Creative Space

Transforming a physical environment can have a major impact on emotional health and well-being, particularly when it's a place that's part of your day-to-day life. In early 2008, Mantle received funding from Coalfields Regeneration Trust, to develop a magical creative gardening project.

Coalville Community Resource Centre is used daily by adults with learning disabilities and older people. Together with Mantle, centre staff identified that there was an area of their garden that needed attention and could be transformed into something spectacular.

Visual artist Mona-Lisa Cooke was employed to work closely with adults at the centre and assist them in making, among other things, beaded willow sculptures, fossil-style clay tiles and elegant-looking long-stemmed flowers out of recycled plastic bottles. Service users also created colourful mosaics with Zantium Mosaics and a huge willow arch structure with Living Willow.

After later being introduced to gardener Dani Pattuzzi, groups were also involved in directly reshaping the garden outside, through patterned beds and planting herbs and trees. Following three months of creative activity, the many elements of the project were brought together, along with a life-like willow water feature and mirror-style light-reflecting pyramids.

Since completion, the project has encouraged people to visit the garden more regularly and experience the physical benefits of being out in the fresh air. Above all, it provides a visually stunning peaceful space where people can re-connect with their natural world, in the context of something that they have created themselves.