Tag Archives: Stones

The Robert White Centre

 

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

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.

 

“Proceeds from the sale of this incredible collection will be used to build new cancer facilities at Poole and Dorset County hospitals, benefiting patients across the whole of the country.”

“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

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

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.

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

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 Hospital for 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.’ 

 

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

Haematology Outpatients at the Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping.

 

Precious Objects

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

Some years ago a long standing family friend  and close friend of my Dad was being treated for cancer. He and his wife had often been to Elgol on the shores of Lock Skavaig on the Isle of Skye. They loved this place. I too had been there and as is the case – and now slightly frowned upon – I picked up some stones from a stream bed. The stones were small, but smooth & beautifully polished to a honed satin finish by the action of water. They could be held in the hand and moved around. The feeling of them was somehow special and resonant. I still have them now, wrapped in a cloth bag for fear of damaging them. I sent one of these stones to Dad’s friend. In doing that I think we had a non verbal conversation at distance about place and memories. I like to think it was re-assuring for both of us.

I have always picked up stones. They represent something unique about place, time and experience. Geology is fascinating.

I live by the sea in Ramsgate on the Kent Coast. I walk on the beach most days. I have found many sea urchin fossils. Each has a unique story. Each stone can still trigger memories of where and when it was found, what the weather was like…was the tide in or out.

I have created work for several projects with Cancer treatment centres at a number of Hospitals, including Churchill Hospital Cancer Centre, Oxford and a Macmillan Cancer unit for Tameside General Hospital. At Tameside Hospital and found my inspiration on a 12 mile walk entitled “Journeys through the Landscapes of Tameside” – this walk eventually became the brief for the project.

Stewart Ramsden, my walking partner who compiled the walk, had also been a cancer patient at the hospital and was part of our project’s champion group. Our route was eventually described by an eccentric figure of eight. Wild Bank and Hollingworthall Moor from Godley – a 12 mile walk through town, suburb, farmland and moorland.

The following words were made from my notes on the day:

This is a walk

A meander, a physical experience or just maybe a day-dream

A walk is more often along a path

The path or footpath changes in colour, texture and topography –

but there is always a remembered route to follow or a map to guide you

or maybe a venture to somewhere new

There is a constancy in moving forward

Things seen on a walk are half experienced and half remembered

A vivid green hedge

A tyre track

A discarded toy

A cloud which looks like a tree, a stream which looks like silver, a flash of colour

Horizon merges with sky

This is a landscape with no fixed perspective

Sky reflected in water

A small stone becomes a boulder

An object picked up and carried in the hand along the way

Track marks in fields are gestural and dynamic

Distant buildings become a child’s building blocks

 The layersPatterns in brickwork

 

Our project for the new Radiotherapy Unit at Dorset Hospital was similarly inspired by a walk along the Jurassic Coast I made ten years ago. I was hoping to find myself an ammonite to take home. I didn’t find any, but I saw many encased in rock by the shore. I saw the Blue Lias beds that contain giant plesiosaur fossils. The layers are like drawers in time. Each opening to another world and perhaps another wonder. I was also allowed free time to spend in the Dorset Museum Archives amongst boxes and drawers and piles of specimen stones and fossils. The way these objects were carefully curated and stored – often in intricate patterns and collections of similar sizes and or type. was inspiring and reminded me of my collections at home and of how precious they are to me.  The artwork has grown out of this fascination. The stones I have created are imaginary in colour and pattern, although informed by nature. They are perhaps stones I would like to find. Stones I would hold in my imagination to remind me of journeys I have made and places I have been.

We have now had the approval and sign off on the artwork proposals following a recent meeting with key Staff and stakeholders this week. The deadline is looming. The new building opens on 12th December. The work has to be manufactured and installed before this date.

Draft Artworks for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

To create the digital work each element requires up to 3 copies of each shape. One blank, one black & white and one in colour. The black & white originals are a mix of hand drawn motifs and textures, which are then scanned and worked on in Photoshop. I create a series of related shapes and masks, which I can then combine with larger patterns, often in repeat.Colours are added at this stage. I will often scan objects such as found paper or leaves and work on them digitally. I take too many images in the street, of shapes of water on the pavement – or reflections in windows – or a small plant growing in a crack in the ground or on a wall. All these can trigger an idea for a pattern or story.

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

First Floor Reception Artwork for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Golden yellow Ginkgo sapling motif for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

First Floor Non Clinical Staff Room. Artwork for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Agate Stone colour motif for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Window 101 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Window 102 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping
Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Window 103 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Window 104 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Window 105 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Window 106 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping
Autumnal sapling tree motif for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping