The Nightingale Project organises temporary exhibitions to brighten up the hospital building at South Kensington ad Chelsea Mental Health Centre. The exhibitions are open to the public without appointment between Monday and Friday from 9.00am to 6.00pm, and at other times by appointment.

These are some of the exhibitions that have taken place in recent years.

2004:
Christopher Corr: Big Car, New Haircut, Places to See
Christopher Corr is a London-based painter and illustrator who travels the world painting people, colourful places, big cars, beautiful buildings and dogs. Born in Camden Town in 1955, he studied at the Royal College of Art, and since then has exhibited many times at the Curwen Gallery and the Berkeley Square Gallery in London, as well as in other countries. His work has been commissioned by numerous companies including Qantas, Body Shop, Ikea and Eurostar, and he has published many illustrated books, such as The Arabian Nights and Ebby Meets Felicity. The Nightingale Project exhibition was a selection of his paintings of places such as India, Tahiti, the Comoros Islands, Cuba, Peru, and New York. His paintings are colourful, vivid and life-affirming, and several have been acquired for the Hospital. As a result of his work for the Nightingale Project, Christopher is also being commissioned to produce paintings for other NHS premises.

2004-2005:
Ian Beck: Illustrations for Children’s Books 1984-2004
Ian Beck is one of the most distinguished contemporary children’s book illustrators, having produced over fifty books. His exhibition for the Nightingale Project was his first solo exhibition for ten years, and brought together original artwork from numerous outstanding children’s books such as his Peter and the Wolf, his version of Edward Lear’s The Jumblies, and his Oxford Nursery Book.

Ian Beck's latest publications are Winston the Book Wolf (with Marni McGee, Bloomsbury Children's Books), and his new novel The Secret History of Tom Trueheart, Boy Adventurer (OUP, June 2006).

2005:
Hannah Firmin: A selection of work from the last twenty years
Hannah Firmin has worked as an illustrator since leaving the Royal College of Art in 1981. Daughter of Peter Firmin, who with Oliver Postgate created the animated television classics The Clangers, Noggin the Nog and Bagpuss, she developed an early interest in art, and at the R.C.A. was encouraged by her teachers Quentin Blake and Linda Kitson to develop her interest in lino-cut. Her style has evolved into a unique combination of lino or vinylcut with collage and paint, and she has produced work for numerous magazines and newspapers. She won Best Cover of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2004 for her cover for Alexander McCall Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Her Nightingale Project exhibition comprised a selection of her work from the last twenty years. Arising out of this exhibition, Hannah has gone on to produce a number of beautiful woodcuts for a local continuing care home for older adults.

September 2005- February 2006:
Jonny Hannah: Works from the Cakes and Ale Press,
featuring Jelly Roll, Rocket Man, Satchmo and Stovies.
Jonny Hannah studied at Liverpool Art School and the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1998. He has illustrated numerous books and book-covers such as six John Steinbeck covers for Penguin and A Commonplace Book by Alec Guinness, as well as working for periodicals such as Vogue and illustrating a regular column in the Independent on Sunday. He recently won a national illustration award for Hot Jazz Special, a book for children about the healing power of good music, and participated in a related exhibition in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Nightingale Project exhibition included pen drawings, screenprints issued under his own imprint, The Cakes and Ale Press, and a unique painted door and window. A number of these works have been purchased for permanent display in the Hospital.