Category: painting

Painting and Art as Therapy for Parkinson’s Symptoms

Painting with Parkinsons is an art group for people with Parkinson’s and their carers. Founded in 1994 by artist, curator and lecturer Nancy Tingey, the group has been meeting on Friday mornings continuously for 17 years in the Botanic Gardens, Canberra, Australia. The program has been inspired by Nancy’s research into art as a therapy for Parkinson’s on a Churchill Fellowship in 1996.

Recently this has become the role model for groups in Melbourne led by Anne Atkin who featured on the Parkinsons Recovery Radio Show last year.

Although Nancy’s husband Bob Tingey who has had Parkinsons 25 years is the only surviving member of the original group, Nancy’s group currently has 17 participants, five facilitators and a team of volunteer helpers. This semester she is collaborating with the Canberra School of Music on a program in which musicians play live in the classroom to inspire paintings. A selection of these will be exhibited in a local arts centre with film and photographic documentation in December, 2012. The exhibition will tour Australia in 2013.

The amazing art work you see displayed to the left was done by three of the participants in Nancy’s Painting with Parkinsons class: Jock, Norma and Bob.

Painting and Parkinson’s

Author of Living and Laughing with Parkinsons Anne Atkin offers workshops with a special emphasis on painting for persons with Parkinsons Disease throughout Victoria, Australia. Her neurologist detected no evidence of symptoms during her most recent office visit. He had no idea what she had been doing, but told her to keep doing it because it was certainly working.

You are probably wondering what in the world Anne Atkin  has been doing to reverse her symptoms? Discover her secrets by listening to the show today and visit Anne’s website at http://www.anneatkinart.com for more information about her paintings, cartoons, workshops and book which has received rave reviews.

Anne Atkin author of Living and Laughing with Parkinsons who offers weekly workshops which, among other activities, offer painting as a therapeutic activity.