The original pieces include paintings, crochet art, poetry and even an award-winning photo.
The exhibition launched on January 31 with a celebration bringing together older neighbours, volunteers and artists at Cast Theatre’s lobby, and the art will be displayed until February 28.
Colette Bunker, b:friend CEO, said: “Our older neighbours have such amazing stories and talents to share that are often unseen or overlooked.
"We wanted to give them the opportunity to get creative and tell their stories in their own unique way so that we don’t lose these wonderful tales of personal and local history.
"We’re so excited for them to be seen and celebrated by the community.”
Anna Kelner, Head of Marketing and Development at Cast said: “b:friend do some incredibly important work supporting older people across Doncaster, helping to combat loneliness and isolation.
"We at Cast have worked closely with them in the production of The Doncastrian Chalk Circle in the summer of 2022, and we can’t wait to welcome them back as they showcase the brilliant work of their older community artists in our exhibition space.”
Paul, a local artist and b:friend Social Club member, submitted a painting of Montmartre, Paris and a poem dedicated to the late Queen.
He said: "We all have an urge to be creative whether it’s art, poetry, music or just putting together flat pack furniture, this keeps us alive and feeling human.
Having this opportunity at b:friend to share our work and be seen by a wider audience is fabulous. It is a huge privilege to be part of this project and I hope the passion in all our art can touch other hearts too.
“The Social Club is so much fun. It brings people together, that would never normally meet up.
"Some people there possibly would never see another individual from one week to the next, so it is really nice to go there and see happy, smiling faces, and seeing people enjoying themselves. It is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for a lot of people.”
Gail is another Social Club member who provided two paintings for the exhibition. She had been planning to visit the Giant’s Causeway, and when the pandemic got in the way, she
decided to bring the Giant’s Causeway to her and created a beautiful painting.
She said: “As you get older as a retired person, you feel like you’re forgotten, invisible to people because you are not in the workplace. It is lovely to let people know that we’ve still got all these talents. We can do arts, skills, we can do sports. It is nice to share that with everybody and let people know that we’re still alive and we’ve still got beautiful people to be with.”
Jan is originally from New Zealand and moved to Doncaster two years ago. She started going to a b:friend Social Club on Tuesdays after having had a stroke. She is a keen animal lover and often uses housepaint and recycled materials for her paintings.
She said about her b:seen paintings: “I am not an artist, but I enjoy dabbling in art. Being a widow, there’s not a lot else to do and you get sick of watching telly all the time. I always liked peacocks, they are magical animals. I am a cat lady, so I’ve got to have pets in my house and in my art.”
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