A visit to Artfulmind Pop-up Gallery in the curator’s studio is much more than an opportunity to browse and buy captivating works of art and crafts—it is an opportunity for considered care for your mind and wellbeing. Doctors across the world are now prescribing a dose of arts for their proven health enhancing benefits. Visiting art galleries improves sensory engagement, boosts the brain’s neuroplasticity and enhances our cognitive abilities. Artfulmind Gallery is open Saturdays 05 + 12 + 19 September. Come for the beauty, stay to feel better.
“Many of us know instinctively that taking part in creative and cultural activities is vital for a happy, flourishing life,” says Hollie Smith-Charles, the director of creative health and change programmes at Arts Council England. “These impressive new findings are further evidence that arts, museums and libraries help us live well for longer, and demonstrate how vital it is that everyone, everywhere has access to excellent and affordable culture on their doorstep.”
Excellent and affordable culture on our doorstep
Courtesy of the collaboration between Samantha Tannous, founder of Arts Muster, and Artfulmind, the creative practice of Dr Natalie McDonagh, there is ‘excellent and affordable culture on our doorstep’. Last weekend saw Arts Muster Festival’s wonderful offering of arts and crafts workshops, cultural events and the lively Huskisson Artisans Market which included Artfulmind Pop-up Gallery/Shop presenting the work of 20+ makers and artists.
The excellent and affordable culture organised and presented by Arts Muster + Artfulmind continues for the next three weekends in Erowal Bay, where Artfulmind Gallery is popping-up in the curator’s studio in its lush habitat garden at the edge of Jervis Bay National Park.
This quiet, intimate studio setting allows for leisurely conversation and consultations about particular works, the maker, the processes involved, and perhaps to meet the maker, if they happen to be in residence at the time.
Artfulmind Gallery is also purposefully curated to offer you an immersive and interactive experience where—unlike the typical ‘do not touch’ rule of galleries—you are welcome to linger, look, touch, feel and try on. As well as being a source of pleasure, engaging the senses in this way enhances the mind’s capacity for learning and memory.
Featured Artist: Libby Mewing
Artfulmind Gallery is delighted to be featuring a series of major paintings and works on paper by abstractionist artist, Libby Mewing (a part-time resident of Vincentia). The presence of these dynamic, large-scale works energise the space in striking fashion and are having surprising conversations with Janet Kininmonth’s mesmerising glass sculptures, and sets of beautiful hand-formed chai tea bowls commissioned from Jo Victoria and Frances Smith.
The fluidity of the green glazes on Jo Victoria’s porcelain bowls move beautifully with the rhythm of Mewing’s Calypso 1 (acrylic on canvas, unframed 1.21×1.21cm $3200). Frances Smith’s bowls—which pay homage to the great Japanese potter, Shiego Shiga in their traditional form and Floating Blue glaze—resonate with the painting’s compelling assuredness.
Come and experience this for yourself. Doctor’s orders.
ARTFULMIND GALLERY When & Where
Saturdays 05 + 12 + 19 September 2026 / 11am-4pm with Meet the Makers 2-4pm.
By appointment Artfulmind Gallery can also be visited by appointment with the curator, Dr Natalie McDonagh
For full address for a Saturday visit, or to make an appointment for a private viewing email natalie@mcdonaghdesign.com
10 ways the arts transform us
- Doctors are now prescribing ‘nature pills’, based on studies showing that spending time outdoors has a measurable effect on regulating our physiological systems.
- Working with your hands using clay, textiles and earth stimulates the skin and nerve endings and activates the body’s internal sensory receptors, creating an immediate sense of focus.
- Immersive and interactive exhibitions dissolve the boundaries between art and audience. They engage our senses and generate strong emotional responses that enhance learning and memory.
- One or more art experiences per month can extend your life by up to ten years.
- Just 45 minutes of making art lowers cortisol levels.
- Singing and humming activate the vagus nerve, which in turn stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting calm and relaxation.
- Playing music increases the size of the cerebral cortex, or grey matter, and strengthens neural pathways, supporting the development of cognitive skills.
- Epidemiological research shows that children who regularly engage in creative activities are less likely to develop social problems during adolescence.
- Light and sound can alter the progression of dementia.
- Visiting museums is prescribed by doctors to improve sensory engagement and neuroplasticity, thereby enhancing cognitive abilities.
Source Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross. Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, 2025. Publisher: A&U Canongate, UK
