Care home residents unleashed their creativity during a day out at SWG3’s Yardworks Studio which saw them trying their hand at graffiti art.
Residents and staff from Florence House, based in Govan, took part in creative taster sessions at Scotland’s first purpose-built street arts studio located in SWG3.
The visit provided the residents with a unique opportunity to experiment with graffiti art, creating their very own ‘Florence’ mural.
The visit to Yardworks Studio is part of Florence House’s ongoing wellbeing programme which is designed to offer stimulating activities to ensure residents remain connected to the community through events and socialising opportunities.
Sylvia, aged 73, a resident from Florence House said: “I love arts and crafts but I’ve never tried my hand at graffiti and spray painting before so this was a new and exciting challenge. It did take me a bit of time to get used to the spray painting because i normally sketch on paper but once I got the hnang of it, I loved it. It was really freeing actually, to have this huge white wall as a canvas was brilliant – I really enjoyed it.”
Following the success of the taster sessions, discussions are underway regarding a potential collaboration with the Yardworks team to create an in-house mural at Florence House with the help of the residents.
Yardworks offers a purpose-built workshop for creatives based in Glasgow. The space has been established with a view to transforming Glasgow Riverside Innovation District into a street arts district with striking graffiti. The concept will link the communities of Partick, Yorkhill and Govan through a creative art pathway of gable-end murals.
Sunita Poddar, chief executive officer and founder of Oakminster Healthcare said: “Our residents thrive in our care environment because we offer quality personalised care and recreational stimulation, and the feedback from the trip with Yardworks highlights just how important community-based activities are to our residents.
“Our dedicated wellbeing coordinators across the Group are imperative in providing these fantastic opportunities for our residents and our ethos of personalised care that goes beyond the walls of the home is at the heart of these meaningful experiences.”
The residents at Florence House have a small team of dedicated wellbeing enablers working in the home to curate a rich social calendar. Each resident is encouraged to join activities and excursions as part of their care.
The wellbeing enablers curate the calendar based on the residents’ hobbies, interests and passions, it currently includes; cookery classes, crafting cafes, ballroom dancing, surprise day-tours to a mystery location, walking football and men’s shed days.
Laura Frood, Education and Participation Lead, Yardworks said: “We always love working with the people of Govan – we think graffiti and street arts is for everyone – no matter your age. We really enjoyed having the residents over to the studio and look forward to working together in the future.”
Florence House offers nursing and residential care and has specialists available to support those living with dementia, who need palliative care, respite care and those under the age of 65 who require care home support.
The home can provide care for 55 residents with a range of care requirements. Further information about Florence House can be found here: Florence House – Oakminster Healthcare
