Befriending arts project is a 'breath of fresh air and a true inspiration' in the Caithness community
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A project which began in lockdown last year has culminated this month in a touring exhibition of garments stitched by Caithness befrienders.
The project TEXTiles which is part of Lyth Arts Centre’s Caithness Community Artists in Residence saw local artist Joanne B Kaar working in collaboration with Befriending Caithness – a voluntary service that aims to reduce isolation and loneliness in the county by matching volunteers to older isolated adults in the county.
Joanne began working with the group initially through weekly Zoom sewing sessions to design a project with them. The group then invited Doreen Leith from Wick Voices to join them and deliver "reminiscence training" to befrienders. Together they developed reminiscence packs that included stitching and embroidery tasks. These have been delivered across the county to befrienders and befriendees as well as postcards created from the participants designs.
The themes have been varied and have included "School Days" and "Fishing Folk". Now with the project coming to a close, the group collaboratively created a "reminiscence pack library" at the Befriending Caithness office where befrienders can go and pick up a pack and take it along to their meetings with befriendees to encourage conversation and memory. These will also be available to local care homes.
Last week, Joanne and the befrienders took the packs and garments on a public touring exhibition to befriendees using the Caithness Rural Transport bus, touring around Caithness, Strathy and Portskerra where they popped up in befriendees' gardens and had engaging conversations about the past.
Angie House at Befriending Caithness said: "Here at Befriending Caithness we were just delighted to be part of the Lyth Arts Centre TEXTiles project. This project came along just at the right time, in the middle of lockdown when we could only use Zoom and telephone for conversations with our befriendees and befrienders.
Angie added: "Befrienders said it has been a breath of fresh air and a true inspiration. Some befrienders who had never sewn before still produced some of the most skilful and amazing work. The best part of the project were the conversations that people had in preparation before sewing.
"The whole experience has encouraged conversation at a very difficult time, it brought laughter, socialising and exchanging our past individual stories within the community. Thank you to all the volunteer befrienders and befriendees that took part and also to Joanne."
Joanne said: "This residency has emerged out of difficult circumstances, and I think closer connections with the community have been built than perhaps I could have ever anticipated as a result. It has been one of the most rewarding artist residency projects I have been involved with."
The project continues to grow with further plans for an exhibition called "Conversations Over the Clothes Lines" at Castlehill Heritage Centre next year to mark the first anniversary of the project for Befriending Caithness and the wider community.
Caithness Artists in Residence is funded by the Inspiring Scotland Creative Communities Programme 2020-2021 and Creative Scotland’s Open Fund: Sustaining Creative Development.
For more information on all the projects, please visit www.lytharts.org.uk
Related article:
Common threads of reminiscence reflecting the rich fabric of Caithness life
