Formalities aside, it was a great day and I was very touched and proud to have been involved in the project . The weather was pretty glorious on the day – so the glazing appeared at its very best., reflecting perfectly off the pool surface and creating the most beautiful backdrop for the day’s events. Positive comments all round was a great sign that the project had been a collaborative & creative success. A massive thanks to Art at the Heart and especially to the efforts of Hetty Dupays, Art and Design Manager and her brilliant team.
We made the front page of the Bath Chronicle ! Left to Right – Suzanne Rastrick, Hetty Dupays, me, Gemma Pugh and HRH Duchess of Cornwall. Image: Artur Lesniak for the Bath Chronicle Left to Right – Suzanne Rastrick, Hetty Dupays, me, HRH Duchess of Cornwall, Gemma Pugh. Image: RUH Twitter feed from Art at the Heart of the RUH, represented the events of the day. Image: Art at the Heart, RUH …and here I am Photo-Bombing. Right to Left: Suzanne Rastrick, (me), Gina Sargeant & Gemma Pugh. Image: RUH Detail: Reflections of the East Screen in the Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH, Bath. Image: Christopher TippingEast Glazing Screen, Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH, Bath. Image: Christopher TippingNorth (Courtyard) Glazing Screen, Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH, Bath. Image: Christopher TippingNorth (Courtyard) Glazing Screen, Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH, Bath. Image: Christopher Tipping
Detail: East Screen. Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH, Bath. Image: Christopher TippingDetail: East Screen. Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH, Bath. Image: Christopher TippingDetail: North (Courtyard) Screen. Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH, Bath. Image: Christopher TippingDetail: North (Courtyard) Screen. Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH, Bath. Image: Christopher TippingDetail: North (Courtyard) Screen. Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH, Bath. Image: Christopher TippingDetail: North (Courtyard) Screen. Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH, Bath. Image: Christopher TippingDetail: North (Courtyard) Screen. Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH, Bath. Image: Christopher Tipping
Our work with David & Richard at Proto Studios in Pewsey, Wiltshire has now come to an end.
Sadly, this week saw our final visit to Proto Glass Studios to see the completed glazing sealed units before they leave to be installed in the new RNHRD and Therapies Centre at the Royal United Hospital in Bath. The new unit is being delivered by Kier Group with IBI Group Architects. This artwork production of 46sqm of beautifully decorated and finished, screen-printed, sandblasted & etched artwork manufactured by Proto Studios, which will enhance the architectural curtain wall glass screens for the new Hydrotherapy Pool within the Therapies Unit was commissioned by Art at the Heart. A massive thank you to David & Richard Proto and all the glass technicians at Proto Studios who had a highly skilled hand in delivering this work. It has been a really rewarding collaboration.
The panels are due to be installed in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed for a hassle free installation…watch this space!
Composite mirror image: Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Composite Mirror Image 7: Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Above: Safe in skilled hands…glass technicians carefully present each of the 18 double glazed sealed units for us to see.
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Composite mirror image 6: Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Work is now in progress at the brilliant Proto Glass Studios on the first stage of screen printing ceramic colour for of the NORTH SCREEN. We are collaborating with Proto Studios, specialist Architectural Glass Decorators on the production of 46sqm of screen printed, sandblasted & etched architectural glass screens for the new Hydrotherapy Pool & Therapies Unit for the RUH and RNHRD in Bath commissioned by Art at the Heart. The artwork is presented as an abstracted landscape running over both the North & the East Screens of the Pool Room – a way of encapsulating all disparate elements that have inspired my work into something engaging for the viewer, which will changes throughout the day in response to levels of daylight and direct sun.
Both the RUH & RNHRD Hospital sites were originally set in, and adjacent to open fields and expansive views of countryside. Easy to imagine then how beneficial this must have been to those patients and staff who experienced this.
It is now commonly understood that exposure to natural spaces, planting and nature within medical and healing environments is of great benefit and assists in the recovery and positive experience of patients and staff alike .
This landscape is populated with recognisable motifs, such as flowers, deer and trees, woven together with abstracted forms and simple repeating patterns. Local landmarks such as Kelston Round Hill also feature, as do references to the architectural decoration and built heritage of The Min and its archaic Roman Mosaics. However, the most visible motif perhaps is water, and more explicitly, the gestural movement of water as shaped by those taking treatment in the Hydrotherapy Pool. A shape made in water informed by the movement of a hand or leg. Abstractions of steam or mist appear to hover in this landscape. Water is contained within a bowl or pool. An elegant but dynamic abstract splash of water drifts across the whole of the East Screen. The connection to hot springs and flowing waters has shaped Bath into the World Heritage Site we see today.
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Drawing drafts for moving water and gestural motifs developing patterns from research at the RNHRD and RUH Hydrotherapy Units. Artist: Christopher Tipping
There are many threads of research and interest which have influenced the development and visual narrative of the artwork. The following notes and lists are from my own notebooks, where I made records of research sessions and information which struck me as inspirational.
The Mineral Water Hospital, affectionately known as The Min, was built in 1742 & overlooked open, ‘quiet fields’ and countryside. The Hospital was constructed on the site of Bath’s first Theatre of 1705, by the Architect George Trim, whose Mother was, apparently the sister of the Kings Architect, Inigo Jones. The theatre was demolished 1738.
This theatrical & dramatic connection has influenced the concept of using the glazed Hydrotherapy screens as inspirational painted backdrops – a way of creatively setting the scene within the new space & enhancing the experience of staff and patients using the Pool.
In 1859, with great ceremony, the foundation stone was laid for a new hospital building adjacent to the original site and built upon the grounds of a ‘large formal garden belonging to the Parsonage of St Peter Paul Parish’. This garden is shown on the John Speed map of 1610.
The new Royal United Hospital was built in open fields at Combe Park in 1932 (having moved from central Bath). Combe Park had formerly been the site of the Bath War Hospital built in 1916 to provide beds and medical services for WW1 Casualties. There was a small pond and a stream ran nearby. Patients and staff were encouraged to grow and maintain flower gardens & were rewarded with prizes.
Aerial view of the RUH sitting amidst green fields circa 1932 having moved to this site at Weston Manor from the centre of Bath. Image by kind permission of Bath in Time and Bath War Hospital at the RUH.
In the Building Report on The Mineral Water Hospital, by The House Historians, March 2006, there is a detailed report on The Chapel, (now the home of Bath Medical Museum)and its architectural decorations.
This mentions a number of plants seen in carvings, stained glass and other architectural details, which are wonderfully useful in referencing the legacy of The Min, when it finally closes its doors to move to the RUH site:
Ivy
Oak
Water Buttercup
Wild Poppy
Fig
Vines
White Lilies
Passion Flower
Pomegranate
Hyssop
Colour and pattern used within the stained glass is also influential. Patterns are influenced by the architectural decoration and tiling of The Min Chapel.
Various hydrotherapy treatments, methods and equipment as described as being newly installed in 1915 following extensive alterations, are also very evocative and inspire some abstract interpretation within my creative narrative.
Deep Baths
Aix and Vichy Douches
Scotch and Needle Douches
Reclining and Vapour Baths
Radiant Heat Baths
Sulpher Baths of Potassium Sulphide
Mineral Water Baths
Whirlpool Bath
Hubbard Tank to treat the entire body simultaneously
‘A Vichy Massage required the patient to stand on a rubber covered slab whilst showered with jets of hot mineral water. The needle bath was a circular shower with an array of horizontal pipes which sprayed fine jets of water’.
Descriptions of the Coat of Arms for the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases – to give The Min its formal & proper title, is a useful source of colour references, decorative motifs, plants, animals and their meaning.
Black
White for truth, sincerity, peace, innocence and purity
Green
Blue
Purple
Circlet of Fountains
Foxglove
Hares
Meadow Saffron
I like the colour of evening sky, that particular shade of indigo blue.
Water is by turns fluid and abstract, vaporous & ephemeral, contained within many shapes – rivers, ponds, streams, pools, baths, glasses & oceans – any number of vessels.
My creative approach is making connections between place & historic legacy, hydrotherapy practice and an imaginary landscape, which may be conjured up whilst being treated in the pool & feeling the benefits of floating & exercising, whilst being supported by warm water and the care and assistance and encouragement of staff.
‘This hospital was to be entirely self-funded, and even before the hospital was built the raising of monies for it began in earnest. Bath’s Master of Ceremonies, Richard Beau Nash arranged balls and collected subscriptions; wills, donations and even bequests of a diamond, and 1,000 oranges, contributed to the coffers. The list of donors reads like a Who’s Who of 18th century Bath society. Those who donated £40 or more were invited to become a hospital governor, including the artist William Hoare and the actor David Garrick’.
Map on framed canvas. Mrs. Oliver inscribed on reverse. Showing location of Weston Manor prior to incorporation into Royal United Hospital. Image: By kind permission Bath War Hospital at the RUH
This Estate Map above – date unknown – shows the private estate of Weston Manor before the RUH incorporated it into its site in the 20th Century.
‘The hospital moved to its present site, Combe Park, on 11 December 1932. The site had previously been used for the large First World War Bath War Hospital which opened in 1916. In November 1919 it was renamed the Bath Ministry of Pensions Hospital, which it remained until it closed in 1929.
The site was also used by the Forbes Fraser Hospital and the Bath and Wessex Orthopaedic Hospital, both founded in 1924 and which merged into the RUH about 1980. The former manor house on the site, originally medieval but remodelled in the 18th century, became an administrative building. The building is a Grade II* listed building due to its fine Adam style interior’. Wikipedia
Image: Early Draft artwork for North & East Screens. March 2018 RUH HYDROTHERAPY. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Draft Artworks: Interior detailing explored for the Hydrotherapy Pool – new Therapies Unit, RUH, Bath. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Draft Artworks: Interior detailing explored for the Hydrotherapy Pool – new Therapies Unit, RUH, Bath. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Draft Artworks: Interior detailing explored for the North Screen of the Hydrotherapy Pool – new Therapies Unit, RUH, Bath. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Draft Artworks: Interior detailing explored for the East Screen of the Hydrotherapy Pool – new Therapies Unit, RUH, Bath. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images from the RNHRD, The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images from the RNHRD, The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images from the RNHRD, Roman Mosaic from the basement excavations of The Min Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images developing patterns from research at the RNHRD, including The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images developing patterns from research at the RNHRD, including The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images developing patterns from research at the RNHRD, including The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images developing patterns from research at the RNHRD, including The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images developing patterns from research at the RNHRD, including The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Draft Artwork: Interior with architectural glazed screens – Christopher Tipping
External draft artwork detail of the Hydrotherapy Pool. Image: Christopher Tipping
I was commissioned by Art at the Heart of the RUHin December 2017 to create artwork in response to the architectural glazing in the Hydrotherapy Pool room at the new Therapies Centre for the Royal United Hospital, Bath. These architectural glass panels are floor to ceiling glazed apertures with a combined 46.40 sq m of glass. I am working in collaboration with PROTO GLASS STUDIOS, Architectural Glass Decorators.
The project is being delivered by Kier Construction Ltd with Architects IBI Group
We have also been engaged with a large group of stakeholders, including staff and service users, some of whom have been are lifelong patients at the RNHRD & RUH. This is an ongoing process and we are taking everyone on the journey with us.
‘FLOW’
“Flow is active. It is not just the water, but it is the way our muscles are warmed and released, allowing blood to flow more freely. It is the freedom from stiffness of joints, when even a centimetre gained is a big triumph. It is active horizontally and not vertically. My spine is fully arthrosed and I cannot turn my head. This is a fundamental problem for AS patients and one of the big exercises in the pool and the gym is trying to turn and look over your shoulder without moving your body. That is flow. It is horizontal”. George Odam RNHRD Lifelong Patient with Ankylosing spondylitis (AS), speaking about his personal journey and experience of hydrotherapy treatment in 2017.
The new RNHRD and BTC will be built close to the main entrance of the Royal United Hospital or RUH; it will be an outpatient centre providing treatment, care and education for patients to recover from episodes of illness or injury, or to manage their long-term condition. The new building will house many of the services currently located at the RNHRD (also known as The Mineral Hospital/ The Min) and the existing RUH therapies and pain management services located in RUH North, under one roof. The Centre will create a centralised and integrated space for staff to work collaboratively, delivering a holistic and patient-centred approach to care.
Old Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH Bath. Image: Christopher Tipping
Hydrotherapy Pool at The Royal Mineral Water Hospital, RNHRD, Bath, 2018. Image:Christopher Tipping
Rubber Ducks at the Hydrotherapy Pool at The Royal Mineral Water Hospital, RNHRD, Bath, 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping
Objects at the Hydrotherapy Pool at The Royal Mineral Water Hospital, RNHRD, Bath, 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping
Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Bath. Image: Christopher Tipping
Pediment of the Royal Mineral Water Hospital, Bath, aka The Min 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping
The Min, as the RNHRD is affectionately known, has a small Medical Museum situated in the Old Chapel. It is a fascinating collection and curated and managed by a small group of dedicated and enthusiastic people, who allowed me access to the photographic Archives. This was very much appreciated.
‘In 2012 the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases [The Mineral Hospital] opened a small museum to showcase their collection. Now, with the imminent closure of the hospital in the centre of Bath, our museum has been granted custody of the Collection of the Min, which includes records dating back to the 1740s, artefacts, the paintings and other pieces of art from around the Hospital, memorabilia, and photographs relating to rheumatology, medicine and pharmacy’.
A Hubbard Tank was used for entire body treatments in Hydrotherapy. Image: Copyright & by kind permission of Bath Medical Museum, RNHRD
Patient taking a Nauheim effervescent bath, date unknown – Image: Copyright & by kind permission of Bath Medical Museum, RNHRD
Vichy spray massage treatment. Date unknown – Image: Copyright & by kind permission of Bath Medical Museum, RNHRD
Brass identity medallions worn by patients in the 18th Century. Image: Copyright & by kind permission of Bath Medical Museum, RNHRD
In December 2008 I was commissioned, along with a number of other artists, to respond to the Combe Down Stone Mines Stabilisation Project, which was nearing completion after a 10 year ambitious and ground-breaking engineering-led programme.
The Combe Down Stone Mines Project was a major project undertaken by Bath & North East Somerset Council to stabilise abandoned limestone mine workings in the village of Combe Down and preserve the Health & Safety of the area. The aim of the Project was to remove the current threat to life and property of those living, working in and travelling through the Combe Down area. Collapse of the old mines, which in some instances, lay just metres beneath the surface, was a real possibility. In doing this, the Project ensured that the internationally recognised heritage, wildlife and environmental properties of the area were conserved for future generations.
The Combe Down Stone Mines Stabilisation Project was finally completed in 2010, with 25 hectares of very shallow limestone mines flooded with approximately 600,000 cubic metres of foamed concrete, the largest project of its kind in the world. Over the preceding 200 years some 700 houses had been built over the mines from which the stone was extracted to build Georgian Bath.
The project site of Combe Down, a village on the outskirts of Bath, falls within the World Heritage Site of Bath.
Publicity draft invitation to The Octagon installation and artist talk. Image: Christopher Tipping
The arts project team was managed and led by Art Consultants Frances Lordand Steve Geliot.“To celebrate the end of the Combe Down Stone Mines Stabilisation Project the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) granted £250K funding for commissioning public art. The Combe Down Public Art Project was the result of two years of activity, events, residencies and commissions”. Frances Lord
Combe Down Stone Mines. Early test samples of Bone China Plates with Combe Down artwork. Image: Christopher Tipping
Combe Down Stone Mines. Early test samples of Bone China Plates with Combe Down artwork. Image: Christopher Tipping
Draft design for the ceramic transfer back stamp applied to the bone china plates. Image: Sarah Alldritt
A 21st Century Miner greeting a 19th Century Stone Miner. Archaeologists found a single bone of the Hare whilst excavating & recording the stone mines – ‘probably someone’s lunch!’. The leek represents the 21st Century mine workers who mostly came from South Wales.
‘1479 plates’ installation at The Octagon, Bath, 2009. Image: Kevin Fern
Exterior of The Octagon, Bath
A selection of images from the Combe Down Stone MInes Project. Image: Christopher Tipping
Postcard invitation to The Octagon installation and artist talk. Image: Christopher Tipping
‘1479 plates’ at The Octagon, Bath. November 2009
Invitation to collect your bone china plate following the exhibition and project completion. Image: Christopher Tipping
One of 788 Bone China plates produced for the installation.
‘1479 plates’, The Octagon, Bath. Private View. Image by ZED.
The installation work ‘1479 plates’, was exhibited at The Octagon, an 18th Century Chapel in Bath, and featured a map of 788 bone china dinner plates , which explores the relationship between present day engineering and mining technology, stone mines heritage, archaeology, natural history, and two 18th Century entrepreneurs of the English Enlightenment, Ralph Allen and Josiah Wedgwood. The work was created in collaboration with ‘Autonomatic’ – 3D Digital Research Cluster at University College Falmouth. The plates were displayed on a curving monolithic wall, redolent of the architectural terraces in Bath, built with the stone from the mines. The exhibition was constructed and managed by REM, Richmond Event Management.
The local community was widely consulted and was from the outset a supportive and creative project champions group, attending meetings and contributing significantly to the outcome of the works. I often stayed with local families, which was a very engaging way of collaborating away from the formal meetings and group sessions.
The image above is an A0 size print made to commemorate the project which has the names of all the Miners employed by Hydrock who worked on and contributed to the Combe Down Stone Mines Stabilisation Project. Printed by Digital Arte.
Portraits of Hydrock Miners working on the Combe Down project. Image: Christopher Tipping
A proposal to print a limited edition of artworks to commemorate the project. Image: Christopher Tipping
A sample collection of plates from the 788 individual units, which made up the installation. Image: Portia Wilson
691 households affected by the stabilisation works were gifted a ceramic plate – one small part of the map – representing not only the individual household but the mining underworld beneath it. Following their display at The Octagon, the original 788 dinner plates were donated to form a large scale permanent installation in Combe Down village at some point in the future.
Publicity about the Combe Down project. Bath Chronicle, July 9th 2009. Image: Combe Down Project Office
A Celebration Poster design by Peter Brawne for the major community event, which saw the completion of the project. Image: Peter Brawne
The panels are due to be installed in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed for a hassle free installation…watch this space!
Above: Safe in skilled hands…glass technicians carefully present each of the 18 double glazed sealed units for us to see.