Abstract
This chapter examines a studio group model where artwork is regularly put up on the walls for viewing and discussion every month. This slow open group with older adults in the community comprises many who have been diagnosed with dementia and have loss of hearing. The author observes how the practice of putting work on the walls had various effects. She considers the differences between putting work ‘up’ on the walls and looking at work ‘down’ on the floor, the latter being more commonplace in art therapy groups. The placing and viewing of artworks together are considered: how each interacts with one another; ideas of resonance, comfort or discomfort; which works, shout or whisper, or are missed; and what is the effect of viewing them like this for the group. The author understands her material in light of psychoanalytical group theory and aesthetic theories of curating, provoking questions for art therapists working with the rich material of groups, or reviewing artworks retrospectively in therapy.
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