The Appleby Tate!

10/04/2015

On the 19th June 2015, Appleby House Care Home in Epsom, Surrey held an open day where the Mayor and Mayoress of Epson and Ewell officially opened the ‘Appleby Tate’ gallery.

The ‘Appleby Tate’ is an stunning gallery space within the care home, which is used to display all the fantastic artwork created by the residents in the Art Sessions. The Appleby Tate gallery provides a therapeutic space within the care home where the residents can relax, admire and meet with their relatives and visitors. It also provides a talking point for residents, encourages a social atmosphere, creates a lovely environment for the residents to live and seeing their artwork on display gives them a real sense of achievement and we believe empowerment.

Undoubtedly one of the most impressive pieces of art in the exhibition is the huge pastel landscape (picture featured) that took the residents five Art Sessions to complete; it is now beautifully framed and proudly on display for all to admire. James Cropper the Founder and Director of Creative Minds, has been delivering Art Sessions to Appleby House, part of Care UK, for over a year and the residents have created a vast amount of artwork during the sessions exploring different mediums and materials.

James said; “The Art Sessions are hugely popular at Appleby House and all of the residents that participate create fantastic artwork, and really immerse themselves in the creative process. An important aspect of the Art Sessions is their accessibility, but we also want the residents to have fun, relax and feel supported with a professional artist on hand. When I saw the Appleby Tate it brought a tear to my eye, it is the most incredible exhibit of the resident’s artwork I’ve seen.”

Shona, Manager at Appleby House, commented at the opening; “James sees the creative potential in everyone, but what makes the difference is that he makes the art sessions easy, fun and engaging for residents, all of whom are living with different types of dementia and at various stages of the condition. We were so proud of what the residents had created that we began removing pictures from the home’s walls and replacing them with their paintings, so we’ve now launched the Appleby Tate.”

It is known in health care that participation in an array of activities in care homes is vital in maintaining an individual’s health and wellbeing. Our Art Sessions provide a relaxing environment for the residents to explore their creativity and feel engaged and empowered through the use of various materials and mediums to create works of art. Residents, staff and family members have noted that our sessions help to reduce agitation, improve mood, dexterity, social cohesion and boost levels of self-esteem and confidence. In addition, residents regularly produce beautiful artwork, which can be displayed just like the Appleby Tate, throughout the care home.

It is our aim as a growing community is to enrich the lives of as many people as possible through our empowering and enhancing Art Sessions across the UK every day!

photo credit and addtional article: http://www.careukgroup.com/news/care-home-showcases-residents-art-skills-in-new-gallery

‘The Care Innovator Award’ at the GB Care Awards 2014

11/15/2014

We’re very proud to announce that James the founder of Creative Minds has won ‘The Care Innovator Award’ at the Great British Care Awards for the South East.

Creative Minds Care Innovator Award — Founder James.

The yearly regional event was held at the Hilton Metropole in Brighton on 8th November and the events exist to identify and reward excellence across the care sector. The ‘awards promote best practice within both home care and care homes sectors, and pay tribute to those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding excellence within their field of work’.

A judge commented:

“James has a vision, plus drive and energy, he uses his creativity to empower, stimulate and engage vulnerable people. James impressed the judges with his determination and they are in no doubt his ‘vision’ will come true.”

James said;

“I feel very proud and privileged to have been given this award. Its been an amazing journey over the 2 years developing Creative Minds and our Art Sessions. I’m very much looking forward to what the future holds and I hope that many passionate and like minded people can join me on this wonderful journey.”

This isn’t the end, and winning the regional care award means that James and Creative Minds are automatically entered into the National Great British Care Awards next year involving the winners of all 20 categories in 9 regions!

Click here: Winners – Great British Care Awards – South East

Thank you for reading.

Giant Flowers Project!

05/24/2014

Whilst starting various Easter Projects at the end of February including the Easter Bunnies I also decided to prepare for the Spring months by start Spring Projects with some of the care homes. I quickly decided with a couple of the care homes that I visit that we were going to make some giant flowers to see in Spring and Summer. The Art Projects were called The Giant Flowers Project and this has been one of my most ambitious ideas and Art Projects to date!

Below are some of the giant flowers made entirely out of cardboard!

* The picture in the top left is at the beginning of the project and features the petals of the daisy and the Rose made of rolled cardboard.

*In the top right is the tulip made from thin sheets of card bent and fixed into shape using masking tape and hot rubber glue.

*Bottom left is a picture taken during the Art Session where we had constructed the daffodil and daisy and started covering them with paper mache to make the structures more rigid.

*And Bottom right are some of the complete giant flower heads from both of the Giant Flowers Projects.

Once the flowers were covered in paper mache, dried solid and had been primed it was time to paint them in bright colours! Once they had been painted we covered them in a thin coat of gloss varnish to give them a nice shine and then they were ready to be fixed to the plastic coated bamboo stems that I had bought.

So here is me, the residents and staff with one of the finished Giant Flowers Project’s below consisting of a yellow Rose, blue Pansy, pink Tulip and a Daisy! 🙂

Here’s pictures of another completed Giant Flower Project at a care home in Guildford!

More projects to come, hope you enjoyed reading!

James.

The Easter Bunny!

05/24/2014

From February right thought to April I did various Easter related Art Projects with the residents in care homes. Two of the Art Projects in particular involved making a giant Easter Bunny out of recycled materials covered in paper mache!

Both Easter Bunny ‘s were built entirely out of recycled materials including boxes, cardboard, plastic packaging and bottles. Masking tape is important in binding all the different recycled materials together to build the sculpture. Once the sculpture has been built and was sturdy and secure we then started to cover the entire structure with 2/3 layers of paper mache (See image below).

Once the Easter Bunny had been covered in paper mache, dried thoroughly and primed it was time for me and the resident’s to give him some colour. As you can see in the image below we decided to paint him a mousey brown colour whilst tailoring a nice jacket bought from the charity shop for him. To secure the jacket we used drawing pins and then a staple gun to fix it in place.

After 4/5 Art Sessions we had finally completed the Easter Bunny in time for Easter. We added lots of details using a mixture of acrylic paints to his face. We used some cotton wool buds for his ears , white felt for his belly and pipe cleaners for his whiskers. And to finish him off a paper daffodil in his pocket! The finished sculpture was about 3.5ft tall!

As you can see he is surrounded by Easter eggs (made and painted by the residents in the Art Sessions) and some little lambs making a lovely Easter display for all the residents and visitors to the care home! 🙂

More Art Projects to come from myself and Creative Minds. Thank you for reading! 🙂

James.