The Care Trail Guide

THE CARE TRAIL
10–16 JUNE 2019
ARTISTS EXPLORE THE
MEANING OF CARE,
AND BEING A CARER WITH
THE MID-DEVON COMMUNITY

THE CARE TRAIL
10–16 JUNE 2019
SIGNIFICANTSEAMS.ORG.UK

TURNING TIDES TEA ROOM
CREDITON ARTS CENTRE
CREDITON COMMUNITY BOOKSHOP
CHIDDENBROOK SURGERY
CREDITON LIBRARY
LORDS MEADOW LEISURE CENTRE

6 VENUES
8 PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS
11 ARTWORKS
OVER 50 EVENTS
OVER 150 CARERS & THEIR
COMMUNITIES INVOLVED
FREE Shuttle services from
Tiverton & Cullompton,
10 June 2019 – Places first come, first served,
and must be booked: register at http://bit.ly/CareShuttle
or contact catherine@significantseams.org.uk.

Carer.
The word as a noun - or job description
- is a bit strange. Don’t we all care about
something and someone? When is one a
carer versus a caree? Don’t both parties
care? Isn’t this where the emotional and
social complexities of caring come from?
We have invited professional artists to
share their thoughts and creations about
these questions - and their own caring
experiences. We have spoken, co-created,
laughed, and shared stories with over
100 people living the role of ‘carer.’
This exhibition scratches the surface
of the stories of carers, and invites our
collective consideration of what it means
to be a community - and what it
means to care.
Made possible by funding from:
Devon Community Foundation,
Arts Council England,
The Community Lottery and
Crediton Town Council.
This exhibition is
part of a project called
The Craft of Caring
being produced
and delivered by
Significant Seams CIC.

THE CARE TRAIL 10–16 JUNE
Turning Tides Tea Room
Crediton Train Station, EX17 3FA
The Turning Tides Project believes that everyone
has the right to equal access to music, the arts and life
and intend to make this right a reality for people with
‘learning disability’ or ‘autism’ labels in Devon.
The Station Tearooms are an extension of this philosophy;
an inclusive environment where you can relax, be a part of
community, book training space, volunteer,
get work experience, read a book, drink tea
and be welcome.
Special Opening Monday 10 June for Launch Party.
Join us 2pm–6pm.
ALSO OPEN Tuesday 10am-5pm, Wednesday 10am-2:30pm
Thursday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–5pm, Saturday 10am–2:30pm

Care
Artists:
Carers & their communities from Mid-Devon,
& the Significant Seams Artistic Associates:
Catherine West, James Lake,
Melinda Schwakhofer, & Naomi Wright
www.significantseams.org.uk
This installation centres on a giant nest.
Woven with twine and personal stories,
the nest is lined with patchwork holding
stories of caring. The patches reveal
inspiring depths of human connectedness,
resilience, and love - as well as turmoil,
challenges, and heart wrenching
realities.
This piece ‘holds’ the experiences
of Carers from across Mid-Devon,
making carers’ vulnerabilities and
challenges visible, but also normal - and
incorporates and enhances support from
the wider community, in literal and
symbolic ways.
Funds are being raised to tour this artwork.
Contribute at http://bit.ly/CareNestDonation
A patch from a carer
of someone with an
illness that disrupts life
intermittently.

THE CARE TRAIL 10–16 JUNE
Crediton Arts Centre
EX17 3AX
The Arts Centre is the cultural heart of Crediton,
offering a busy programme of art classes and events,
including theatre, dance, film, talks and music; and
providing support for a range of outreach and emerging
activity across the community (including The Craft of
Caring project from its earliest stages). The Centre is
open for classes throughout the week,
so the exhibition is not always accessible.
Join us for a FREE Family
friendly activity 6–8pm Thursday 13 June.
ALSO VISIT Monday 4–6pm, Tuesday 9am–1pm
Wednesday 1–3pm Thursday 1–8pm, Friday 1–5pm
Saturday 9am–5pm

Artist:
Handle with Care
Melinda Schwakhofer
Internationally exhibited
award winning artist
and Art & Health Practitioner
melindaschwakhofer.wordpress.com
This self-portrait uses photographic
images, layers of memory and text,
transparency and opacity to capture the
artist’s experience of being an adolescent
carer, an experience of a world shattering
contrasted with a strength of will to
hold herself together.
Oprah Winfrey is my Mother
Artist:
Monica Shanta Brown
Visual Artist, Curator & Artist Educator
www.monica-shanta.net
An installation of photographs of the
artist’s mother alongside her shopping
lists from 2014 to the present. The work
as a whole reveals the practical and
emotional complexities of caring, and
is intended to raise questions about the
nature of the relationship between carer
and cared for.
The usual understanding implicit in
the word ‘care’ are positives such
as kindness, tenderness, affection,
compassion etc…. However, the
relationship can be nuanced
and problematic.
The artist’s mother
photographed by
her daughter in
1976 and 2016

THE CARE TRAIL 10–16 JUNE
Crediton
Community Bookshop
EX17 3AH
An independent and community-owned bookshop.
Through investing in local projects and working with
partners from schools and libraries to famous authors,
the bookshop acts as a strong and vibrant
community resource.
VISIT Monday - Friday 9:30am–5pm
Saturday 9:30am–2pm

Carers Insight
Artist:
Catherine O’Brien West
Artist, Social Entrepreneur, FRSA
significantseams.org.uk
Carer’s Insight is a multi-media sculptural
rucksack that challenges the proverbial
concept of a person with baggage- and
particularly alludes to the experiences
of young carers.
I remember
The essence of various flowers have
been pounded into the materials in a
direct dyeing technique – representing
life moments, people and sentiments,
like a florist’s bouquet is meant
to convey meaning.
Artist:
Lucy Patrick
Installation Artist , Devon Artist Network
devonartistnetwork.co.uk/artists/lucy-patrick
Three free standing sculptures
expressing the transition of an
elderly person from an immobilised
or handicapped state to animation
and vibrancy in the recounting of a
cherished experience.
Please note and respect that
these pieces are FRAGILE.
A sculpture from the
‘I remember’ series

THE CARE TRAIL 10–16 JUNE
Chiddenbrook Surgery
Threshers, EX17 3JJ
This GP Surgery on the Western
edge of Crediton just behind the
Crediton hospital hosts a special
monthly surgery for Carers and has
a Carers information pack.
VISIT Monday - Friday
8:15am–6pm

Exploding Van Gogh
Artist:
James Lake
James Lake’s
exploration of the
care and feeling
of ‘Sunflowers’
These cardboard semi relief
textured pictures are inspired by the
favourite painting of the artist’s father,
Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers.’ The series
creatively explores and celebrates how,
despite loss of autonomy due to MS
Dementia, objects and photos are
markers for his Dad’s personal history
and sense of self-worth, maintaining
his individuality and depth of character,
beyond his role as recipient of care.
Using the themes of time and space;
sunflowers push through the surface
or partially retreat, memories and
actions that come in and out of focus.

THE CARE TRAIL 10–16 JUNE
Crediton Library
EX17 2AA
Crediton Library is open five days a week and
is fully accessible to all, with off-road parking, including
disabled space. Library staff are a valuable resource
for signposting and advice to social resources in
the Crediton community.
VISIT Monday 9am–6pm,
Tuesday 9am–5pm, Thursday 9am–5pm,
Friday 9am–6pm, Saturday 9am–1pm

Here Today
Artist:
Stella Tripp
Widely exhibited visual artist
with two published books
of drawings
www.stellatripp.co.uk
A painting created shortly after
the death of her father, recalling
his head on his hospital pillow
whilst feeling his absence.
Coming Up For Air
Artist:
Stella Tripp
Stella Tripp’s work ‘Here Today’
One of several works about
breath and breathing made while
the artists’s husband was
recovering from a collapsed lung.
Holding it Together:
Healing Wounds //
Overcoming Obstacles //
The Rough with the Smooth
Artist:
Stella Tripp
Roots of Caring
Artist:
Naomi Wright
What is different about the
caring/cared for relationship,
where does it start and finish?
Underneath the outer layers are
different expressions of that
care nourishing and
supporting the soul.
Small works shown in
‘The Art of Caring’ exhibitions at
St Georges and St Pancras Hospitals
in London in 2018.

THE CARE TRAIL 10–16 JUNE
Lords Meadow Leisure Centre
EX17 3AX
Part of Mid Devon Leisure and dedicated
to making a difference to people’s lives, providing great
value experiences with a warm welcome. Mid Devon Leisure
helps people reach their fitness and health goals, and offers a
place to keep active, stay healthy, make friends
and learn new skills.
VISIT Monday 6:30am–10pm,
Tuesday 7am–10pm, Wednesday 6:30–10pm
Thursday 7am–10pm, Friday 6:30am–8pm
Saturday 7am–5pm, Sunday 9am–5pm

‘Rhapsody’
another sculpture
by the artist
Still Waters
Artist:
Stacey Beaumont
staceybeaumont.com
A highly symbolic and tactile
sculpture made from reclaimed
Cornish roof slates, seaglass,
& gold leaf smalti.

To find out more about purchasing any of the art pieces in
this exhibition, or hosting a further exhibition by any of
the artists, please contact catherine@significantseams.org.uk
Additionally, please note, we are raising funds to tour
‘CARE,’ - the giant nest. Thank you for considering
donating at: http://bit.ly/CareNestDonation
The Caring Community
Significant Seams and the Craft of Caring
project would like to thank project
participants, for the generous sharing
of their stories and welcoming of our
project team into their worlds. We also
want to thank the artists, exhibition
venues, and a range of organisations and
groups, whose support has helped make
this exhibition a reality, particularly
Unite, Mid-Devon Carers, Devon Carers,
Crediton Arts Centre, Involve, The
Hayridge (Cullompton Library), Libraries
Unlimited, Heathcoat Community Centre,
Sunningmead Community Centre, and
Arts & Health South West. Further,
a number of individuals have been
instrumental in their support - huge
appreciation to Andrea Foxwell, Tim
Salter, Sue Lee, Callum Elliot-Archer,
Nicola Frost, and Christine Duff.
The design for the Craft of Caring
Project was developed in the course
of a pilot in 2017/18 (funded by Devon
Community Foundation). In that phase
Significant Seams interacted with 28
frontline agencies and worked with 7
carers, paid and unpaid. We delivered
5 experimental textile workshops –
primarily attended by staff of specialist
organisations. After five sessions, we
had a facilitated feedback session to
evoke as much learning as possible. This
session led to a (funder-agreed) revised
approach to reaching, supporting, and
engaging carers based on an outreach
and art project model. With financial
support from Arts Council England,
The Community Lottery, and Crediton
Town Council, we expanded on the
approach to deliver across mid Devon,
and undertook substantial outreach
and art workshop activity for carers,
facilitating and instigating conversations
in the community about care and carers’
experiences. We have established links
and conversations with at least twenty
further organisations. We have directly
worked with over 100 carers of mid-
Devon in under six months, with no
referral system - including a growing
number of carers who have opted out
of the existing provisions. We hugely
appreciate the trust and honest inputs of
participants in the project….

WE HUGELY APPRECIATE
THE TRUST AND HONEST FEEDBACK
OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE PROJECT
‘LAUGHTER SOMETIMES
REALLY IS THE BEST MEDICINE.’
‘MY INITIAL REACTION
IS RELIEF AND VALIDATION
AS A CARER THAT SOMETHING
SO MEANINGFUL AND NOURISHING
IS OUT THERE. IT IS BY FAR
THE BEST OUTREACH TO CARERS
I’VE EVER SEEN.’
‘MY WORK REPRESENTS ME,
THE CARER AS THE GREEN THREAD
GOING UP & DOWN (EMOTIONALLY)
AND ROUND & ROUND IN CIRCLES.
THE BLACK THREAD REPRESENTS THE
TANGLED STATE OF MY LOVED ONE’S BRAIN
AND THE WHITE BITS ARE THE LEWY
BODY DEPOSITS CAUSING HIS CONFUSION.’
‘I THOUGHT IT WAS BRILLIANT MAKING
THE NESTS LAST TIME. I FINISHED IT AT HOME
AND PUT FELT INSIDE IT. IT’S SO IMPORTANT
TOUCHING AND MAKING,
TOUCHING DIFFERENT SURFACES.’
‘YOU NEED TO SEE WHAT’S WRONG
AND LOVE THE PERSON THE SAME’
‘THE (CARERS) GROUP HAS BEEN A LIFELINE.’

TURNING
TIDES
TEA ROOM
EX17 3FA
S
W
N
CREDITON
ARTS CENTRE
EX17 3AX
E
CREDITON
COMMUNITY
BOOKSHOP
EX17 3AH
CHIDDENBROOK
SURGERY
EX17 3JJ
CREDITON
LIBRARY
EX17 2AA
LORDS
MEADOW
LEISURE
CENTRE
EX17 1ER