Nature in Art Trip at Whittington House
20th July 2017
On Tuesday 18th July, residents and members of the team from Whittington House Nursing Home in Cheltenham enjoyed an outing to Nature in Art Gallery and Museum in Twigworth. The trip was instigated for the artists and art lovers of Whittington House.Nature in Art is the world’s first museum dedicated exclusively to fine, decorative and applied art inspired by nature. This gave the resident’s a variety of mediums and subjects to see. The outside sculptures were of great interest. A large tree made from metal and coloured glass leaves especially caught their eye.They enjoyed a rest stop in the café, where they all had a hot drink and an “enormous” slice of cake. Feeling refreshed we stopped at the artist in resident Simon Williams, who specializes in Botanical and Natural History Illustration.There was a display of his work which we all enjoyed looking at. Brenda spoke to Simon for a while about her art experience using watercolours. Annie our resident artist was particularly impressed with a collection of paintings he had in a book. Simon was happy to talk to Annie about how he had drawn a certain plant and what medium he used.Annie was enthralled and happily chatted away about her artwork too. Simon was great and he certainly could draw a crowd as we were joined by a group of school children. Annie (whose job was to teach art) soon got involved with the children and gave an impromptu art lesson, even drawing in a child’s exercise book!A study from the University of Westminster found that participants' stress levels decreased after a visit to an art gallery. This was an art therapy success and we noticed that the trip had helped uplift the residents spirits. The following day one of the residents commented that their mobility was far better as a result of the walking they had done on the outing.Whittington House Nursing Home in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire is a modern, purpose-built home and provides residential, nursing and specialist dementia care for up to 66 people.If you would like to find out more about life at Whittington House, or would like to speak to a member of our team, please contact us on 0808 223 5396 or [email protected].[gallery size="large" columns="2" ids="20258,20252,20256,20255,20254,20253,20251"]