Ruth Clarke, Learning Associate – Inclusion, Fitzwilliam Museum & University of Cambridge Museums (UCM), shares the first of three nature inspired blog posts in which older people provide insights into the question
‘how does engaging with nature, through art and artefacts, support people’s wellbeing?’
During 2022 this question is being explored as part of Age Well , the UCM’s cultural engagement framework for older people living in or receiving care, for whom access to the natural world is frequently limited. Three of the themes from the Fitzwilliam’s True to Nature exhibition, are shaping the Age Well activity programme; Sky, Trees and Water, artworks from the Fitzwilliam and artefacts from across the UCM and University are forming this collections based ‘gateway to the natural world’.
This first post shares connections made, experiences had, and interpretations created by programme participants in response to the theme of sky. Over 130 people from 16 different groups / settings took part in the programme with the invitation to take time to look, share, imagine, choose music and when facilitated by Age Well collaborator and co-producer, dance artist, Filipa Pereira -Stubbs – to move. The Age Well museum team members are, Alison Ayres, Ruth Clarke and Sarah Villis.
The sky-themed items explored included artworks of dramatic weather conditions, the lone cloud, the rising sun, the moon, and the galaxy that surrounds us, along with the fantastical globe collection and gallery at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science.
Gazing at nature
The act of representing nature in art is inherently about the intent of the artist, their motivation, artistic influences, resources, and skill, whereas the act of experiencing nature, in the world, is more likely to be unmediated and framed by our senses, personal influences, lifestyle and opportunity. What happens then, when we experience the artist’s, carefully considered ‘view of nature’ as opposed to the multi-sensory, fluidity of nature itself? What is the difference in the experience had … is it more emotionally heightened in art for instance with the artists and our imaginations mingling, or more immersive and visceral in-person?
To start to understand the specific wellbeing benefits of exploring nature through art, the Age Well team are recording people’s responses to the collection items using a variety of embedded techniques which generate insights into and interpretations of the artists ‘composed and imagined natural world’.
The voices that follow have been edited to represent prevailing ideas, feelings and motifs. The edits are from recordings made during sessions at Arthur Rank Hospice, Bramley Court Care Home, the Community Hub, eight Cambridge City Council sheltered Housing schemes and with participants in the Worthwhile Waiting social prescribing pilot for people with muscular-skeletal related chronic pain.
A lifetime of looking, sky memories …
All sessions begin with a period of relaxation using music and gentle movement as a way of preparing people for the time ahead and stepping away from concerns and busy minds. This is often followed by activities where people start the process of exploring the theme through invitations to recall and share personal connections, recollections and understanding, slowly building up a visual and sensory collage.
Scotland, peace, all around me is mist, it lifts, and I can see right out at sea and coming towards me is the darkest, scariest weather front …
Lying on the beach, waiting for the clouds to open and the light to come through – like a flower blossoming, warmth on my skin, relax, time to nap
Out of the train window, losing myself, watching the shadows of clouds as they pass swiftly over the hills and fields.
Camping, sitting in the porch, the kids bored, frustrated, watching yet more clouds and rain come towards us
On a mountain top, there’s silence, everything stops for the snow, blue sky, fluffy white clouds, mist starts to form and then we are surrounded by it –we are in the clouds, leaving the world behind us.
The wind blows, the light changes, the sea changes – over and over again, I stand transfixed
Responses from participants
Interpreting and imagining, skies in museum collections
Each artwork or artefact is explored by taking the time to look carefully and explore the composition, colour pallet, techniques, dynamics and form. Prompts from the facilitators support people in doing this. The facilitator then introduces a new set of prompts or ideas that set the scene for people’s imaginations to come into play; these prompts slowly build through the senses. The final stage of looking and imagining is the invitation ‘to step into the artwork’ and assume a place, a motivation, a role in doing this, perhaps as the artist, an onlooker, a character or animal depicted within – the place where you locate yourself and the motivation for being there being the keys to unlocking this experience. In the Age Well Dance with the Museum sessions, this ‘imagining’ is followed by group members selecting music and creating shared soundscapes with dance artist, Filipa Pereira-Stubbs, who facilitates a process of bringing the whole self to the artwork through music and dance.
Participant voices
Venice storm at sunset, 1840-42, J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851)
A shimmering gossamer sky, a golden translucence that calms; Venice is wrapped in a sky of soft white changing to blue, to pink to yellow, like a fine, warm blanket pulled up around me, like the sunrise coming.
Extract from Worthwhile Waiting, social prescribing participants
Sky study with a shaft of sunlight, 1882, J. Constable (1776-1837)
A picture of hope, I have been here recently, a dark overcast sky, the sun will break through soon, shafts of light trying to get out of the darkness; so many times, I’ve seen this cloud as I travel across the Fens, miles and miles and miles of sky.
Extract from Ditchburn Place and Talbot House Sheltered Housing participants
Matlock Tor c. 1778-1780, Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797)
Alone, early morning, space, no one near, bliss, sun coming up and warmth coming through, water still, reflections like a mirror, golden glow waking up the day, a gentle lapping, bird song, this is my time
Extract from Arthur Rank Hospice participants
Sunrise in the Wengernalp, 1835, T, Fearnley, (1802-1842)
Let’s light a campfire, look up to the skies, tell stories and listen to the sounds of the night, we’re all together, we’re safe, the mountains slowly appear as the sun rises and the stars, fade, shhh there’s something out there …
Extract from sheltered housing residents
The Globe Gallery
The mystical skies, the wonder, so beautiful and so unknown, I want to float upwards, I’m full of wonder and awe, I’m free, I’m relaxed, I’m peaceful, I’m back in my youth lying in Grantchester meadows, wrapped in the darkness of the night, looking, and listening, I’m overwhelmed, but somehow calm, the unfathomable, vast, puzzle of everything … I want to phone home
Extract from Litchfield Hall, Ditton and Rawlyn Court, Sheltered Housing participants
Bringing it all together
To complete each session and bring experiences together in order to celebrate, consolidate and reflect and evaluate, participants are invited to contribute to a shared piece of reflection; an example of this process is the ‘one line each’ group poem:
I looked at the sky and …
I looked at the sky and …
I knew I was alive
I wished I could fly, be free, soar out of my body
I wondered how long each cloud might last …
And asked, what have they done with the sun? will the clouds never end?
I looked at the sky and …
I saw a storm coming, but knew the sun wouldn’t be far behind
I felt sad, I knew that hope was needed, a rollercoaster
I imagined jumping on clouds and leaving this body behind
I walked in the wind, the sun, the rain and later under the moon, the stars
I looked at the sky and …
I was amazed, mesmerised, and exhilarated, I was enlivened – I woke up!
I saw nature at its best
by residents at Mansel Court sheltered housing scheme and members of the Community Hub
Age Well is funded through a combination of grant funding from the Linbury Trust, Arts Council England and Cambridge City Council, and is the development of the Building Connections funded programme 2018-21.
