During 2021/22 the Bluecoat Display Centre has continued to support makers and a new series of online craft workshops have been filmed, enabled by The Ann and Ray Messer Foundation, with the support of The Life Rooms and NHS Mersey Care.
Please scroll down to view the films. Merseycare NHS users registered with the Life Rooms Recovery College can access them through their website at www.liferooms.org.
Through our online workshops, we aim to reach and engage with as wide a range of the community as possible, both local, national and international. Our aim is to raise the public’s aesthetic appreciation of applied art and design. We know from our previous experience of running our craft workshops, that they can contribute towards raising confidence and self esteem, with the discovery of new hobbies and skills, and have a positive effect on overall health and well being.
Working on two wards with children aged from three to sixteen for six days over six weeks, Ruth Ball developed a series of paper play projects. The aim was to give them focus whilst they were waiting for treatment or were in recovery. The challenge of creating art without mess and the restrictions of Covid-19 found Ruth leaning into the world of simple origami folds and character creation.
Ruth’s projects were varied to suit different age groups and included paper birds, colour bugs, card making and flower folding. The most popular project to all ages was the bird making, which was influenced by the wonderful atrium artwork, titled ‘Roost’, sited in the reception area at Alder Hey and created by Lucy Casson. All activities were step by step, but children were encouraged to make their own versions of the projects and could adapt the shapes to create other characters.
