Artwork commission for Arts Heritage at University College London Hospitals
It’s finished, up on the wall and the hospital is open!
I have just completed a commission for Arts Heritage at University College London Hospitals and I am delighted that my images are now up in a building where so much amazing work gets done. It was a good experience to work on something for the hospital environment, with lots to take into consideration and some technical obstacles. I thought I would share some of the process, to give some insight into how the project progressed.
The brand new Royal National Ear, Nose, Throat and Eastman Dental Hospitals, Huntley Street, London.
The main brief was to create a large artwork for the main lift lobby (up to 14 meters) with smaller related works for the procedure rooms. The largest works I have produced to date are less than half this size, so this was a great opportunity to push the scale to new levels.
Some of the main aims of the project were:
Provide a wow factor
Provide a distraction for patients from their anxieties
Provide colour, life and humour
Encourage conversations about the arts
Stand the test of time
Be appropriate for the patient group
I personally find that well produced, thoughtfully conceived artworks in a hospital setting can provide a bit of an escape from those inevitable concerns about illness and health. Most of my works are personally led projects, but following a brief, as in this commission, can pull your work in new and challenging directions.
Mock-up/rough draft of the Tropical proposal
Mock-up/rough draft of the Carnival proposal
Early draft of the Tropical proposal
My first concepts were on the individual themes of Tropical and Carnival.
As this artwork was being commissioned for a public and work space, it was important that there was input from the public and the staff. All of the artists were invited to present their initial concepts to board members and staff. The exhibition was also open to the public for their input. It was useful to receive feedback from people from different disciplines, often with a very welcome practical focus.
“Make sure that the image can be enjoyed from a child's height perspective.”
“There could be vertigo issues for those with hearing and balance conditions.”
I was also looking for an opinion of which concept was best to pursue, in the end I decided to combine the two themes.
I started to refine and combine the draft images, the work definitely went though considerable early transformations. My projects often start as a very rough jigsaw, with the pieces shifting about until they start to fit.
Early draft of the Carnival proposal
Birds and animals - photoshoot.
As I had decided to include tropical birds and animals in the image, I had to organise a very different type of photoshoot.
Paradise Park Wildlife Sanctuary kindly gave me permission to come and photograph their impressive selection of birds. Photographing birds in flight was definitely a departure from static buildings! I also visited both Newquay and Paignton Zoo who generously granted me access. The challenge here was to get the vantage point of looking down on the animals, to achieve this I elevated the camera on a monopod and operated a remote shutter.
Work in progress
The work was evolving at the same time as the building itself. The artists all went on a site visit to try and visualise the space. We were fully kitted out in steel toe cap boots and helmets, so that gives you an idea of just how much visualising had to be done! Although we had the drawings and measurements, there were so many extra rails, signs and equipment to be added, so it was important that the artworks were created with this in mind.
Production and installation.
Installation shot of the main work
The large work is printed on hospital approved vinyl, which provided some challenges. The resolution can be quite low on these large format vinyl printers and the colours shift due to the base colour of the vinyl. It was important to budget in enough time to ‘back and forth’ with test prints but we were able to get the prints where we wanted in the end.
Fortunately after the proofs were signed off I could leave the printing and installing to the professionals. I could then work on the smaller pieces that would be displayed in the procedure rooms on the same floor as the main work. These works were produced as photographic C-type prints and mounted on perspex to give them maximum resolution and impact for their size.
Finished installed artworks
Click to pan around the full image
Final installation of the main work.
Doorway vinyl crops and the Perspex mounted smaller works.
8 individual images for the separate rooms - Click for Lightbox view.
The commission was funded by:
