Launch Party - Join Us

Celebrate International Nurses Day with us on the 12th May 2016 at the Rose Theatre, Kingston-upon-Thames, KT1 1HL. We are exhibiting the work of over 180 authors and artists in the fabulous   Art of Caring exhibition. The Launch Party is from 4-6pm and features more than 330 poetic and artistic postcards from all over the world, and we welcome everyone who would like to join us on this special day.

The Art of Caring is an inclusive exhibition that showcases a diverse range of talents, giving us an insight to the world of Caring and Care. Resilience is our special theme this year and is inspired by the International Council of Nurses worldwide celebration for 2016: Nurses: A Force for Change: Improving health systems' resilience.

The exhibition will be open from the 12th - 24th May 2016,  10am-6pm daily on the Upper Gallery floors at the Rose Theatre. There are refreshment available downstairs in The Rose Café.

AL.


 

Submissions closed Art of Caring 2016

Thank you to everyone who entered the Art of Caring this year. We've has a fantastic response full of talented artwork and generosity of spirit. More details will be appearing here in the next few days but I'm happy to announce we have 184 artists exhibiting 329 artworks and poems with us this year.

Praying with Mrs. Cooper
by The Rev. Robin Pfaff

This year's crop include 3 artworks from The Rev. Robin Pfaff, he told us about his motivation to get involved, "As a hospital chaplain I often meet people at a time of intense change, but these encounters usually show me something of the indomitable human spirit. Healthcare professionals, however, who are regularly exposed to highly traumatic situations need to find their own way of coping and build up a resilience that is both sturdy as well as tender. Talking about what we do and see can be extremely difficult, as we all have a tendency to avoid emotional pain."

AL.

 
 

The Empowering Melanie Ezra

Art of Caring 2016 - Melanie Ezra

The first entries have started to arrive at the Art Of Caring this year. We would like to shine our modest spotlight on some of the artists who dedicate their time to art and make our exhibitions such a success.

Melanie Ezra (left) and Rose Davies (right)

We've exhibited the work of Melanie Ezra since our magnet Rarities exhibition along the Hastings and St Leonards' seafront in 2011. She is not only a regular contributor but also supports a network of international artists who use her as a conduit to the UK art scene. Ezra continues to be the poster girl for the Swansea art world, her photography based work is often spliced and cut using her trusty scalpel but inside you can still find the beauty of the Gower Peninsula. Last year she published a map, Swansea: On the Map: An Artist's Walk with Rose Davies that continues to this day to be a bestseller for publishers Sampson Low Ltd.

Unfortunately last year Melanie Ezra wasn't able to submit her work to the Art Of Caring so we are very pleased to welcome her into the fold in 2016. Ezra's Art of Caring artworks are based on photographs taken during her mindful photography workshops. The workshops explore self-improvement and empowerment through the use of the camera. They are often delivered through community organisations to aid people who have suffered life-changing events. She works with blind charities, drugs agencies, and other community and hospital based groups. Ezra's participants have shown great resilience in overcoming their problems and her workshops often inspire them to learn other new skills and tackle other obstacles in their lives from a new position of strength.

From left to right: Céline Pellerin,

Esperanza Tielbaard, Melanie Ezra in Manhattan, 2014

 (Photograph: Esperanza Tielbaard)

I and others from CollectConnect have written before about Melanie Ezra and her personal resilience in the Art world. No distance is too great to traverse so that she can meet and help fellow artists, or share her artwork with the public. It has been truly inspiring to watch her work spread throughout the world and to feel the glow from her growing reputation.

If you would like to submit your artwork to the Art Of Caring this year then visit the Submit page of this website.

AL.

Art of Caring Submissions Open 2016

Now more than ever we have to celebrate and support the nurses and carers who make such a difference to our lives. Please join the Art of Caring exhibition this year by submitting your artwork on the theme of Caring or Care. It is Free to enter and very straight forward to get involved. Just send up to 3 jpeg images in an A6 size to collectconnect4@gmail.com



Rumen Deshev at the
Art of Caring 2015

You'll receive a confirmation email within 7 days with your catalogue/exhibition numbers. Before the exhibition we will print 2 postcards of each of your artworks. One copy will be sent to you and the other will be exhibited in the Upper Circle Gallery, The Rose Theatre, Kingston-upon-Thames, UK from the 12th to 24th May 2016.

2015 presentation

Like last year we'll be opening the exhibition with a private view on International Nurses Day, Thursday 12th May 2016. So please put it in your diary and come along.
If you would like to see some of last year's submissions and exhibition then have a look in this album of photos - 2015 Art of Caring Images.

This year we've been asked to exhibit a selection of the work at the Arts Project exhibition space in St Pancras Hospital from July - October 2016.
For the full details about how to submit your work visit our SUBMIT page.
Deadline for submissions is Thursday 31st March 2016.
(We may close early if all 250 exhibition spaces are filled)

Alban Low, Bryan Benge, Dean Reddick and Stuart Simler

Art of Caring & Nursing's Got Talent

photo: Bill Mudge

This year's International Nurses' Day didn't last a mere 24 hours, in fact those of us in Kingston-upon-Thames thought all those health professionals and carers deserved at least a week of appreciation and celebration.


John Sutherland. Photo: Bill Mudge

We started on 12th May 2015 (International Nurses' Day), which is Florence Nightingale's Birthday with the Private View of The Art of Caring at the Rose Theatre. It was a wonderful night and many of the 133 artists came from far and wide to see the 252 artworks on the walls of the Circle gallery space.

photo: Bill Mudge

A special mention must go to Ella Penn and partner Liam who brought our poster boy Jack to the party. It was Ella's photograph of her son which graced the publicity for our event. Thanks to all that helped hang the exhibition on the 11th May including Bryan Benge, Kevin Acott, Nikki Yun, John Sutherland, Harvey Wells, Rajaa Khalife and our photographer for the whole week Bill Mudge.

Dr Julia Gale and Harvey Wells. Photo: Bill Mudge

The exhibition wouldn't have been possible without the support of Kingston University who funded the exhibition and the refreshments at the Private View. Especially Harvey Wells and Dr Julia Gale, Head of School of Nursing / Associate Dean (Quality) at Kingston University and St George's, University of London (FHSCE) who gave a rousing speech at the Private View.

Art Jazzed Up. Photo: EZZIDIN ALWAN

The exhibition was part of a inspirational event on Friday 15th May called Nursing's Got Talent which was a celebration of Nurse's and Nursing. The day included talks, book recitals, drama and plays, poetry and live art & music. I represented our artists community with a live drawing performance in the 400 seat main auditorium with our Art Jazzed Up project. While jazz musicians, Duncan Eagles (sax), Max Luthert (bass), Bill Mudge (keys) and Chris Nickolls (drums) played 3 original compositions I drew on 3 large paper canvases.

We had a very positive response from the public about The Art of Caring exhibition and I would like to say thank you to all the artists to help make it such a success. There are more photos to view here, just follow the link - https://picasaweb.google.com/103519518631561147857/ArtOfCaringExhibition02?noredirect=1
The Photos of the Private View and exhibition set up are courtesy of Bill Mudge. The photos of Nursing's Got Talent are courtesy of EZZIDIN ALWAN.

The future is a positive one for the Art of Caring exhibition. We are currently talking to Camden & Islington NHS Trust about exhibiting in one of their galleries. Watch this space!

Alban Low

Art of Caring Exhibition

We've had a fantastic response from artists all around the world on the theme of Care and Caring. The Art of Caring exhibition is proud to display 251 artworks from 133 artists at the Rose Theatre from 12th-16th May 2015.

Join us for the Private View on Tuesday 12th May from 4-6pm to help celebrate International Nurse's Day and launch this diverse exhibition. Come along to the circle gallery space to meet the artists and have a glass of wine. A panel from Kingston University Nursing Society (Nikki Yun, John Sutherland, Gurlal Jagdev and Daniel Waters) have also selected 15 images to print at a larger format alongside the 251 postcard sized artworks.

The exhibition is open daily from 10am-6pm at
Rose Theatre,
24-26 High Street,
Kingston upon Thames,
Surrey KT1 1HL

As part of our celebration of Nursing we have created a FREE event on Friday 15th May from 1.30-4.30 in the main auditorium where we'll be showcasing the best in literature, drama, music and art. All welcome, details can be found here - http://www.kingston.ac.uk/events/item/1588/15-may-2015-nursing039s-got-talent/

Submissions closed

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Art of Caring. We've now got the long process of logging in all the submissions, approx 250 and preparing them for the exhibition on the 12th May 2015.