The ‘Crafting Your Story’ exhibition is a collaboration between Bath’s Carers’ Centre and the National Trust’s Bath Assembly Rooms. The artwork will be on display between the 6th and the 28th May 2026 in the exhibition room at Bath Central Library, as part of the Art in the Library series.
This exhibition displays the work of carers who participated in a 6-week course held at the Carers’ Centre in Bath, which was run by National Trust staff based at the Bath Assembly Rooms in collaboration with local artist Karen Woodfield. Different art and craft activities were undertaken each week, where each person’s personal story was interwoven with local heritage, nature and social connection with others.
Throughout the 6-weeks, we were able to include information and artwork into the empty commonplace book each of us was given at the start. It is called scrapbooking, or journalling now, where you can include quotes or pictures, for example, depending on your interests. The commonplace book was very popular around the 17th century. This meant that what each of us put in our books was totally dependent on what each of us felt was important to us, but was also focused around a question and an art or craft task given to us each session. All of the art and craft activities were enjoyable and included weaving and mini quilt collage making.
The majority of the items on display in this exhibition were made during the 6-week course in 2025. The items created are technically all the same, but each are unique. For example, although we were all given the same instructions on how to make the items and the same base templates, there was a range of materials and patterns we could use, which led to different designs made by each person. This meant it was very interesting to see the range of differences between the items at the end of each session.
The exhibition is to show how the themes of nature, local history, and social connection can be brought together in art and crafting activities and to promote the amazing work of the Carers’ Centre and how the National Trust supports local community groups.
