The restrictions on visits in care homes has been difficult for residents, staff and the families of elderly people living in Care Homes. LAC wanted to commission an artist to create a project that would support the wellbeing of care home residents and be accessible and suitable for all abilities. 

We approached Brough based artist Joanne B Kaar as she has vast experience developing art projects for elderly people and she took on this task with great enthusiasm.  The project involved picking and collecting flowers from various gardens in Caithness including the gardens of local businesses such as Rock Rose Gin Distillery, Castletown Heritage Centre, Highland Haven Bunkhouse and The Melvich Hotel. 

Joanne then pressed the hundreds of flowers and leaves which were added to individual art packs. The packs included Joanne’s drawings of vases which the pressed flowers could then be arranged into along with other materials to create flower themed pictures. Special blotting paper was also included for pressing and we also sent fresh bouquets of flowers so that residents could have a go at pressing their own.

We included frames for the finished art work so the residencies could keep their pieces as  a nice keepsake or pass them on to friends and relatives. One care home told us that ‘the residents have commented on how nice it is to spend time doing a meaningful activity and they have had great satisfaction with their finished products, showing them to family members and staff’.