13 June 2016

We recently all enjoyed a great evening at Bath Artists Studios’ Roper Gallery for the opening of FreshArt@ Ward 4. The exhibition, part of Fringe Arts Bath, is a collection of work made by participants, family and friends from the project. There was a stunning mix of media, subject matter and scale on show, inspired by visits to The Holburne Museum, The American Museum and No 1 Royal Crescent, all of whom are partners in FreshArt@ alongside AWP, Sirona and ourselves.

There were some incredibly proud artists there and rightly so; their work justifiably sits in a professional gallery. The exhibition was beautifully curated and hung by our very own FreshArt@ worker, Nat and Katie O’Brien from 44AD gallery and studio space. Katie is also running a day long course in curation for us, exploring this important exercise, entitled, A Fresh Look: The Art of Curation.

Alongside the work of FreshArt@ was displayed work by one of the peer support groups that we support, Creative Perspectives whose theme for this exhibition was ‘Movement and Motion’. Again, the quality of their work was striking, eclectic and highly accomplished. We were also very pleased to welcome Genesis art group who made up the exhibition with some of their excellent pieces.

The artwork from FreshArt@ will next be seen adorning the walls of Ward 4, St Martins Hospital Dementia treatment and assessment ward. The project itself, now in its third iteration following projects at Hillview and NHS House, has been nominated for an Arts and Health South West 2016 Award. We are incredibly proud of all those involved and can’t wait to hear the result, announced at The Arnolfini on Friday 17th June.

Following the opening, we have a series of micro-workshops at The Roper Gallery entitled ‘An Hour A Day’. Within this diverse and multifarious programme you can explore taster sessions in acrylic transfer printing and writing for enjoyment, as well as enjoying a practical cooking session with Food For Thought, the catering social enterprise that we are associated with. Or why not take time out to sing along to the ukulele or indeed have a living space consultation for your homely wellbeing. There is truly something for everyone! An Hour A Day is a great synthesis of all our strands of work, incorporating our co|Create programme of artists development alongside our socially engaged delivery of creative projects. It is open to all, so please do go along and savour these bite-sized morsels of creativity.

As a footnote to this month’s blog and the celebration of FreshArt@, as well as keeping with the micro theme, I would encourage everyone to read David Jubb’s brilliant short blog, Why do we talk about The Arts in which he says, “by taking a responsibility for creativity in our communities, we can play a leading role in our communities, connecting with dozens of other local organisations, to explore how creativity can be an active agent for change throughout our community.”

Olly

(Director, Creativity Works)