Who fancies a Mindfulness Art Trail in the stunning environment of the Art Galleries in the National Museum of Wales (NMW) in Cardiff? Designed for visitors to the National Museum and art lovers, as well as those who would like to explore art in a more reflective way this puts a new slant on mindfulness in context.
The Trail evolved from the placement of a student from the University of the West of England MA in Curating at National Museum Cardiff intended to allow for a real-world experience for the student and create connections within the curatorial sector. Caroline Merriam has used the placement year as a way to expand the reach of mindfulness in the art world. Caroline says:
“As the placement at NMW, I have created a Mindfulness Art Trail in collaboration with Louise Rogers in the Museum’s Learning Department. It is a loosely guided trail in the art galleries and Main Hall of the Cardiff Museum intended for visitors to create mindful moments and feel present during their time in the building. There is a map of the trail and prompts that all participants to use their senses and imagination at specific artworks and objects.
“The art trail is expanding the reach of mindful teachings into museums and the art world. It is allowing visitors to experience mindfulness alone or with others and bringing them into the bigger community of mindful people.
“I hope that this collaboration will create a lasting legacy of my work at National Museum Cardiff as well as creating a relationship between the Museum and Mindfulness Wales that will benefit the visitors and staff at the Museum.”
The Trail will go live on November 5th and will hopefully be the inspiration for more mindfulness trails in other parts of the extensive National Museum provision.
Instagram: @uwe_ma.curating @carolinesmerriamart