"The residency project gave the children an opportunity to interact with one another without reference to their hospital experience, condition or treatment."
Artist Residencies
In addition to loaning artworks, Paintings in Hospitals has also implemented artist residencies – allowing patients to experience the therapeutic benefits of making art and engaging with a practicing artist.
Digital Art Residency
Paintings in Hospitals recently received funding to implement a residency project in 2012 with a digital artist at a healthcare site treating young patients. Through the project young people will experience the creative process behind a digital medium, helping develop their sense of wellbeing and raise their self-esteem.
We have commissioned Cambridge Health Evaluation Consultants to evaluate the impact that the project will have on the young people involved in the residency.
Alexandra Reinhardt Memorial Award
In 2005, Paintings in Hospitals received funding from the Max Reinhardt Charitable Trust to launch and administer the Alexandra Reinhardt Memorial Award (ARMA), an annual artist-in-residence project held in five different hospitals from 2005 to 2009. The Award aimed to not only provide an opportunity for the healthcare audience to interact with an artist but to prove the therapeutic benefits of such activities. Each artist stayed in residence for up to twelve weeks producing a series of artworks, one of which was gifted to the host hospital while another was integrated into the Paintings in Hospitals Collection.
The recipients of the Award were
- Construction artist Sean Michael at the Great Ormond Street Hospital, London (2005)
- Installation artist Françoise Dupré at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford (2006)
- Photographer Malcolm Glover at Mile End Hospital, London (2007)
- Mixed Media artist Jeremy Hutchison at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham (2008)
- Glass artist Alex R at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London (2009)
Each residency was developed to support patients with serious or rare conditions: children with red blood disorders, adults suffering from dementia, women in complicated pregnancies, adolescents treated for cancer and adults treated for neurological conditions. The five residencies benefitted a total of 1,400 patients and 80 members of staff.
Overall the project achieved more than initially set out. Upon reviewing the feedback captured throughout the project, it has shown that the artist residencies helped support clinical outcomes of patients and improve communication within the units in which the activities were based. Healthcare sites were transformed by the experience and were able to see the benefit of continuing an arts programme at the end of the residency. In three of the five units, artist-in-residence activities were incorporated in subsequent years.
"The residency was inspirational and provided a positive distraction for patients during anxious times."
"The value of incorporating therapy into meaningful activity cannot be underestimated and is one of the principles of rehabilitation."
"I am delighted that so many people seem keen on engaging with the photography – it definitely feels like it is the start of a new approach to working creatively with patients."
ARTBRIDGE
ARTBRIDGE was a series of residency projects that took place across 18 care homes between 2001 and 2003. The artists chose very different creative approaches to working with the residents, some of whom were suffering from dementia and other disabling conditions. Colour, texture and reminiscence were explored through varied techniques including woodcuts, etchings, collage, photography and painting.
The residency projects had many valuable outcomes, notably helping improve the quality of life for older people in residential care by renewing their sense of place within the wider community.
ARTBRIDGE established a platform for Paintings in Hospitals from which to work directly with artists and develop a more involved relationship with patients and healthcare facilities.