The Art Bag Project
The Art Bag Project offers the Sobell House community the opportunity to engage in a simple art activity at home, which can then be displayed on our ward or shared online.
The Art Bag Project offers the community of Sobell House – patients, their families, staff, and volunteers – the opportunity to engage in a simple art activity at home, and connect to each other by sharing those artworks online, or displaying them on our ward.
By taking part, you will be able to: create, by completing a small, straightforward craft activity; contemplate, by considering choices within the making process and other thoughts or feelings that may emerge during the making; and connect, by making alongside others or by contributing to a growing exhibition of artworks.
Being involved in a creative act enables thoughts and feelings to flow whilst hands and eyes are occupied. It offers a chance to connect to your own internal world and also to other people, via companionable making experiences and the sharing of artwork. No previous art or embroidery experience is necessary, as the emphasis is on the process of making rather than the finesse of the finished artwork.
The Art Bag itself is a little paper bag containing everything you need to take part:
- Materials needed to complete a simple craft activity
- Ideas, inspiration and help in getting started
- A summary of the history and symbolism of the activity
- Feedback and consent card
This year’s craft activity is embroidery, which has a rich history for men and women – therapeutic, political and occupational. We invite participants to think of the embroidery hoop circle as a symbol and consider the opportunities presented by a blank canvas, as well as enjoy the experience of working with colour, fabric and thread.
To get started, please pick up a free art bag from reception. You are invited to photograph your artwork, at any stage or stages of making, and email it to artbag_sobell@sobellhospice.org. Photographs will be uploaded to our Instagram page: @artbag-sobell.
If you would like to display your artwork on our ward, where we have an ever-growing display of embroideries, please drop it off at reception.
The Art Bag Project has been running in two other hospices (The Hospice of St Francis and the Peace Hospice) since 2016. Further information on the ways that the project has developed since its beginning can be found here.