Ageing Creatively: Alzheimer's Society Groups take inspiration from the National Gallery's Old Master Paintings

The project was organised and funded by Credit Suisse who partner with the National Gallery, and support Alzheimer's Society through the UK Charity of the Year 2010 programme.

The innovative project was part of the National Gallery's outreach programme. It consisted of a series of practical art workshops, titled Ageing Creatively, which were delivered in the London boroughs of Hounslow and Tower Hamlets, followed by a visit to the National Gallery. The aim was to encourage people with dementia to engage with and respond to the collection by creating their own works of art. The Ageing Creatively project followed the success of The Line of Vision project which saw The National Gallery partner with The Place2Be, Credit Suisse's Charity of the Year in 2008 and 2009.

Al Johnson and Thomas Gosebruch, the freelance artists who lead the Ageing Creatively programme, chose a series of paintings by Sassetta titled The Life of Saint Francis of Assisi which tells an engaging and thought-provoking life story from youth to death with simplicity and directness. Participants experimented with a variety of art materials and techniques during two practical workshops and produced a series of images inspired by Sassetta's paintings.

The final session for each group comprised a visit to the National Gallery, where participants toured the collection and saw the original paintings by Sassetta that inspired their own artworks.