Tag Archives: Walking in Tameside

Blog, Healthcare Projects, Public Art, Tameside Macmillan Unit

Main Corridor Artwork … nearly there !

January 17, 2017 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

17th January 2017

New Macmillan Unit for Tameside& Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust

I know that this has been a rather long session of recent postings – but I am in ‘catch-up’ mode and before the new unit opens I wanted to get as much of the project documented, so bear with me if you can !

Detail: digitally printed large scale corridor Wallcovering. New Macmillan Unit. Image: Bronwen Gwillim

By far the most visible of the installations being delivered is the large scale bespoke ‘landscape’ running the length of the new corridor space. This artwork is not a linear narrative, so can be experienced from whatever direction you are walking in. It isn’t a conventional landscape either, with a foreground, horizon and expansive sky. It may have elements of this about it – BUT, the original walk I made with Stewart Ramsden into the Landscape of Tameside was only the beginning of a creative process and the development of a descriptive iconography which could help to tell a story about a journey.

Close up detail: digitally printed large scale corridor Wallcovering. New Macmillan Unit. Image: Bronwen Gwillim

The artwork was developed, manufactured and installed by VGL Ltd. The work is printed onto Dreamscape Suede Wallcovering which has a Poly Cotton fabric backing.

The design work was extensively sampled, with sample installations being carried out at the Hospital – as you can see from the following images. Where necessary the design was then tweaked to fit following comments before finally being approved for full printing and manufacture.

Main Corridor to the New Macmillan Unit by IBI Group Architects prior to the installation of the artworks. Image: Bronwen Gwillim

The detail strips of artwork , shown here in red, were to be sample printed by VGL at full scale for discussion and approval. Image: Christopher Tipping

Full scale strip samples of the corridor wallcovering arrived at the studio for review. Image: Christopher Tipping

Following approval of the strip samples, a full scale print run started and was installed on site for further comment and review / approval.

Installation of the full scale corridor artwork begins on site. Image: Gareth Llewellyn

Installation of the full scale corridor artwork begins on site. Image: Bronwen Gwillim

Blog, Healthcare Projects, Public Art, Tameside Macmillan Unit

Chemotherapy Treatment Room

January 16, 2017 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

16th January 2017

Draft design for the Tameside ‘landscape’ of 5 interrelated & double-sided retractable privacy screens in the Chemotherapy Treatment Room. Image: Christopher Tipping

The Chemotherapy Treatment Room within the New Macmillan Unit at Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust will feature five retractable ‘pull-out’ privacy screens manufactured by Kwickscreen, onto which artwork can be digitally printed. The flexible material for printing is an opaque, but translucent (if that makes sense!) crisp white vinyl. We have proposed a series of artworks inspired by the theme originally drawn out in the main corridor artwork & also by the new planting and design of the adjacent external courtyard designed by Olivia Kirk Gardens. The large windows of the Treatment Room face directly into this newly refurbished and planted space.

It is unlikely that all the screens will be drawn out at the same time…what is more likely is that smaller sections of each screen may be visible at various times, creating an ever changing backdrop to the activity in the room.

A draft design for the Chemotherapy Treatment Room retractable privacy screen. Image: Kwickscreen / Christopher Tipping

Plan Drawing – A draft design for the 5 screens in the Chemotherapy Treatment Room featuring retractable privacy screens. Image: Christopher Tipping / IBI Group Architects

Draft design for the 5 double sided retractable privacy screens in the Chemotherapy Treatment Room. Image: Christopher Tipping

1 of 5 – ‘Tameside Landscape’ of interrelated & double-sided retractable privacy screens in the Chemotherapy Treatment Room. Image: Christopher Tipping

2 of 5 – ‘Tameside Landscape’ of interrelated & double-sided retractable privacy screens in the Chemotherapy Treatment Room. Image: Christopher Tipping

3 of 5 – ‘Tameside Landscape’ of interrelated & double-sided retractable privacy screens in the Chemotherapy Treatment Room. Image: Christopher Tipping

4 of 5 – ‘Tameside Landscape’ of interrelated & double-sided retractable privacy screens in the Chemotherapy Treatment Room. Image: Christopher Tipping

5 of 5 – ‘Tameside Landscape’ of interrelated & double-sided retractable privacy screens in the Chemotherapy Treatment Room. Image: Christopher Tipping

Blog, Healthcare Projects, Landscape, Public Art, Public Realm, Tameside Macmillan Unit

Stewart’s walk plan…

April 9, 2016 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

“Journeys through the Landscapes of Tameside” – this was the brief for the project and the theme for the 12 mile walk –

Stewart Ramsden, my walking partner compiled the walk – one he has done many times before.

A Stewart Ramsden 'Ramtrails' walking route - Wild Bank and Hollingworthall Moor from Godley, Tameside. Tameside Macmillan Unit Project. Map: Reproduced from OS Explorer Map OL 1 — A Stewart Ramsden ‘Ramtrails’ walking route – Wild Bank and Hollingworthall Moor from Godley, Tameside.
Tameside Macmillan Unit Project. Map: Reproduced from OS Explorer Map OL 1

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.

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

Patterns in brickwork

Blog, Healthcare Projects, Public Art, Tameside Macmillan Unit

Tameside Macmillan Unit

March 12, 2016 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

Thursday 10th March 2016

In February I was appointed as artist to the Tameside Macmillan Unit project.

The commission was offered by Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Macmillan Cancer Environments.

Willis Newson, one of the UK’s leading Arts and Health Consultancies, are managing the arts and interior design strategy and artist appointment for the project.

‘Tameside Macmillan Unit is a medium sized refurbishment project at Tameside General Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne, near Manchester. Building on existing facilities provided by the Trust and Macmillan for cancer patients, the new unit will include a Macmillan Information and Support Centre, a 6 chair treatment room, waiting areas, procedure rooms and various spaces for alternative therapies’. Text from Artist’s Brief by Willis Newson

Work is due to start on site in March/April 2016 and due to be completed in September/October 2016.

An integrated approach to art, architecture and design is being delivered by Michael Hughes of IBI Architects supported by KKE Architects delivering landscape design.

Christopher Tipping at top of Wild Bank, Tameside. 399m above Sea Level. Image: Stewart Ramsden

This is me at the top of Wild Bank, Tameside, the highest point on my 12 mile walk with Stewart Ramsden, a member of the project Arts Steering Group, supporting and championing the project – and also Chairman of the Tameside Ramblers.

‘A consultation workshop was held with patient, family and staff representatives to explore opportunities for the art, interiors and courtyard design. The session used creative activities to explore the group members’ personal experience and coping strategies and to identify common themes. Participants shared an appreciation of the value of ‘walking in nature’ as a healing experience and the beauty of the landscapes of Tameside: it was agreed that “Journeys through the Landscapes of Tameside” would provide a good overarching theme’. Text from Artist’s Brief by Willis Newson

It was decided that, due to time concerns and programme, I would base the creative response to the project broadly on a two day visit to meet with unit staff and service users, project architect Michael Hughes of IBI Group, Bronwen Gwillim of Willis Newson & Gareth Llewellyn, Capital Project Manager for the Trust. This was an opportunity for me simply to listen and hear about how cancer services were delivered to patients and how key factors affect that experience and how the environment can really make a difference. We also had a tour of the site – see some images to follow – and a detailed review with the architect of all plans for the work. At the end of Day 1, I walked into Ashton-Under-Lyne, to better understand the setting of the hospital and the community it serves.