A collaborative exhibition of Meg Priestley and Residents at Kettlewell House Nursing home

On Monday 16th of August I arranged a pop up exhibition at Kettlewell nursing home, Woking, Surrey, which is where I used to work full time alongside being an artist. Over the course of lock down our residents have been very busy doing all sorts of arts and crafts to try stay positive during a difficult year. It has been especially tricky for them not being allowed to see their families as often as usual. We decided to host a pop up exhibition in the garden and invite everyone's friends and family. The first date we scheduled, down poured with rain so we moved to the following week. This actually worked in our favour because we could create more art work, and finish off small details such as making name labels for each of the pieces. It was great to included my own paintings which many of our residents have not seen, they ask how my art is going and only get to see photographs, so it was nice for them to finally see what I have been working on. They fit in very well with the collection which all shared a love of colour and were all open to viewers interpretation.

On the day we served cheese and wine to our guests which went down very well! There was a lovely, calming atmosphere when everyone was outside together and sitting in groups chatting and eating. All the family members who came said they had a lovely afternoon and were very thankful for organising the first event since lock down, allowing them to gather all together. It was lovely to see everyone again in one place and the residents really enjoyed it after a long hard year! Creating art with them has been one of the most beneficial activities for their wellbeing and overall feeling of happiness and joy. The exhibition gave them such a boost. A few residents were so surprised to see their own work hanging on display and one in particular didn't realize she was that good at art and was pleasantly surprised, she was excited to show her family and kept bringing it up in conversation. Family members were allowed to take their relatives art home, some of the things they made included wind chimes, sun catchers, rock paintings, plant pots, a printed table cloth, potato printing, free style painting and greetings cards.