ArtHouse Has Launched The ‘Ceramics Life Plaques Project’
Our In-house Creative Arts Programme - ArtHouse Project - has been awarded a grant from Hospice UK’s Dying Matters Community Grant Programme
ArtHouse is one of four organisations to be awarded a grant from Hospice UK’s Dying Matters Community Grant Programme. Their mission is to break the stigma, challenge preconceptions and normalise public openness around dying.
With the Dying Matters Community Grant, Arthouse has launched the ‘Ceramics Life Plaques Project’ for Single Homeless Project Service Users.
The project will help us open conversations with service users around difficult topics such as grief and death, offering staff and service users the tools and language to feel confident to do so.
ArtHouse Project Manager – Meg O’Malley shared:
"Death is sadly prevalent in our services and also in our service users' lives. We recognised that although many of our service users have experienced multiple loses in their lifetime, they may not have had a supported environment in which to process this loss.
With an awareness of the therapeutic benefit engaging in art can offer, this course provides a safe space to explore conversations around death. By challenging our habits of avoiding the topic, we will change the narrative, and celebrate and commemorate a loved one through the medium of ceramics
The workshops have shown us that grief is universal. Using art as a tool to normalise conversations around it has allowed us to think outside of our own borders around this topic and together break down the barriers and taboos that can lead to us supressing the powerful emotions grief can provoke”
The course will create an inclusive space to discuss the fragility of life with participants, encourage active reflection and open discussion about legacy.
We are partnering with Ceramicist Fiona Veacock to support artistic development and teach new skills. We’re also partnering with Anthropologists and one of our in-house psycho-therapists, Laura.
The course will give people a space to learn, build relationships and confidence in a supportive, therapeutic environment, whilst also giving socially excluded people the opportunity to have a voice and showcase their talent.
ArtHouse will be running three courses over the next four months, culminating with an exhibition in London to celebrate the participant’s work. Stay tuned for more exciting stories and details.
Blog by Meg O’Malley, Ruth Milne & Erin Whiteley - Opportunities Programme
Back to all Opportunities Stories