Summary

Decorative plate hand painted by Eddie Munford, a resident of Kew Cottages (Kew Residential Services). The plate was painted to commemorate 119 years of Kew Cottages, opened in 1887 as the Kew Idiot Asylum and closed in 2008. The date 2006 on the plate signals the end of the cottages redevelopment / transformation from institutional accommodation to private housing.

Eddie was a participant in 'Q Art', a daily program offered to residents of Kew Cottages to study and develop their artistic skills in paper, canvas and ceramics. Established in 1987, the program became a formal disability enterprise in 1994 when 'Network Q' was established; all employees of the studio were paid for their participation. Activities took place in the Hamer Centre, one of four buildings constructed in the mid-1970s to cater for daytime activities and education, the others being the Smorgon Centre (medical and dental centre), the Perkin Art Centre and the Age/Geiger Centre (theatre and kindergarten). All these centres are acknowledged on the underside of the plate.

Physical Description

Ceramic plate, hand painted around the rim of obverse with a ring of people holding hands on a blue background. The centre of the plate is painted purple with text written in black. The underside rim is painted in blue, with text in black. It is signed in the centre of the underside.

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