My inspirations

Matisse

I was so happy when I was in Amsterdam to find that at the Stedelijk contemporary arts gallery was hosting a Matisse exhibition.

http://www.stedelijk.nl/en

Last year I visited the 'Cut Outs' exhibition at the Tate in London and was very impressed.

Matisse uses colour, shape and collage to convey movement and life. He uses simple repeated motifs on a grand scale to change the dynamics of a space.

The exhibition at Stedilijk paired each piece of Matisse's work with either some works that inspired it, or were inspired by it. I liked this idea as it encorages me to draw inspiration from what I see and take it into new contexts.

A fun element to the exhibition was a 'family' room in which families were encouraged to have a go and cut out their own Matisse inspired shapes. The walls were metal and magnetic and you could put sticky magnets on the back of you work to display it. I think I surprised staff as a lone 31 year old woman I went to sit and play with paper for two hours.

I felt a bit sad that these activities are made particularly for engagement for children and not designed really for anyone over 10 years of age to engage with. It made me think back to Murray Watts' talk about artists encouraging playfulness and imagination. Was not Matisse an old man when he became famous for his cut out series? 

One of my favourite things to do is to cut out shapes in paper. To many 'adults' this practice may seem a wasteful use of my time and rather childish, but being lost in my imagination and absorbed in artsitic practice brings me a sense of peace and time to reflect. I believe it enriches me as a person and means that I am more content in the practical work I have to do.

My love of collage began as a child. As a child I would spend hours sat on the rug next to the gas fire in our small terraced house in S.t Helens, cutting out shapes and patterns. In my house in Sheffield today I can still be found in this position. In fact the dementia necklaces for my exhibition were made in this way, rather than at my studio on Scotland street, and hopefully reflect elements of playfulness and creativity.

Mattise used gouache paint on the paper he cut out from and predminantly worked on a flat surface. I like to draw inspiration from his use of colour and shape, but work in 3D using recycled papers.

http://www.henri-matisse.net/cut_outs.html

De Hogewey dementia village in Holland PART ONE

I felt that De Hogewey needed a few blog posts of its own...

De Hogewey is a specialist dementia village in Weesp, fifteen minutes train journey from Amsterdam. www.vivium.nl/hogewey

I visited two and a half weeks ago and was given a tour around the village. It's taken me all this time for me to think through the points of the trip. The conversations I had while I was there brought up the following points:

This was the first point that struck me. It's simple, but if we do in then it changes our  whole perspective to the care system. We don't become stuck in the tradition on 'this is what we've always done' but embrace positive change, innovation and intellectual engagement.

The second point really challenged me. It's the great ethical debate about 'should we prolong peoples lives with medicine if we don't provide them quality of life through positive social interaction and meaningful activities?'

The third point was that if care homes are designed like hospitals, residents will constantly be reminded of illness. Which leads onto...

The fourth point is the challenge to the care sector to leave the 'medical approach in the background'. For me this stuck a chord, and helped me to understand why I had been frustrated in my job role as activities co-ordinator for the last nine years. I was constantly battling to leave 'medicine' in the background and show that if emphasis was put into meaningful activity then this would improve peoples health much more than pills and potions. Which leads nicely onto the next point...

A point I can entirely and whole heartedly agree with, and underpins the whole of my fellowship. We need to challenge this. If we allow risk assessments and fear to stop us providing meaningful activities, then we need change it.  Life is full of risks. Yes we can do our best to mininmise them, but ultimately if we want to empower our older people it will involve elements of risk!

If our approach comes from this place, then it is a good starting point to dream big!

Switzerland

A week has passed since I came to Switzerland. I stayed for the weekend at Le Chablais in Huemoz, in the town of Villars. It is about an hour and a half by car from Geneva. There I stayed with artist Sara Riesenmey and her family at their chalet. www.sarariesenmey.com/

I had the opportunity to visit La Grande Dixence, as this was one of the wishes of Sara's grandma.  It is the strongest fortified dam in Switzerland and is in Valais. www.grande-dixence.ch

I had the opportunity to interview Sara's grandma, Ruth, about her lifestory, after spending a day with her and the family. I will spend time over the next week looking at ways to represent her history into textiles.

This made me think about the way we conduct lifestory work, and the importance of spending time with people and getting to know them before interviewing them. Also, the way the setting and the relationship with family members. I have been contemplating the positive and negative aspects of the language barrier, cultural misunderstandings, and the mediation of family in conducting life story interviews.

I am now in Onex,  Geneva. I have spent the week with Sara visiting the University hospital of Geneva with is nicely abbreviated to HUG, tho doesn't  mean the same in French! We have met daily with a nursing home that is situated there and have spent time getting to know six of the residents. We have been thinking through ideas of how to decorate everyday objects to tell a little of their life stories.

It has been a challenge for me as I only have a small French vocabulary, so have had to find different ways to communicate.  Pictures, experiences and music have been useful tools. It has also helped me to look at the cultural differences and similarities of people suffering with dementia.

The universality of icecream love has made me smile!  I had the opportunity to accompany two of the residents and two carers to an ice cream parlour near HUG. There is something special about sharing  a nice experience together and then using it as a basis to build a relationship. Plus I got to eat pistachio and caramel ice cream which was very tasty!

I have realised that I have chosen the best time to be staying in Switzerland as the weather is beautiful and there are music and film festivals on in the evening! I had the opportunity to go to Monteaux Jazz festival and watch Harvey Milk at the outdoor cinema next to the Geneva Lake.

Amsterdam

Well I safely arrived in Amsterdam on Monday eve after an eleven hour journey  fom Copenhagen to Germany and then Holland. The novelty of the trip was the train going onto a ferry. I knew that there was water  between Denmark and Germany but just presumed there'd  be a very long bridge!

Also made a travel companion along the way. Maria Dominicci is from Virginia USA but has live in Korea  for the last few years. She's currently  travelling  Europe and setting up her travel blog. Check out http://beyondthepassport.com

On the Saturday,  just before coming to Amsterdam , I got the opportunity  to visit Dorte and Elli Kappelgaard's island house. It's located 40min by  train outside of Copenhagen. It's a beautiful house on a tiny island in the middle of a lake. The sun was hot and we had the opportunity  to swim in the lake.

Dorte and Elli are the organisers of Openspace arts conference. We spent the day also with Leah, whom I'd interviewed  at the conference,  and Monique who works with the Wayfarers trust. I had the opportunity  to interview Dorte about the community projects she has done over the years. It was very interesting to hear hows she has engaged local community in poetry writing.

 On Tuesday I visited the Rembrant House Museum in Amsterdam and yesterday visited the very exciting De Hogewey dementia village in Weesp, a fifteen min train journey outside of Amsterdam.

Yesterday was one of those times that really struck me as a life changing moment. It made sense of my nine year frustration with the English care system and showed that there is an alternative model that works!

Food glorious Food!

Well the last few days have gone so quickly! This picture is from one of our many meals together. The Emmaus Centre did us proud with all the beautifully  presented tasty meals. From smoked salmon to danish apple cake...I don't know how i'll go back to beans on toast! 

www.galleri-emmaus.dk

It's been a thought provoking and enriching week with interesting talks from Murray Watts, writer and founder of the Wayfarer Trust. 'Openspace' is the sister conference to the Wayfarer conference at Lee Abbey in Devon. www:wayfarertrust.com

It was a delight to meet artists from Denmark, Norway, America, Canada, Scotland and England. There was a mix of backgrounds and practices and the workshops reflected this. I participated in the 'Land Art' workshop facilitated  by Monique Sleidrecht. We looked at land artist Andy Goldsworthy, which was a treat for me as he's one of my favourite site specific sculpture artists. To have a look at his work use this link:

  http://www.goldsworthy.cc.gla.ac.uk/

I got the chance to have a go myself which was great. I found working in nature to repeat patterns and shapes very meditative and peaceful.

Green leaves swirled on a cold ash bonfire 

We had evening performances from various musican,  but my favourite was from a Danish couple Astrid and Peter Rasmussen called 'Binocular Visions'. They used electronic keyboards, drum and synthesisers to distort sound and make unique tracks. 

To listen to some samples of music: http://binocularvision.bandcamp.com/releases

I had the privaledge to interview  a variety of  artist relating to my fellowship project. I interviewed  Hanna Nilsen Nugard, Leah Robb, and Leah Samuelson.  They all work in different areas of community arts. 

 Hanna is a Norwegian freelance documentary maker. At the conference she showed a film about he two grandfathers.  It was fascinating to hear about her process of recording the film, and the way taking time to listen to their lifestory enriched their relationship

. 

Hanna Nilsen Nygard

Leah Robb is political painter in Denmark and an activities coordinator in Edinburgh, Scotland. She spends her time between these two countries. The care home where she works in Scotland lets her use her creative gifts to enrich the lives of elderly residents. 

Leah Robb

Leah Samuelson is the Instructor of Art at Wheaton College in Chicago. She has worked with community groups on mural projects and spoke to me about the way a community arts project can change the people who take part in it. She reflected that people have a pride and sense of achievement when they create a space in community.

As you can imagine, I came away from the conference  with ideas buzzing around my head. Chatting with the three diverse arts brought up lots of questions, particularly around the way we record people's responses to projects, the ethical  considerations of filming lifestories especially and the importance of displaying work in care homes in a way that enriches the lives of older people, and doesn't  just tick a box for the inspection report.

I am now back at Hannah and Fred's in Copenhagen planning the next leg of the journey.  I am visiting the holiday home of Dorthe and Elli Kappelgaard, the organisers of 'Openspace', to chat to them about their artistic practice  and community arts projects. Their house is located on a small island forty minutes outside of Copenhagen and the weather  is beautiful.