A PROJECT by art and design students at Wiltshire College Trowbridge has received a ringing endorsement from Dorothy House Hospice Care.

The hospice made contact with the department after seeing their work at last year’s Trowbridge in Bloom exhibition.

It asked if students would undertake a project as part of the national Dying Matters initiative, producing a range of art on a theme of dying.

The 14 students visiting the hospice, in Winsley, to meet staff, volunteers and patients as part of their research.

Students displayed their finished work in an exhibition at the Trowbridge campus last month and the project will also form part of an exhibition at the Town Hall, as part of Dying Matters Awareness Week from May 18 to 24.

Wayne de Leeuw, the community and outreach team manager at Dorothy House, said: “It makes a powerful statement and shows great understanding of the Dorothy House organisation and the patients.

“The quality is amazing. There’s lots of innovation and so many different techniques and approaches.”

Both physical and emotional elements of dying and end-of-life care have been explored, as well as the perspective of families, carers and medical staff.

Lecturer Helen Chivers, who helped to co-ordinate the work, said: “We’ve used it as their second year project. It’s been an enormously valuable exercise for the students, not just from an artistic point of view but also in terms of their personal development.

“The group really connected to the project.

“They’ve shown great maturity and sensitivity throughout and they’ve really grown as individuals.

“It’s been good to see them using art to project the meaning of death in a very positive way.

“And it’s also nice to see them receive such positive feedback.

“They really deserve it.”