These pages follow the progress of my commission for the new NHS Breast Screening Unit at Broadgreen Liverpool. The commission commenced in 2012 and was completed in February 2013. Please scroll through to view the blog postings to see the development of the final works tracking back to the initial stages of the brief. THE BRIEF :
The unit would like a unique piece/pieces of artwork which will be titlled " A Sense of Place". It is desired that the peice would have rich jewel like colours rather than the traditional pink associaletd with breast cancer. We would like the artist to create work that has a contemporary feel and a sense of movement, through multiple connected pieces. We would like the unit to have artwork that is distincitve to the unit and work that uses different colour and imagery from the connected ENT Unit. In addition to the main pieces it is desired that collaborative pieces should be created for the corridoors > Working with Sian Hughes the artist commsissioned for the ENT & Pain Units, you are required to create distinctive pieces for the link corridoors within the timeframe and budget allocated. This work should incorporate natural themes such as "water" and or "a sense of place". All commissioned pieces must comply with infection control, health and safety and fire regulations and should be robust and easy to clean. FEEDBACK From Nicky Duirs - Arts Officer, Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospital NHS Trust Recomendation posted on LINKEDIN. "I commissioned Ruth to undertake a complex design/public art commission in The Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospital NHS Trust. She was professional and with high artistic design skills and awareness and produced some beautiful work to enhance our newly refurbished Audio and Breast Screening unit. I would highly recommend this artist." Service Category: public art commission Year first hired: 2012 Top Qualities: Great Results, Personable, High Integrity THANKS I would like to add my Greatest Thanks to Nicky, and to Sian, plus all of the teams who helped on this commission, making it such a positive expericence. It was a pleasure and a great privilage to be involved on this exciting project. The final phase of the commission is now complete. The brief included a collaboration aspect, and it was wonderful in the final months of the time frame to have the opportunity to work with Sian Hughes, who was also installing artwork for the other areas of the new unit. We created and co-ordinated a series of artworks which were place in the route throught the new unit from the ENT waiting room where Sian's Artwork was placed, through the curved corridoor and out into the route corridoor to the Pain Treatment Rooms. The intension was that each artwork area should be different, but they would co-ordinate, and the overal theme was to be water and natural images. The main aim was to link each others areas of work and create a welcoming ambience throughout the departments. Part of the collaboration also facilitated a sharing of skils and ideas, which we sucessfully achieved through working in a new media to us both, printed acrylics. In the curved space we placed printed acrylic shapes. The images were initailly based on our photographs of reflections in water. We each worked with shapes in the photos to create three units which worked together to form a flow pattern. The colours were altered digitally to match with the strong blues in Sian's artworks and the jewel colours in my enamel panels in the Breast Screening Unit. The resullting work is mirrored on each wall of the corridoor and they are designed to lead the visitor visually through the space. Here is Sian in the next route corridor - Once you are through the curved space there are further corridors to the Pain treatment areas and Breast Screening.
For this placement we chose to link with square panels which echo the shape in my art work in Breast screening and also with Sians ceiling tiles in the treatment rooms. The printed acrylic panels reflect each others pieces and are sited on each side of the corridor. In Sian's work for the pain unit, her images are of rockpools with added objects to take interest and make a distraction on viewing. I compimented her vision with my semi-abstract images of rock formations in complimentry colours, which also visually link with the colourway in the wave shapes on the curve. In the photo above you can also see that there was an additional image selected of a beachscape. This was one of my water images that was arresting for its spacial, peaceful atmosphere and was an alternative suggestion of water. It was also a visual link to the video instalation in the Breast Screening Departement by a third artist commissioned Mark Cameron Minard, who's work is based on fine photography and screen based arts. For me working with the new media was quite thought provoking and a useful process in developing not only ideas for future enamelling but a revelation in the fact that there are alternative materials to explore...... |
NHS Broadgreen Commission
Copyright Ruth Ball Archives
March 2013
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