Wednesday 13th November was the day for the installation of my project in the Radiotherapy Unit. Swift Signs, who printed the work were also installing and their team did a great job.
Above: Detail of Clinic Room W003 . These windows have an over-layer of frosted vinyl applied to the optically clear vinyl to add privacy to this sequence of Clinical Rooms along a corridor. These windows face out on to an external walkway and open space opposite the Hospital Canteen, so the need for privacy was an important issue. The vinyl is still translucent, which means natural light can pass through it.
Above: Above: Detail of Clinic Room W003
Above: Detail of Clinic Room W002
Above: Detail of Clinic Room W005 – Tech Services
Above: Detail of Clinic Room W005 – Tech Services
Above: Detail of artworks in Clothed Waiting Room CW02 (Reception). The artwork in this space is made up of transparent colour printed onto optically clear vinyl, which means it is effectively ‘see through’. This was a required detail here to allow the external landscape and as much light as possible to enter the space.
Above: Detail of artworks in Clothed Waiting Room CW02 (Reception). The vinyl has an adhesive coating, but is ‘floated’ into position on the glass with a light spray of water, allowing for final positioning. A rubber squeegee is then used to remove excess water and any air trapped between the vinyl and the glass.
Above: The External Lobby Entrance seen from outside at dusk, reveals the levels of transparency in the artwork. The impact is soft and subtle, allowing for clear views into the building. At nighttime, this effect becomes almost like stained glass.
Above: Staff Meeting Room CW06. This room was overlooked by a raised footpath accessed by a flight of steps just outside the room, making privacy an issue. We kept the top set of windows free of artwork to maximise daylight and to bring the surrounding trees and landscape into the artwork as well.
Always a relief to see projects get to this stage ! The printing has started ! Swift Signs in Weymouth are now in production of the glazing vinyl artworks for the Radiotherapy Outpatients Unit. Install is scheduled for next week. Watch this space !
Here are a few images of the final artworks – it may help to know that any white used in the design does not print – and remains completely clear – bringing the outside in and extending the impact of the work to the external landscape beyond the clinical spaces. The colours also vary in transparency and opacity, so do not appear anywhere near as flat and opaque as they do in the artwork – which is a good thing right? I thinks so…
The top and bottom screen elevations work together as two adjacent spaces, where the designs overlap. Anything printed white here is actually completely clear and does not print. so you could imagine these two images combining with the external landscape.
I have been dropping the artwork into the glazing frames to look at balance, proportion, scale & colour.
Inspired by Jurassic plant fossils, drafts & designs for discussion & comment by the project team & NHS Trusts are coming together in the studio. If successful these will be digitally printed onto glazing vinyl for the Radiotherapy Unit on the ground floor of the Robert White Cancer Centre based at Dorset County Hospital. These services are delivered by Poole Hospital as part of the wider county wide Cancer Services. The project is a collaboration between various agencies including Arts in Hospital & Poole Hospital Charity.
These artworks are presented as long elevations of ground to ceiling windows, but in reality they are a series of interlinked screens at angles to one another. For example, the External Lobby Entrance Screen will be seen through the Clothed Waiting Room Screen.
Above & Below: These are the interior views of glazed screens as they are at the moment. The Staff Meeting Room is overlooked by an unappealing brick wall & stepped access to a public footpath, which is at a higher level creating privacy issues. In the artwork designs, all areas in white will be either transparent glazing or opaque printed vinyl, allowing in light, but not views by the public. The Clothed Waiting Room and Reception area glass screens look out onto the ground floor external paved concourse linking this building to the Main Hospital and adjacent Canteen. The artwork screens will provide much needed privacy from the ground floor pedestrian areas outside and hopefully some peaceful distraction for patients coming regularly into the Radiotherapy unit.
Samples of the designs will be digitally printed at full scale and installed in the Radiotherapy Unit for further comment and confirmation that the outcome is what is desired by staff and patients.
Above: These five rooms are linked via a corridor. I have shown them as a single open space – but in reality, each is a separate private clinic room or office.
I spent Monday & Tuesday of this week in Dorchester at the new £9million Robert White Centre, based at Dorchester County Hospital. This building was part funded via a legacy from Robert White a Poole based businessman, who was treated for cancer at the Dorset Cancer Centre at Poole Hospital. Robert died in 2015.
“Robert White was a great man and an enthusiast of all things mechanical. The sale is a showcase of his life’s passion, with more than 500 lots set to raise more than £2 million for charity,” said Malcolm Barber, Bonhams Co-Chairman. “The collection is the result of a life’s passion for photography – Robert was the founder of one of the UK’s leading photographic retailers – and his adoration for motorcycles. We’re delighted to be able to offer this for sale, and for such a great charitable cause.”
“The money raised from the Robert White Collection will help to fund essential improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment in Dorset, including:
– New cancer treatment radiotherapy facilities at Dorset County Hospital to benefit patients in the west of the county, meaning shorter travel times – New computerised tomography (CT) scanner for Poole Hospital, accurately identifying cancer site to enable targeted treatment – Permanent positron emission tomography (PET) scanner at Poole Hospital – a sophisticated imaging technique widely used for cancer, providing highly detailed imagery showing tumours and its response to treatment. – Education and training bursaries to enable staff working in cancer care and associated medical and diagnostic specialties to remain at the cutting edge of best practice”.
Bonhams 2016
I was there to begin some engagement with staff and patients in the ground floor Radiotherapy Unit, which is a satellite of the Dorset Cancer Centre at Poole Hospital.
I was very kindly shown around by Amanda Sydenham, Macmillan Prescribing and Review Radiographer/Treatment floor Superintendent, and introduced to other staff members. We were accompanied by Nikki Mitchenere, Deputy General Manager – Oncology Legacy Fund at the Dorset Cancer Centre, who has commissioned me for this work.
I am now starting to work up some draft ideas and proposals. These will be circulated throughout the unit so we can get feedback from everyone. The important thing is that we do this in a collaborative and engaged manner.
Obviously, whilst there I took a quick look upstairs to see how the artwork in Outpatients was being received by everyone. I was re-assured after talking to a couple of staff members there, that this seems to be a great success. The artworks for Radiotherapy, will build upon this established colour base and iconography, adding in some new motifs and objects. It is important that the work on both floors appears to have a relationship, with elements interwoven between both floors.
A slightly blurred and abstract image taken from outside, of the first floor windows reflecting surrounding trees & a street light mixed up with the artwork. The weather was atrocious all day, with rain and high winds – not the best backdrop.
These digitally printed glazing artworks, commissioned by Arts in Hospitalfor the first floor Haematology Outpatients unit were installed in December 2018, just prior to the official opening of the Robert White Centre.
This unit is managed and operated by Dorset County Hospital.
We had a wonderful endorsement for the art project from Patricia Miller, Chief Executive of DCH.
‘I really love this. It creates such a pleasant therapeutic environment that also links to Dorset’s natural surroundings. Thank you for working so hard to create such a pleasant environment for our patients.’