"i'll be doing this sky in my dreams tonight" by Art In Hospital

“I’ll be doing this sky in my dreams tonight”

Art in Hospital

Published by Art in Hospital, 2006 Printed in an edition of 3000 by Summerhall Press, Edinburgh ISBN ? Text © 2006, Penny Rae Images © 2006, The Artists All photography © 2006, Carl Cordonnier except where indicated All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without the prior written permission from the publishers. Design: Frozen River

Contents Positioning Statement

Penny Rae

Foreword

Sir Kenneth Calman

Conversations

6 10 16

Art in Hospital

A POSITIONING STATEMENT

This document is about validating the importance of creative expression of people who are living within a hospital context. It is based on the assumption that art is about values, beliefs, identity, expression and communication and as such should be a fundamental right of every individual, irregardless of whether they are in hospital or not.

As we entered into the world of Art in Hospital, the rules of interaction between the artists and participants sometimes seemed so ﬂuid that they could only be determined by

the dynamics of each individual situation. However, what was clear was that no evaluation of hospital-based art practice could be made without some understanding of context. Art in healthcare practice is shaped by a particular place and particular conditions and a particular artistic and political moment. It is designed to respond to very particular situations. Unless these situations are experienced to some degree, is it very hard for any evaluation to be responsible or just? Art in Hospital raises as many questions as it answers. It is driven by a belief in people and a faith in the ability of art to deal with social crisis. This document aims simply to illustrate the extraordinary

journey Art in Hospital is making for everyone involved in some way with the organisation; from health care professionals to funders, and in particular for the artists and clients. We hope it will inspire the conﬁdence in policy makers to make a more sustained and conﬁdent commitment to this kind of partnership.

The ﬁrst question we asked ourselves in this study of the work of Art in Hospital was how to approach it. What attitude, state of mind, was needed in order for the project’s emotional and artistic substance to reveal itself? In the end, the research process we used was not based on scientiﬁcally proven data, if such is necessary to make a convincing case, but on a process of rational deduction from individual perspectives, representing them through their own words and images.

Penny Rae author Carl Cordonnier photographer October 2006

Foreword by Professor Sir Kenneth Calman

PATRON OF ART IN HOSPITAL CHANCELLOR OF GLASGOW UNIVERSITY

their being involved in arts and their quality of life during this time is higher. Medicine is based on science and the quest for new knowledge. The arts and humanities however are an important part of this and may seem to have got lost along the way. There is now considerable interest in re-introducing them into the medical curriculum but not at the expense of medical knowledge. The medical student needs to know where the heart is but he also needs to know about emotional interaction and effective communication.

There were two main questions which were in my mind. The ﬁrst was do the arts and the humanities inﬂuence medical professionals, and secondly do the arts help people with physical and mental illnesses recover more effectively?

When we founded the Centre for Arts and Humanities in Health and Medicine we wanted to try to bring the two worlds together. Simple things like the environment in the doctors surgery and looking at the evidence that people felt better in the waiting room looking out at a garden rather than brick walls. It seems so obvious yet how many waiting rooms are dreary and dismal places. So it’s not just those who are health professionals who need to think differently, it’s architects, planners and many others. There is a chance with new hospital buildings to look

There is scientiﬁc evidence for both of these which is slowly building up. The broader your outlook on life and the more interesting you are as a person does allow you to see people in a different way. In addition, I have seen the growth and self conﬁdence in patients through

My interest in the arts originated from a love of literature. During the mid 1980s, I ran an ethics course for medical students using poems, plays, texts and the purpose of this was to help medical students view the world from the perspective of the artist, and not just the medical academic. It was an interesting time for me as we saw these bright medical students begin to approach their course work with a broader and more person-orientated approach which would hopefully make them better doctors.

holistically at the treatment of patients and to use architecture and design to endorse a holistic approach to treatment. Design has also to be about creating a vibrant community whether that is for a hospital or any other kind of institution. The arts seem to engender a sense of community. For me the Angel of the North is a particularly strong symbol of the nurturing positive community spirit. It has transformed peoples’ sense of pride in Gateshead, which is now associated with the home of the angel. When we think about quality of life the qualities are those which make people happy and from all my anecdotal and personal experience, engagement as a participant or as a spectator in the arts, these activities help to improve quality of life and perhaps even more appropriately when people are unwell. To inﬂuence the acceptance of arts in healthcare has to come from people who are really in a position to change attitudes and policy. When I was the Government’s Chief Medical Ofﬁcer and people knew that I was interest in the arts I like to think that it did allow people to

think differently. People in inﬂuential positions must always recognise the importance of their voice. By endorsing the movement you give people permission to move ahead. I have always advocated the use of arts in the teaching of ethics to doctors. While I believe that science remains absolutely critical to medical teaching I also believe that the arts are fundamentally necessary to improve quality of life and the development of a fully rounded person. Relationships between those who fund the arts and those who fund hospitals are essential. I suspect that more partnerships need to take place and people must be encouraged to think outside their own professional box and learn from people with different professional backgrounds. A louder voice should be coming from those working within the arts and healthcare. Organisations like Art in Hospital have huge amounts of ‘evidence’ that their work is valuable. Dedicated arts spaces in hospital are desirable. There is a strong enough body of evidence now to endorse the fact that an artist’s role can be critical in the overall care of patients. Arts specialists

are often still excluded from decisions about patient care. I hope it will not be long before they are seen to be part of the patient care team. Exposure to the arts and a measure of peoples’ reaction to involvement in the arts is thus very important. Humour as a component of this also makes people feel better. Story telling, and art in itself, may never relieve the symptoms but feeling valued, and being part of the story can go a long way towards recovery.

We should not try to limit the development of arts and healthcare but see it as an opportunity for improving the quality of life for all concerned. Professor Sir Kenneth Calman, April 2006

I sometimes use the analogy of the bucket. A bucket ﬁlled with love, care, compassion or whatever you wish to call it. The general idea is that patients take out of the bucket and doctors and other health professionals ﬁll it. This is a false model. There is always some love, care and compassion and even humour in the bucket that patients put in and doctors take out. It is I think the same with artists who work in hospital, they put their skills and vision and training into the bucket but they receive a remarkable amount back in return and it is that partnership which

leads to creativity both for patients and for the artist’s own work. I think many artists would say their own work has developed positively through their work with people in hospitals.

Barbara McEwan Gulliver

DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER, ART IN HOSPITAL

I started working as an Artist in a hospital in 1989. At that time, artists working in hospitals were completely isolated and there was little or no recognition from either the arts funding bodies or the health boards of the value of this kind of work, whether it was in visual arts, theatre, dance or music. I found an inspired hospital manager who worked with me on putting together a proposal for a pilot programme of visual art work and we established our ﬁrst art room at Belvidere hospital in Glasgow. With The Glasgow School of Art we established a student placement scheme and Art in Hospital was born.

Our first exhibition was in an empty ward in December 1991. It was the result of the work of the previous year. Disused hospital wards make brilliant gallery spaces. We received funding for a second year of activity and in 1993 we were able to employ two part time artists, who were recent graduates of The Glasgow School of Art. We had our first public exhibition in 1994 ‘From a staircase to a banister to the colours in the sky.’ After we were successful in receiving funding from the health board, the project was expanded to two more hospitals. I wanted to develop an artistic practice that reflected my own values and priorities which are about a belief in the empowerment of the individual in an institutional context. It is about an emotional response to art, the feel of a brush on a piece of paper, the joy of colour, the texture of paint. We have begun to touch the surface with new media projects, digital animation, video but we have much more to do. I want to offer the artists flexibility in their approaches to working with patients but I also have to constantly demonstrate that this particular model of practice is cost effective.

From the outset, there are certain criteria which are essential for me to. We employ only practicing and professional artists. When I interview artists, I look at their practice, whether in painting, drawing, printmaking, ďŹ lm, video or sculpture but I equally consider their communication skills. We establish dedicated art spaces in each of the hospitals we work in. I feel it is essential to work in a non clinical space in an environment which is notably different to the wards. I think of Art in Hospital as giving back choices to people who have temporarily had choices removed from them and developing stronger links between medicine, treatment, care and artistic practice, which have traditionally been seen as having no relationship. Health care is seen as structured and functional; art is seen as slightly anarchic and needing freedom not context. The reality is less divided. Artists are open and responsive to changing situations and health care professionals are also concerned about individuality and quality of life for patients.

In 2006 we have over eighteen artists employed across nine hospitals. Since we began, we have had sixty ďŹ ve exhibitions, we have undertaken projects in France, Switzerland and Belgium. We have exhibited at ten Glasgow Art Fairs. I want Art in Hospital to be a model for other health boards and to suggest a new way of working between health boards and arts funding bodies. I want to look at our work in partnership with hospitals in Europe and internationally and I want eventually to see artists, patients, hospital Clinical Staff, Administrative Staff all endorsing the important place of art in a hospital environment. The potential and the demand for expansion of our work is endless.

Liz Cameron THE RIGHT HON.THE LORD PROVOST COUNCILLOR LIZ CAMERON

I’m also delighted that Art in Hospital have such a prominent place at the Glasgow Art Fair. The organisation is an integral part of the arts in Glasgow. The work is of such high quality that it comes as no surprise to me that it sells so well. The quality control comes from the patients being supported by talented and dedicated professional artists. Alzheimers doesn’t so much as run in my family, it gallops and I want to know that if I am hospitalised and need constant care when I get older that there will be talented and dedicated artists sharing their skills with me, so I have very selﬁsh reasons too for supporting so completely the work of Art in Hospital.

I have watched the work of Art in Hospital develop for the last 13 years and I emphatically endorse its success. Care for the elderly is of particular interest for me and I have always seen the results of their work in physical rehabilitation. I believe wholeheartedly in their approach of sharing skills and facilitating a creative environment for the people they are working with. Not only is it transforming for them mentally and emotionally; nursing staff have talked to me about the improvements they see in patients’ conﬁdence, level of mental alertness and even in their physical conditions. I think their work is pioneering and I am delighted to be associated with it and support it. It is important to remember that health doesn’t just mean an absence of sickness but a state of well being.

I remember walking into the hospital at Blawarthill Hospital and seeing artists working, intent and absorbed. Then I realised that most of the patients were in their 80’s and it was an uplifting moment that I will remember for ever.

Bridget McConnell

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF CULTURE & SPORT GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL What is sometimes perceived as social engineering through art is often criticised but I believe wholeheartedly in the transformational power of art and its worth and value to individual lives. My involvement with Art in Hospital is at policy level, ensuring that work like this is not marginalised but an integral part of Glasgowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arts policy. In the ďŹ eld of health care for the elderly, the emphasis seems to be shifting from the importance of prolonging life for its own sake to an acceptance that quality of life must be provided at every stage of life. In the same way, evaluation of arts policies in this area cannot simply be about numbers but must also take into account anecdotal evidence about the value to patients and health care workers of art and arts practice. We need to have more advocates at opinion forming level to ensure revenue funding for organisations that work in this area.

As a possible model for funding and access to the arts in hospital, I am particularly interested in the GP referral scheme that currently applies to sport and would like to see it extended to arts practice.

Arts projects in health care work when the artists do not compromise on the quality of work and the sharing of all their skills. No one wants access to mediocrity, everyone wants access to excellence. This is why Art in Hospital is so successful. Skilled and talented professional artists are employed in a way that ďŹ rstly allows them to share their experience and secondly allows them the time and space to continue their own professional development. All the artists I have seen working within the Art in Hospital projects are committed to what they are doing. Their communication skills and levels of involvement with patients and health care staff is the cornerstone of their success.

David McQuatt

DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Art in Hospital is constantly evolving as an organisation and as a body of artists. We are trying to consolidate our work but at the same time we want to move forward with new ways of involvement and new practice. I see part of our role as being to validate the concept of peoples’ privacy within an institution. That means offering them the choice to come into an environment that suggests new ways of expressing themselves personally. It means helping to ﬁnd a form of visual expression for people that is non-judgemental and in which no one makes assumptions about what people can or cannot do simply because they are in a hospital situation. That’s the basic philosophy of

the organisation for me. The process follows of creating work and the finished work is at the end of the line and all are important, but no moment is more important for me than when someone picks up that pencil, brush or charcoal for the very first time and makes that initial mark. The strength of our work is shown by the demand for us to open our practice to more units, more nursing homes, more hospitals, more artists. Our resources are constantly stretched and difficult decisions are constantly having to be made. We would like to offer more artists, more time for development, for discussion, for evaluation and widen access to all. Current levels of funding make it impossible.

John Lieser PATIENT AND ARTIST

I wasn’t allowed to do art at school because I had a German surname. I had to do the sweeping up instead. I think my early paintings were terrible but the artists encouraged me to persevere. I’ve only missed 2 art sessions in the last 3 years. It’s the most important thing I do. It’s the only time I lose myself and forget about the cancer. I’m in a wee world of my own. I feel warm and secure. I started out by just looking at the paintings in the books and sometimes I just sat there and looked at the ﬂowers. It’s difﬁcult to explain the feeling when they told me someone had bought one of my paintings at the Art Fair. It was unbelievable. I was choked up. I think it was one of the most important moments in my life. Can you imagine? Someone paid for one of my paintings, then took it home and hung it on their wall. Unbelievable.

Irene Florence

SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER

I don’t believe in altruism. I do a job that brings immense satisfaction and it is a job that includes frail and vulnerable people. I think the demand for our work will always be there. Initially, other health care workers can be wary of us and of what we do, but then become very receptive. I think that we’re in quite a privileged position compared to the care staff. They are having to cope with primary care needs whilst we are there to help to release creativity in people and give them back some choices. As artists we all have lots of ideas as to how to develop projects; ideas are never a problem but resourcing them is problem. I would describe our work as person centred but within the parameters of prescribed hospital life.

My own practice has been clearly inﬂuenced by the people I work with here. I am working in hospitals with people who are very hesitant and unsure of the materials they are working with, whether its charcoal, acrylics, pastels or oils. When I’m in my own studio I try much harder now to let go with my materials and to enjoy them. I know I have become more conﬁdent in the use of texture, colour and surface.

we are there to help to release creativity in people.

Winnie

PATIENT AND ARTIST

I’ll be doing this sky in my dreams tonight. I know I won’t be able to sleep unless I get that sky right. You see I’m a learner with a capital ‘L’. The simple fact is that I was unhappy before I started painting and I’ve been happy since. Once a week’s just not enough. I should be painting every day. I should always have been painting. It would have kept me out of trouble. I’ve always been in trouble. My parents despaired of me. There were all sorts of troubles in my life. I was married three times and all my husbands died. I sit in this room with my paints and I feel joy, hope and happiness. I’m at one with the world for the ﬁrst time.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m at one with the world for the ďŹ rst time.

Dr Paul Knight

CONSULTANT PHYSICIAN MEDICINE FOR THE ELDERLY

In 1991 I was given the management of the care for the elderly unit and part of my understanding of that brief was to enhance the quality of life for people in the unit. Provision of artists and dedicated art spaces within hospitals are not part of the strategic thinking within primary care but I believe there should be strategic partnerships between health boards and those organisations which fund the arts. In the same way that funding partnerships are necessary, a holistic approach to care is also essential; not just in the hospital but when possible in the hospital outreach programmes. Joint working should become an ethos. Everyone has such severe budgetary restraints that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the only way forward for this kind of work. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to say that for a relatively modest investment, there are very high returns. I can see that the work is far more than diversional. There are the workshops, the exhibitions, the Art Fair and lots of other public moments. I can understand now how important this work is. Projects like Art in Hospital develop from a kernel and are nurtured by one enthusiastic protagonist. In this case it was Barbara Gulliver.

Lucy Bates PROJECT MANAGER ART IN HOSPITAL

I enjoy applying the skills that I have learnt to support other peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work. Our work is not about analysis; the results may be therapeutic but I am not a therapist. I am an Artist sharing what I know. Working in a group is an important part of the process. A third focus is created between ourselves and the patients. We are relating to each other through art and achievement and process. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very different conversation to illness, treatments and doctors.

We are relating to each other through art.

Claire Simpson

SENIOR ARTS DEVELOPMENT OFFICER GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL

I look at Art in Hospital in the same way I look at any professional visual arts organisation working in the city. I don’t pigeon hole them within a social context because they’re all professional artists who are developing their own practice at the same time as sharing their skills and training with a particularly venerable section of the community. I don’t see how you can make a rigid distinction between this kind of work and any other professional practice. I imagine the work the artists do in the Glasgow hospitals feeds into their practice in the same way as any other important life experience feeds their practice.

Charlotte Donovan

ARTIST, ART IN HOSPITAL

The ultimate wish would be dedicated art space on every hospital site.

The ultimate wish would be dedicated art space on every hospital site. Each one would have open access for visitors, staff, patients and visitors. There would be exhibitions, performances, residencies, public art programmes, artists’ studios. They would be living, vibrant non-institutional spaces within the necessary conﬁnes of the hospitals. I hope that health care professionals are gradually understanding and endorsing the place of the artist’s work in hospitals. There is still a sense that all the other professionals working in a health care context have their place but that the Artist remains on the periphery. As artists we are often working up to ﬁve hours a day with individual patients, more hours than any other member of staff.

Marielle Macleman

ARTIST COORDINATOR, ARTS IN PALLIATIVE CARE, ART IN HOSPITAL

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to dispel the myth that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re therapists. We are artists who have made a choice to spend time working here at the hospice. We are not here to analyse. For us this is not a therapeutic practice but an artistic practice. Our discussions with patients are about colour and light and materials. Each time I look at the walls of this room, I see extraordinary stories. Over there I can see the sun setting over the loch painted by someone who has a brain tumour. The landscape next to it was painted by a man who has just relearnt to use his left hand. That series of small paintings have been done by someone who has lost all verbal skills and needed a way to say thank you to her carers. Not long ago, we were visited by a man who wanted to collect his motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paintings. She had died some weeks previous to his visit and he said it was the only legacy he had of her. There is a lot of colour and a lot of laughter in this room.

Loretto Fernie

PATIENT AND ARTIST

I’d love to have gone to Art School. I would never have missed a class. I’d have been the ﬁrst one in and the last one out.

I’m an insomniac. I only sleep for an hour or so at a time. I used to lie there awake, just worrying and thinking. Now I keep my paints and my easel by my bed and when I wake up I paint. Sometimes I get my best ideas in the night. Since I started painting I’ve cut down on my smoking. I used to smoke about 60 a day and now I smoke about 15. I would paint all day and all night if I could. I’d love to have gone to Art School. I would never have missed a class. I’d have been the ﬁrst one in and the last one out.

Sharon Goodlet

SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER, ART IN HOSPITAL

There is always an element of surprise working with elderly residents. I worked with an 86 year old woman who had left school at 13 to look after her brothers and discovered painting through Art in Hospital. She had amazing energy and experimented with a wide range of materials. She was very talented. Her enthusiasm for painting changed her life at 86. Her story inspired me and in turn renewed an enthusiasm for my own work. Those stories aren’t unusual and many of us working as artists within the project are constantly refreshed by the enthusiasm and dedication of the patients. I’ve found that artists who no longer work with traditional materials become drawn to them again through their time spent working with patients.

Working for Art in Hospital is ideal for artists as they have time to work alone in the studio as well as time working with the patients. The isolation and self-absorption that is often a problem for some artists is reduced by the very intensive time with the patients. I’ve worked with a number of the different client groups. With the elderly in the Mansionhouse Unit, with clients through the Epilepsy Connection, with the physically disabled rehab unit. I’ve also worked on preparing work for the Art Fair, which is often an important boost to the patients whose work is selected and sold. We could do a lot more if we were adequately resourced to develop. We could create more dedicated workshop spaces and have more exhibitions. We could spend more time in staff training and develop our skills. I see healthcare staff attitudes changing when they see the results of what we do. Open days are important where people can see

the work and understand the process and give the artists a higher proďŹ le in the hospitals. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all pushed for time. We have lots of contact time with patients, there arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the resources to allow us to develop ideas and talk amongst other artists about what works and why as much as we like. It would be great to employ a fundraiser, someone to market and promote the work, and a curator to keep the exhibitions fresh across the hospitals.

Sandra Anderson PATIENT AND ARTIST

I’m working on a painting now that was inspired by my holiday in Yorkshire. It’s a painting of the North York Moors. I’m trying to bring back the light from my holiday. I remember looking out at the cliffs, the lighthouse, the tractors in the ﬁelds. It’s all there. I’ve just got to try to bring it back and put it here. I had my ﬁrst brain tumour around my 38th birthday.

Kirsty Stansﬁeld

ARTIST, ART IN HOSPITAL

I work with digital media and the person centred approach that is the ethos of Art in Hospital very much reﬂects my own approach to making and researching work. Process is very important to me, in both my own art practice and my work with Art in Hospital. It is not about setting goals. It’s ongoing and has to be seen as long term in the way we build relationships and trust. I think the art room is often perceived as an oasis in the hospital. It can be seen as good and bad that we’re not part of multi-disciplinary care teams within the hospital. On one hand it gives us autonomy and independence but it does mean we are always on the edge. I think what we do is to make space to allow people to ﬁnd something within themselves.

At the moment I’m creating a project about reduced personal space and I’m looking at how people relate to personal objects in such a reduced environment. For example, there can be four people living in a ward and their personal possessions are reduced to clothing and one or two framed photographs.

Working with people with dementia, for example, can be rewarding and can also be very frustrating. There can be sessions when no two words relate to each other and other days when everything ﬂows for that same individual. Sometimes people have to walk past the art room many times before they actually come in, and even then it takes another few weeks before they have the conﬁdence to do anything. We have to be patient and ready to help them build on this over time. Bill created a video postcard to send to his daughter in Canada. He had never held a video camera before and he immediately created a very personal relationship

with it, both in front of and behind the camera. He ﬁlmed other residents too and they responded to the camera very positively. There would have been a very different response if I had been holding the camera. As artists working in this way, we sometimes have to make ourselves invisible. Our role becomes to help people translate a thought or an idea by sharing the creative skills we have.

I begin new sessions by introducing myself on the wards. I describe the art space. I ask people to come and visit the space and when they do come, I encourage them to respond to the materials in their own way. I think when people are given the opportunity they can communicate an idea or a thought visually which they wouldn’t normally say using words.

Daisy Richardson ARTIST, ART IN HOSPITAL

There are very few rewarding ways of supporting yourself as an Artist. This is one of them. When an individual piece of work is completed for the ﬁrst time by one of the patients, you can see an amazing pride in that achievement and it’s always backed up by support from other patients in the room. The training programmes offered to us are really important and I’ve picked up lots of new skills through attending them.

Overall I’ve become more patient by my involvement in this kind of work, which has to be good for my own practice.

As an artist it is rewarding to share what you know with someone else and to see amazing results simply from that information being passed on. Perhaps we can be credited with providing some of the pieces in the jigsaw but the overall concept and result belongs to the individuals we are working with. The art rooms are an essential part of our work. They counteract the impersonal and often sterile atmosphere of the hospital and provide a neutral space for us all.

Alice Shambrook

PATIENT AND ARTIST

The paintings don’t feel as though they come from me. The paint and the brushes take over. I think I’ve got an Artist’s name. ‘Alice Shambrook’. I used to work for years and years in a shop in Sauchiehall Street opposite Glasgow School of Art. I used to stand in the doorway of the shop and look up at the School of Art and all the magic that spilled out of there. Now I’m an Artist and I’m a part of that same magic. When I had my stroke I felt like a nobody and a nothing. Now I feel like someone special when people say ‘Alice, is that your painting over there?’ and I say ‘Yes, that’s my painting.’ You see art should be part of the world of all the ordinary people like me who never had a chance to be part of the magic.

I think Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got an artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name.

Dr Keith Beard FRCP Edin

CONSULTANT PHYSICIAN, MEDICINE FOR THE ELDERLY, VICTORIA INFIRMARY, GLASGOW

Flashes of realization come to me through personal experiences. I remember one long stay patient. She used to crochet dishcloths for the hospital fairs. They were grey and I remember always associating the grey dishcloths she was crocheting with her as a person. Then one day I saw that she had gone to the art room with one of the artists. She was completing an acrylic painting of ďŹ&#x201A;owers in very vivid primary colours and I suddenly realized that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d completely missed the point. For a very long time after that incident, I related to my patients in a different kind of way and I hope that incident will remain with me as long as I am working with elderly people.

I don’t know how to measure success in this area of work. I don’t know if it reduces dependency on medication. I don’t know if a growth in self confidence and happiness means a lesser sense of dependence. There is speculation amongst my colleagues that the art workshops keep some of our patients going. I personally had a patient who I firmly believe found an added strength to get through her surgery because of wanting to get back to an unfinished painting. But to actually measure the cost and benefit

in this area is extraordinarily difficult. What I do know is that Art in Hospital has been going for over 13 years and innumerable people have benefited from this project. Let’s face it, within the current financial constraints and pressures of the National Health Service a lot of people must be lobbying to keep them going. I think of myself as a Lobbyist for Art in Hospital and strongly defend their funding wherever I go. I remember Art in Hospital producing a patient, Crawford Mitchell’s solo painting show. It was an extraordinary event but the real moment for me came later, when I was watching him create new work in the hospital. He knew exactly what he was doing and he was clear and focused. As he became ill and started to disappear, so too did his work. I think it was at that time that I understood the work of Art in Hospital.

The other important moment for me in relation to Art in Hospital was when I ﬁnally understood that the artists weren’t trying to prove anything through the work they were doing with patients. They were open, non-prejudiced, non-judgemental and weren’t setting any goals. Barbara had always explained to me that the work wasn’t therapy but I needed to understand that by seeing it. There was simply an open acceptance of everyone’s ability and the artists were sharing these values with my patients. There was absolutely no sense of imposition.

Chris Aiton PATIENT AND ARTIST

I used to knit… now I paint.

I feel relaxed and peaceful when I’m here. I’ve never been forced or even asked to come. It was just a suggestion that I might enjoy myself. But it’s more than enjoyment working with the artists. It’s something that makes me feel very proud. I used to knit and I was always knitting for the family. Now I paint and that’s what the family get from me now, my painting. It’s completely brilliant doing painting. My family think it is too. They all came down to the Art Fair. Everyone got dressed up and they all came down to see my painting.

Maria Vannini

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSISTANT

…the nursing staff think of Sam in relation to his art, Sam, the Artist…

The artists bring a sense of wonder that is so often lost in an institution. You can call it what you like but I call it wonder. It would be disastrous to lose that from this hospital for patients and staff. The artists have a very special way of seeing the patients. When people spend large periods of time in hospitals they become very dependent and somehow through the art patients are given back some of that lost independence. What a gift? Sam never painted before. It’s hard to believe that now because the nursing staff think of Sam in relation to his art, Sam, the artist who is always painting. With his growth in selfconﬁdence and self-esteem I have seen a new physical and mental strength in him. Sarah had always refused to join any group. Now I see her conﬁdant, happy and smiling. She still won’t go to any other group but she doesn’t miss going to the art room.

Alex McKenzie

DIRECTOR OF NORTH GLASGOW COMMUNITY HEALTH CARE PARTNERSHIP

The role of the NHS in Continuing Care is changing dramatically. Care for the Elderly is becoming less about clinical intervention and more and more about ensuring continuing quality of life. A care package should in theory comprehensively include priority services and non mainstream services. Once patients have been discharged from hospital, we have to consider rehabilitation and a range of activities to enhance quality of life and most importantly to avoid readmittance.

We all see the benefits of the work of Art in Hospital although the measurable benefits are less easy to document. I have to measure numbers, capacities, facilities. The arts funders have to support us with the non measurable benefits of the arts, because their evaluation systems must take into account the artists and the work, which we, within the health sector cannot do. The aspirations that we have for holistic provision for elderly people are much greater than what we can provide financially. I can only see those tensions getting worse. We are currently looking at social models of care for the elderly and how to deliver social care models more effectively. The pilot projects we set up with Art in Hospital are in recognition of those changes in thinking.

Maureen Henderson OBE

DIRECTOR OF NURSING GREATER GLASGOW NHS

I ďŹ rst found out about Art in Hospital in 1993 at Cowglen as part of the Continuing Care facility. I began by seeing the work as diversional therapy and welcomed it in that context but over the last 10 years my views have changed as I understand the work more. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s essential for Art in Hospital to continue and I honestly believe that the majority of nursing staff are of the same opinion.

Life is very dull for people in long term care. I was delighted to see that Art in Hospital had extended their services to the spinal and rehabilitation units.

There are so many negative stories about the health service; it’s good to have a success story. Art in Hospital has a real credibility because of the sensitivity the artists have to working within the conﬁnes of a hospital and because of the quality of work the patients produce with the support of the artists. I remember talking to someone who had been in the art sessions who told me it was the ﬁrst time he had something different to talk to his relatives about. There’s an important knock on effect too. Families can gain a new respect for their relatives who they may have begun to see primarily as a patient. That can be very important for example in a family discussion about the future of a patient.

Sam O’Boyle PATIENT AND ARTIST

I was brought up in the East End of Glasgow and you didn’t do art in the East End of Glasgow when I was a boy. I come to paint here now twice a week. I’d come every day if the artists were here. I like to work with acrylic. I like charcoal too, but it’s difﬁcult to control my hands so the charcoal smudges easily if you can’t keep a steady hand. I’ve tried water colours too but somehow I always go back to acrylics for the effect I want.

Maggie Maxwell VISUAL ARTS OFFICER, SCOTTISH ARTS COUNCIL

I have always fought for the arts funding bodies to recognize this area of work and to mainstream it as core provision. Sustainable funding is essential for the development of the work. It has to be about partnerships between the arts funders and the health boards. Between us all, there has to be an endorsement of artists working in institutions like hospitals, hospices, day care centres.

In the end it comes down to basic humanity doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it? Doctors, administrators, patients, artists, managers. We all know the value of this kind of provision, we all want to offer it to patients, we all want to support artists who choose to work in this ďŹ eld. We see the results. All of this goes without saying. The problem is putting the jigsaw together so that we maximize funding opportunities and take these projects forward. The evidence base is growing and now there are mapping exercises to monitor what is happening in the area of art and health.

Hospitals are microcosms of communities and within every community, there is always an Artist. It is a fundamental given with Art in Hospital that the artists are always professionally trained and interested in their own practice. I never question that assurance. Because of this principle, there is a consistently high quality of engagement and of work.

Gill Keith

OUTPATIENT AND ARTIST I remember this incredible feeling of relief when I first found the art space at the hospital. I nearly cried when someone offered me a choice of teas and a choice of biscuits. Actually, I think I did cry, with relief. The circumstances of my life had changed traumatically overnight and the contact with the artists was the first time that I was offered the opportunity to acknowledge that change and to express what was happening inside my head. It was a totally safe space for that expression and there were no expectations or assumptions about what I could or couldn’t do. The artists gave me information. They responded to what I was trying to say visually and allowed me to process those thoughts. Art in Hospital provided me with a level of sanity and self recognition that I thought I had almost lost. I didn’t know how to do ‘life’ any more in this new situation. I remember the feeling of self-affirmation when I was painting and I realised that the way I felt when I was painting was the way I had to make myself feel in my day to day life.

ART IN HOSPITAL ACKNOWLEDGES SUPPORT FROM

This document was made possible through additional funds outwith the core programme.