed with water. The teachers were absolutely blown away by their efforts and thrilled to see how enthusiastic the children were.

Grace wanted every child in the school to have a go at creating their own self-portrait to hang up on graduation day. They experimented with mixed media and used paint, crayons and collage to create their own personal portrait. All were thrilled with the results!

The school is generally very structured with little opportunity for creative expression. At the end of the session, Grace allowed the children to have free reign to explore ways of using the artistic materials, and create whatever they wanted to. They all went wild and loved the freedom of the activity, saying how much fun they were having.

The school had never displayed artwork on the walls before, but the teachers loved the difference it made to the building. The teachers were thrilled to see how happy the children were during the art session, and chatted to Grace to discuss ways in which art could be brought into other subjects such as history and geography.

The children were so proud of their work at the end of the day, and were delighted to see it hung up on display. Before she left, one little boy came to Grace and said he’d had the “happiest day ever”!

Competition Winning Artist for Learning Disability Week 2017

10/10/2017

*Competition winner, Dele, being presented with his T-shirt printed with his artwork*

A talented resident from an East London residential home for adults with learning disabilities, won a local competition to create a spectacular piece of art to promote a Learning Disability Week Celebration Event in the London borough of Newham. The winning artist, Dele, created an abstract artwork in pastel, that was printed on T-shirts and presented to him at the launch party of the event at Stratford Circus Arts Centre on 29 June 2017.

Community Artist, Elaine Harper-Gay, who delivers art sessions at the small residential home where the young artist is a resident, spoke of how proud she was of his achievement and was thrilled to see him on stage to receive a T-shirt with his very own artwork printed on it. The compères of the stage show also wore the artwork on their T-shirts.

An exhibition of artwork in celebration of Learning Disability Week was on display at Stratford Circus from 16 June – 13 July 2017, where a total of four residents from the residential home also had their work included.

Elaine Harper-Gay has been delivering art sessions to the residential home for 18 months and seen the residents grow and develop throughout this period. The residents have found the art sessions incredibly beneficial and enjoy the variety of ways they are able to express themselves. Congratulations to Dele for winning the competition and the residents who exhibited their work. We’re looking forward to seeing what the residents create next in future art sessions.

Exhibition of artwork from the Learning Disabled community at Stratford Circus

Photography credit: Andrew Baker

Beautiful acrylic paintings by a talented resident artist!

05/31/2017

As CM Artists we’re always discovering talented artists among the many participants we deliver sessions to on a daily basis. We’re often surprised by the skill, the detail, the experimentation and the creativity we see from the participants in our sessions but the artwork that we have seen created by Ian, a resident artist at Sunrise of Weybridge left us stunned!

Since attending the art sessions Ian has created two beautiful acrylic paintings on mdf, one of Littlehampton and one of Burano, a Venetian lagoon in Italy.

Ian tells us:

“My interest in drawing and painting started when Sunrise Weybridge formed an art class/group, some five years ago. Although I have no formal art training I have found art enjoyable, satisfying and sometimes frustrating as I suffer from being colour blind and in a wheelchair.”

“With help from the Sunrise Activities team and Sara Hurley’s (Creative Minds) art classes over the past few years I have painted two acrylic paintings.

“The first of these paintings was based on a photograph that was chosen as the vibrant colours complimented the colours of two other paintings/pictures which are to be hung, along with my painting, on a wall in a recently purchased retirement flat by a member of the Sunrise Weybridge activities team who had asked me to paint the Littlehampton water front scene for her.”

Here is the first of Ian’s paintings of Littlehampton, with work in progress photo’s taken at each stage of painting…

“The second painting, of Burano Island, in the Venetian Lagoon, Italy, was chosen by a member of the Sunrise Weybridge activities team, as the vibrant colours of the boats and houses in the scene, matched those used in the kitchen of her home.”

We feel so privileged to see such talent in the care homes and other venues we visit!

Many thanks to Ian, a truely talented resident artist, for sharing the progress of his paintings with us and thanks for reading.