Soft Blushes of New Dawns: New Exhibition at 35 Chapel Walk

From Monday 17 to Thursday 27 June, you'll be able to enjoy a brand new exhibition at the 35 Chapel Walk gallery. Soft Blushes of New Dawns is a celebration of overcoming the challenges of a life with Parkinson's disease. Featuring the work of three artists, two of whom have Parkinson's and the other a carer, the exhibition explores the new directions being taken following a diagnosis.

Jan Sargeant is one of the artists whose work will be exhibited. Jan is 63 and was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2016. As a largely self-taught artist, she began painting in 2018 as a form of therapy to distract herself from the increasing disability caused by the disease. Since then she has quickly established herself as a professional artist with a keen following. Jan has recently been invited to take part in Picturing Parkinson's, a major research project supporting patients at the John Radcliffe Hospital in exploring their perceptions of life with Parkinson's through paint.

Along with London-based abstract artist Chris Rangel, Jan's husband Ted Kennedy will also be taking part in the exhibition. Last year, Ted and Jan set up Amity Art which is an online platform where they display and sell their work. They also run group and one-to-one painting workshops under the title 'Art Without Fear', highlighting their belief that being able to draw is not a prerequisite for painting. Find out more about Amity Art here.

Ted and Jan hope that the Soft Blushes of New Dawns exhibition will inspire others to see that with self-belief, determination and a passionate refusal to be defined or limited by any disease or disability, anything is possible. Be sure to pop down to 35 Chapel Walk in June.

Flick Jackson