Graphics in Wood: An R&D Project to Bring Visual Graphics to Life for Dementia Care Residents
UK Residental Care home hall way (Lancashire)
Project Introduction
My mum, Susan, moved into a dementia care home at the age of 69 in 2025.
Like many care homes, dementia units are normally on higher-level floors so that residents cannot wander alone. Access to the outside world is heavily controlled, so they need a carer or a loved one to accompany them.
My mum, like many of the residents, will walk, relentlessly in the only areas that they are allowed to get exercise on their own; the corridors. My mum will walk for around 8-9 hours per day, with only two windows at each side of the building to look out of. One overlooks a roof of a mosque in crowded suburban area. The other backs into the care home car park.
Despite overwhelming research suggesting the benefits of nature and interactive objects helping residents' well-being, many care home hallways are basic. Some, like my mum's home, have photos of local landmarks, but because they're reflective from the glass and not interactive, many, if not all, of the residents will ignore them.
Once I found my mum trying to touch the grass in a photo, but moved on when she realised it wasn't real.
What I'm looking to do
I believe there is a way to use my skills as a creative designer and artist and apply them to new media in order to create a new visual art that would work for both residents and their carers in care homes. Using natural materials, such as wood, dried plant material, grasses, leather etc. I can bring more sensory elements into an image, as well as explore other ways to bring in sensory elements (such as sound). My goal is to work with families in a care home to find elements of the residents lives that I can combine into an art piece. For my mum, it would 'Fuchsia' plants or a small touring caravan parked on a sandy beach.
Image Concept
Tactile, visual wall art that can become a focal 'window' of nature and memory for dementia residents living in care homes or hospital settings.
The piece is created using multiple mediums (predominantly wood and other natural materials) and layered to give depth and perspective. I also want to explore how other sensory elements could be included, such as sound (using simple touch activated sound kits) and live plants).
Example Materials
Examples & Inspiration
MiAgiLaser is a wood art Laser studio based in Canada who creat nature inspired, multi-layered pieces out of wood. Their pieces focus on a single element and are more abstract than the piece that I am looking to create. However, the layering and shadow effect of the work is something I would like to explore more of.
Ruskin ward is a secure hospital ward for dementia patients in Carlisle. The ward sign was an A4 printed sign which had been laminated. As a gift for my mum's care, I designed a wooden sign. I illustrated happier, more positive images of life on the ward and dye sublimated these on to wood. The version on the right was the initial prototype.
Some of my other work
This work is not directly related to my project, but shows where I have taken my skills as a designer and illustrator and moved it towards wooden visual work.
I worked with some local children at a community group to turn the children's family sketches into wooden, colour-in jigsaw sets. This is an example of turning the drawings of others into art pieces, which I'd like to explore in this project.