Posted 22nd Jan 2024
Open Call: Sunshine: sharing writings to brighten our souls….. Well Festival of Arts and Wellbeing 2024 invites readers to share their favourite feel-good poetry and prose Does a good book lift your spirits? Do you reach for a poem to be inspired? If yes, then the Well Festival of Arts and Wellbeing 2024 would love to hear from you! The festival is calling on literature lovers to submit their favourite piece of writing (not self-written) for consideration for Sunshine: sharing writings to brighten our souls*…., the much loved flagship event of the festival which celebrates the joy of reading, taking place at The Book Centre, Waterford on Friday 16 February. Submissions should be emailed to wha@hse.ie by Wednesday 31 January with “Sunshine” in the subject line. Successful applicants will be invited to share their selections with the public at this uplifting evening of readings and music. Further details about the festival are available from www.wellwaterford.com The Well Festival of Arts and Wellbeing champions and celebrates all the ways that the arts help us to feel good. Taking place from 12-17 February 2024, the festival features an exciting line-up of fun, free, inventive and sociable arts events for all ages, with musicians, artists, poets, storytellers and dancers, in addition to a programme of Wellies, the festival’s events for younger audiences. Each day, festival-goers will have the opportunity to witness colourful, beautiful, thought-provoking music, art and poetry, and to experience the joy of creativity through a myriad of workshops and interactive opportunities for all ages. The full Festival programme will be available from www.wellwaterford.com at the end of January. Announcing details of...
Posted 15th Nov 2023
Featuring an eclectic mix of artworks by participants of the Waterford Healing Arts Open Studio group, Gatherings is an art exhibition showcasing a diverse range of individual styles and techniques. The exhibition celebrates the group’s weekly gatherings at the Réalta/Waterford Healing Arts Centre for Arts + Health, where they create and make art together. Their workshops are facilitated by artist Jill Bouchier. The exhibition is on view at The Index Gallery, Central Library from Thursday 16 November to Thursday 30 November. The Open Studio has been operating at the Réalta/Waterford Healing Arts Centre for Arts + Health since 2009. It was established to provide a creative and social outlet for people living in the community who may feel socially isolated due to ill health or disability. The Open Studio group has a history of successful exhibitions. The group held their first exhibition in 2011 at UHW, entitled Separate Storms. In 2013 they exhibited their work in Cupán Tae during the inaugural Well festival. Following that they exhibited The Feel Good Factory I at Garter Lane Arts Centre and The Feel Good Factory II at the Index Gallery, WCCC Library, as part of the Well Festival 2014 and 2016 respectively. They exhibited at GOMA Gallery of Modern Art for the first time in 2018 with their exhibition This is WHAT we’re all about. Their last group exhibition, Reconnections, was also in GOMA in 2020 but unfortunately due to pandemic restrictions the group did not get a chance to view their work altogether, in-person. Waterford Healing Arts brings arts experiences – music, visual art, creative writing and storytelling – to the...
Posted 13th Nov 2023
Calling quiz buffs! It’s time to dust off the dictionaries and brush up on general knowledge in time for the annual Quiz Night in aid of Waterford Healing Arts. Taking place at The Cove Bar, Dunmore Road on Thursday 23 November, 8pm. All are welcome and the entry fee is €40 per table of 4, with all proceeds going to the Waterford Healing Arts Art at the Kitchen Table programme. Tables must be booked in advance. Click here to book. Announcing details of the Quiz Night, Shirley O’Shea, Chairperson of the Fundraising Committee of Waterford Healing Arts, said “We’re delighted to return to The Cove Bar for our annual Quiz Night and our sincere thanks to Tom and all the team for their invaluable support. This year, the focus of our fundraising is the fantastic Art at the Kitchen Table programme. Art at the Kitchen Table supports older people living in Waterford City and County, who might not otherwise have access to the arts, to make art in their own homes. Two of the Waterford Healing Arts artists – Caroline Schofield and Eilis O’Toole – visit people and they create art together: painting, drawing and collage/mixed media. The person at home doesn’t need to have any experience or art materials, just an interest in making art. The artist brings everything to them in their home.” Shirley goes on to say “In addition to art making, we hear back from the participants that Art at the Kitchen Table brings them great joy, surprise and new friendships. They discover a talent they didn’t know they had, or sometimes it re-kindles an...
Posted 6th Nov 2023
The programme for Experience 2023: An Introduction to Arts, Health and the Older Person has been announced by Age & Opportunity and Réalta, the National Body for Arts + Health in Ireland. Taking place on Thursday 7 December at the Réalta/Waterford Healing Arts Centre for Arts + Health, University Hospital Waterford, this is the first time for Experience to take place in person, having been an online learning programme for the last two years. Designed for arts practitioners interested in this area, over the course of the day, Experience 2023 will aim to outline the essential elements involved in working with older people in an arts and health context, and will feature presentations by some of the most experienced and inspiring practitioners working in this specialised field of practice. The Keynote Address will be by consultant geriatrician and author of The Book About Getting Older Dr Lucy Pollock. Further details and booking information from www.ageandopportunity.ie from www.realta.ie or email arts@ageandopportunity.ie Places are limited to 20 and cost €20.00 each, including lunch. The deadline for receipt of expressions of interest is Wednesday 15 November. Experience 2023: An Introduction to Arts, Health and the Older Person is funded by the Arts Council and the HSE. This is the third year of Experience, which was devised in 2021 in response to the need for more training and practical orientation for arts practitioners who already have experience of participatory work in a health context, and who are interested in developing their practice to include working with older people. Participants over the last two years have described the programme as “excellent”, “essential”, “uplifting”, “insightful”,...
Posted 6th Oct 2023
Henriique works in Medical 4 Ward as a cleaner. He has also been working as a professional photographer for the past seven years. His work mainly consists of portraits, however he is primarily interested in documentary photography. Decrescimento, Henriique’s most recent exhibition, was held in Sãn Paulo, Brazil, in 2017. The photographs for Henriique’s current exhibition, Untitled, were taken over a period of a year and a half. Describing the inspiration for his work Henriique says he is ‘intrigued by human beings, even though it is hard to understand them. No one knows what is going on behind a person’s face; there could be so many emotions. The only thing we can do is be respectful and patient with them, just as we are with ourselves’. Some of the portrait photography in this collection were published by Vogue Italy. This series of photographs by Henriique runs until 28 November 2023. The Staff Art Wall is an initiative of Waterford Healing Arts which aims to celebrate the creativity of staff working at UHW by providing an opportunity to display their work at the hospital. http://www.henriique.com https://www.instagram.com/Henriique/ https://www.vogue.com/photovogue/photographers/56879...
