Children’s group wild about mosaic project
A new mosaic created by the Children’s Group at FORCE Cancer Charity has been unveiled.
The project involved 10 children who came up with a variety of designs for the artwork.
“We started by each imagining an animal that behaves in a way that we would secretly or not so secretly like to emulate, for example to be more courageous like a lion or more cheeky like a monkey,” said Paul Grace, an oncology support specialist with particular expertise in working with young people.
“We drew this first, developed it by learning how to make a mosaic and then let it evolve and had fun as we did so, putting the animals together using tiles and then imagining where these animals might live together,” he added.
Creativity good for dealing with difficult things
The children were supported in making their mosaic by Lucy Rockliffe and Jess Carvill from Art Storm Project, who also run the weekly adult art group at FORCE.
Lucy said: “The children really enjoyed it and it was nice to see them relax and chat with each other as they worked on the project.”
“Creativity is a good backdrop for difficult things you’re dealing with and FORCE offers a really positive environment to work in,” Jess added.
Jess and Lucy applied the finishing touches before revealing the completed mosaic to the children, who were excited to see the results of their hard work.
Hard work but fun
“It’s really good,” said eight-year-old Bonnie Skinner from Exminster. “I did some of the trees and flowers. It was really fun.”
“I hope people will see that we worked hard on it and it took quite a bit of time. It’s really good,” said eight-year-old Ted Jenkins from Sidmouth.
“I’m very proud of it,” said 11-year-old Caitlin Woolley from Teignmouth. “It’s really colourful and it looks really nice.”
The mosaic will be displayed at the FORCE Support and Information Centre in the grounds of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.
“Children and young people need special care and support when someone close to them has cancer. Here at FORCE we recognise how important it is to offer a dedicated service for those youngsters at such a difficult time in their lives,” said Paul.
FORCE provides individual support and group sessions for children aged between 6 and 13 who have a close family member or friend affected by cancer.
The group offers the opportunity for children and young people to meet others in the same situation, play some games, eat some biscuits and do some talking.
- Our picture above shows members of the FORCE Cancer Charity Children’s Group with their magnificent mosaic and (left to right) oncology support specialist Paul Grace, group volunteers Duncan Goodlad and Shelley Boult and below are some images of the creative process
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