"Creative Minds ethos is that Creativity is an innate ability that we all possess, we believe it is important that we enable our participants to embrace their creativity and enjoy the creative process regardless of the results. It’s about having fun, being in the moment and exploring our creative side. As artists we truly believe that there is a creative side in all of us, and that connecting with it brings huge therapeutic benefits and a positive impact on our wellbeing. We focus on the therapeutic benefits of creativity. As Creative Minds artists we are trained to deliver art sessions that are accessible and empowering to all, our focus is always on the enjoyment of the creative process and not the outcome, which is so important in today’s outcome driven society. Many of our artists are inspired by nature throughout their practice and this then lends itself to some amazing natural and multi sensory sessions for the participants."

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A standard definition for art is 'art is emotion'. It should therefore be the case that art can and perhaps should affect our emotional wellbeing. Hopefully positively.

At Devon Sculpture Park we want to foster this link. We have double the motivation: firstly evidence supports that people de-stress in museums and galleries but also there is a sizeable movement around improving our wellbeing through 'time in nature'. As a leading UK Rewilding centre we specialise in the wellbeing of land and wildlife. The parkland is mesmerising.

We are all about 'art in nature'. Mamhead Park (South) was designed for it. The evidence is everywhere - with endless, mesmerising sea views framed so magically by Capability Brown, connected via a tunnel from the ice house all the way to the sea.

The Robert Adams Orangery has a dome that makes you giddy when you stare up at it. The Lake House reflects calmy off the Capability Brown lake. Rowing boats float among fish and birdlife.

Dozens of benches and chairs have been painstakingly positioned to promote sitting and relaxing; taking in the 'art in nature' while detoxing. After all, we have to live up to the inspiring engraving on one of our ancient pillars: 'Et in Arcadia ego' which translates to 'I am in paradise'.

Join us. The Capability Brown gardens and inaugural 'ART WILDED' exhibition, are open from Wednesday to Sunday, 10am - 4pm. Adults £12, children under 12 £6.

WELLBEING WEDNESDAY
Every Wednesday we celebrate #WellbeingWednesday. We offer a freeafternoon Wellbeing walk for sculpture park visitors, meeting at The Terraces at 2pm. The short guided walk is designed to help us renew and reconnect taking in the art, gardens, vistas and waterways.

Companies, charities and healthcare organisations can bring team members for a few hours out. If you're a Wellbeing counsellor bring clients and run sessions outside or in our therapy rooms.

To arrange a Wellbeing visit contact hello@devonsculpturepark.org.
 
Visit our website: https://devonsculpturepark.org/

​March 2018 

​It was the walled garden that did it….

When Anna Baker Cresswell’s beloved Mother was living with Parkinson’s Disease during the last years of her life, Anna gave up her job in London and moved back home to Northumberland to look after her. The walled garden there gave Anna snatched half hours of calm, control and order when the rest of her life had none.

​Royal Horticultural Society reports on the John MacLeod Lecture 2016.
 
A leading academic has argued that gardening is uniquely placed to help bridge the widening gap between modern, urban lives and the natural world, during the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) annual John MacLeod Lecture on 10 November.

​Dr Ross Cameron, a Senior Lecturer in Landscape Management, Ecology & Design at the Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield, believes that as urban populations increase, city dwellers are missing out on the emotional, physiological, and psychological benefits of engaging with the natural world, benefits that humans are hard-wired to respond to. He argued that this lack of connection contributes to a condition he calls Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD).

​At Holt Wood we are working towards sustainable cultivation and harvest of medicinal trees and shrubs. Our project is based on a two acre site in North Devon, UK which was previously a conifer plantation.

​Michael Connors, Director of Services at Penny Brohn and member of the LGHN management board shares the presentation he gave at the LGHN seminar in 2015. Michael discussed the role of the garden within the therapeutic program at Penny Brohn. He emphasized how an understanding of Ecopsychology (including mindfulness, eco-therapy and nature and soul) is integrated within the service provision at Penny Brohn. The garden, which is sustained by a strong volunteer team, provides a symbolic meta model for a ‘journey of transformation’ (the Hero’s Journey).

Conversations about healing trees by Colin Porter

Having been trained at Kew in the 1980’s form of scientific rationality, the more left-field ideas of natural harmony or sustainability found at places like Findhorn or the Centre for Alernative Technology in North Wales should have passed me by. The majority of people I worked with seemed to be reassured by reasoned argument and, as far as I was concerned, scientific rationality provided a reliable platform for the day job. But our day jobs were only part of the story.