"Up the mountain, then you turn right" June 27th 2018

Wrexham Maelor Residency Notes

27/6/2018

Erddig Ward

“Up the mountain, then you turn right...”

Today was our first session on Erddig ward upstairs.

Erddig is a cardio ward and we set up in a female ward with 8 beds.

Nurses introduced us to a lovely old lady that was especially friendly and open to working with us.

Ticky has this amazing box of sensory objects so she sat down with some items ready to show. Mrs C was really curious and she was happy to just look and listen and share her memories in a very uninhibited way. There was a velvet lined gorgeous wooden box filled with silver spoons which went down a treat. She lifted each one out in turn, examining them closely, laughing with Ticky about her reflection upside down, and repeatedly enjoying one souvenir spoon with the arc de triumph on it. She told us about where her mother kept her spoons (“There was a cabinet with glass doors at the top for all the glasses, then the spoons and things were all kept down at the bottom.”) It was really nice slowing things down and just looking together.

Not long after we brought out my typewriter. Again- Mrs C was curious and happy to have a go. We didn’t realise immediately but after a little time it became apparent she would occasionally experience confusion and some short term memory problems. But when it came to her childhood home there were no such issues.

She began by writing her name then asked me to write down her childhood address. Maps, and childhood memories are a running theme in my work- both in my own personal pieces of work but also during one-on-one sessions with older people in care homes during my cARTrefu (#2) residencies.

We carefully wrote down the address, beginning again when I mis-spelled the name of the village. (Mrs C was insistent that we get the address correctly spelled!) I asked her about what the house looked like and Ticky asked if she could give us directions to get back to her childhood home- which was really lovely because Mrs C spoke with such happiness about how to get there and how it looked. ………………….“Up the mountain, then you turn right, sharp right by the fingerpost… Then about a quarter of a mile down the hill and there’s a gate. The farm is down there. It’s a dead-end then.” (“What does it look like?”) ….. “When you get to it, you can only see the gable end. It’s a farm. ….It was lovely living there; I loved it.”

We talked about family, and brothers and sisters. I asked “What was your fondest memory of being there? What was it like?” and I didn’t expect such a quick and vivid story- but after about or 5  seconds of thinking. She began laughing with such happiness in her eyes and this is what she said:

“I do remember one day! I was milking on the Sunday morning- and a cow kicked me AND the bucket right into the side! …I had to go to chapel afterwards. The milk went into my hair- and I had to half wash it. The bucket went this way, and I went that way!.... It was my confirmation that day, as well!”

Residency Reflections

Artist Residency with Penny Alexander and Ticky Lowe working with patients on Evington and Erddig Wards in June and July 2018

The residency is funded by Arts Council Wales

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Arts in Health and WellBeing, Creative Well Programme Art Residency in partnership with Helfa Gelf.

“… I wish I was a Gorilla” June 21st 2018

Wrexham Maelor Residency Notes

21/6/2018

Evington Ward

“… I wish I was a Gorilla”

Ticky and I got started today on Evington Ward which is a Gastroenterology ward.

We set up a workspace in a male ward of 6 beds- 5 of which were in use.

In planning we discussed a free-flow mark-making activity to promote creativity and hopefully relax participants but to begin with none of the patients were keen on the idea of getting out of their beds so we began sitting with individuals to see if we could be creative at bedsides.

I approached one particularly enthusiastic and sociable individual. Sensing that if he got involved then others might be able to watch and feel inclined to have a go themselves, I thought he would be a good person to ask first. It so happened that this patient had a keen eye for straight lines and details so although he was unwilling to cut paper or take part to begin with I managed to get a cheeky dialogue going about the fact he was soon to be discharged and that perhaps he might humour me in making a celebratory piece of dictionary montage poetry via word association as a quick fire activity.

It went something like this:

Going home=    Family

Family=        Son

Son=           Companionship

Companionship= Love

Love=          Lifelong

Lifelong=      Together forever

By now he felt a bit more confident and proud of his piece so he typed the title “Going home” on my typewriter in red and black so he could decide which looked best against the existing bits of text.

I photocopied the work and let him take the original home to give to his family. It was to be his son’s birthday the following day so I hope he was inclined to give the poem to his son.

The patient at the next bedside had two visitors with him who told me he was hard of hearing and had dementia and they told me he was unlikely to want to take part in any activity due to his health conditions and having shaky hands but I asked him if he was up for chatting and he was keen and friendly. I asked him “So what are you into?” and his initial response was, “Me?! Nothing?!” But when a reworded it as “What do you really like? What makes you happy” he suddenly became animated and told me about his passion for nature and wildlife documentaries. We spoke about places he had visited in his lifetime and began talking about animals: which he admires, which he is afraid of, which he would be if he were an animal.

He said to me “I wish I was a gorilla for their strength” which seemed particularly poignant to me because men don’t often speak about such matters. I liked the honesty and directness of the answer and of all the things we talked about it felt most humble so I thought ink blocks would be the best way to compose this quote. Ticky had brought some of a great size for this purpose so I used hers.

He didn’t want to physically print the letters so instead I pulled out various sized options for each letter for him to pick a typeface and he would indicate where on the paper he wanted the mark. He was very relaxed and patient while I rattled around looking for as many letter choices for him so that he would feel that he had made significant creative decisions for the collaboration to have been his words put down manually for him by myself.

I photocopied both of these patients’ images so I could keep a record and they were both really pleased to have a handmade image to keep. I was glad they didn’t suggest putting the pieces straight into the bin- it reassured me that the exercise had been enjoyable for them as participants.

Whilst I worked with these individuals Ticky was busy working with a lady from another part of the ward on the mark-making activity, and she also worked with a chap using a game consisting of scrabble pieces without a board, used to write words. They had a go at writing the longest Welsh word, then latterly a poem! When we left I heard the chap say to Ticky: “Thank you so much for coming and entertaining me. It has been so much better than the usual sitting and reading the paper.” This really made me smile because there was such sincerity in his voice.

It was really reassuring knowing that Ticky was working with me today. I find her relaxed personality very calming and he has a very free way of working which people react well with. I’m enjoying working with her so much. She is organised as a lead artist but calm and I feel that she has faith in me which gives me faith to be confident in my abilities. I love the way she sets the tone with music- it relaxes the whole room and starts conversation.

Today was a really nice afternoon. I’m happy people had a go and humoured us, and also enjoyed a change of scenery. Even those who didn’t participate seemed to enjoy watching the unusual goings on in front of their bed!