Month: March 2021

Session 10 on Zoom 20^th November – Project display

2.30 to 3.30 – Zoom workshop, hosted by Restoration Trust (RT) and presented from Project Worker’s (HL) home

The final workshop was a celebration of what the participants had achieved by staying with the project through the transition from face-to-face sessions to virtual workshops on Zoom. By generously committing their time and enthusiasm and the strength to tackle something new they have supported our Conservation for Wellbeing project and enabled us to complete the sessions. A slide show which described the project from beginning to end was produced and shared that with the invited guests who joined us for our final Zoom session. Each participant was presented with a certificate and these were later printed and sent out to each person.

The research conducted by art therapist Daisy Rubinstein, with expert support from UCL’s Linda Thomson, will professionally evaluate the impact of the project for participants and staff, and I trust it has had a beneficial effect on all those who have taken part. Using conservation and preservation activities for a wellbeing project working with people with complex mental health needs has not been tried before and we hope that this one will be the first of many. Here are some ‘lessons learnt’ points that I will be using for our next one!

• Involve participants at every level of the project so that they are helping to formulate and feedback as well as experiencing the activities
• Make sure there is enough time allocated for communication in-between sessions
• Ensure that evaluation documentation (questionnaires, surveys, etc.) are user friendly
• Build in an acknowledgement that the experiences around the actual workshops – travel, refreshments, introductions, technology, language, home circumstances – are as much a part of the engagement and learning as the workshop itself.

Conservation for Wellbeing 1 – 30

Conservation for Wellbeing 31 – 62

Session 9 on Zoom 6^th November – Collage

2.30 to 3.30 – Zoom workshop, hosted by Restoration Trust (RT) and presented from Project Worker’s (HL) home

An important aspect of the final session of the series was to reflect on and discuss with participants what they have got out of the project, both the face-to-face and on-line workshops. In order to facilitate this, we decided to use ‘collage’ as a way of looking back and exploring the experience. Images taken during previous workshops were printed out in colour and sent to each participant, together with some sheets of coloured paper, white paper and glue. A range of images were used; including people, equipment, objects and locations.

The workshop began with a slide show of the ways in which collage can be used. Contemporary artist’s work of colourful, uplifting images as well as collages from WW1 were shown to demonstrate that collage can be used to demonstrate a range of emotions and content.

We then took 30 minutes to work on our own artwork. At the end of the workshop, we shared what we had done so far and talked about

what they had meant to us. Different approaches were taken and while some people made two sheets others were not finished within the hour. In the following week, everyone completed their artwork and posted them on or sent an image so that they could be included in the final display.

 

 

Session 8 on Zoom 23^rd October – Making folded mounts

2.30 to 3.30 – Zoom workshop, hosted by Restoration Trust (RT) and presented from Project Worker’s (HL) home

In-between each C4W workshop participants were phoned and emailed to check that they are okay and have the technological support they need. SMART staff have also maintained contact.

Sally Bevan, an archivist working at London Metropolitan Archives, started the session with a talk about how we can all create our own archives at home.  She looked at how we all collect papers that are important such as certificates or meaningful such as, photographs or birthday cards, and considered how we may want to organise and package our collection.

 

Each participant had been posted a package in advance of the session and receiving our parcel in the post was a source of pleasure for all of us, workers and participants alike. A bit like a personal present. The materials and instructions contained in the package could be looked at in advance but generally participants waited until the actual workshop when we could go through the contents together.

 

 

This practical part of the session started with a brief discussion of what a folded mount might be suitable to use with a heritage photograph, postcard, or document, and what archival materials could be used. We then undertook the step-by step instructions via Zoom with plenty of time in-between stages for questions, comments and explanations.

 

photo mount instructions

 

This was a really enjoyable activity; everyone completed a folded mount which could be used with a postcard of their choosing. It is hoped that this activity provided participants with a skill they could use in other circumstances, with children or to make presents, as well as considering the benefits for archival documents.

Helen Lindsay, ACR

Restoration Trust, project worker