The background and schedule for each workshop:
As I have already outline the workshop structure and planning was inspired by the Meet me at MOMA Arts and Dementia program.
As with the MOMA schedule each workshop in Rose Cottage revolved around a chosen theme and began with an open discussion about an artwork from two artists chosen by the artist to best represent and offer inspiration for the workshop.
It is of course best if when discussing an artwork the original piece is on view in front of the clients. I of course did not have access to any original artworks so I search out for the best quality representations of the artwork I wanted to offer up for discussion. After printing out high quality colour images of each piece they were displayed in a simple black frames. New images were printed and swopped into these black frames before each workshop.
For the workshops in Rose Cottage I added an extra element in that each week I asked the clients to choose which of the images they preferred and this piece was then left on display in Rose Cottage until the next workshop took place. The clients were delighted to keep their favorite piece and it offered them continued opportunities to talk about the artwork represented and their experiences of the workshop itself. Of course after each workshop the artworks created by the clients was also left on display for similar reasons.
Art and Dementia projects 