This short film details six ceramic artworks created as part of the Centring project. Pieces are introduced by Professor Jayne Wallace, Michelle & Cat from Beamish Museum's Health & Wellbeing Team, and Barry, a Health & Wellbeing volunteer.
The project’s name, Centring is a response to both; the ceramic practice of centring, placing and affixing a mound of clay in the middle of a pottery wheel before in order to create a stable piece of work, and the therapeutic practice of centring, a technique that can help people find balance and peace in their lives, which can be used in to help regulate stress, process trauma, and build meaningful relationships.
This work is a development our longstanding research relationship with Beamish Museum’s Health & Wellbeing team, having previously explored craft practices in wood with members of the group, and other community organisations. This work contributes to the growing body of evidence for the importance of arts-based creative practice for people living with cognitive impairments and dementia, and the nascent Creative Ageing movement in UK.
Research funded by EPSRC, as part of The Ageless Citizen research theme on Centre for Digital Citizens project code EP/T022582/1.