This week is Trustees’ Week (13-17 November 2017). Our Board of Trustees plays a vital role. They volunteer their time to oversee major decisions about the charity. One of our newest trustees, Dr Mary E Black, tells us why she joined Paintings in Hospitals.

When I was a junior doctor in Ireland in the 1980s, I did a slightly mad thing. I painted a picture of sheep jumping over a fence on the ceiling of an operating theatre. It seemed like the right thing to do. When you are lying flat on your back about to be sliced open, no matter how kind and professional the theatre staff are, it is still very scary. So, to catch a sight of something mildly humorous, reassuring and with a message could make a scared person smile and relax a bit. And we know that makes sense, adrenalin racing through your body does not bode well for healing.

There was a slightly radical underground movement then of connecting art and medicine. I can recall also getting patients to sew quilts for the neonatal ward (we don’t do that any more as safer bedding is advised). And, on one memorable occasion, I got my whole ward in the isolation unit of a Birmingham infectious disease hospital to create a biplane entirely from hospital disposables. Who knew what you could do with cardboard bedpans and a box of wooden tongue depressors.

“All very well making sure that hospitals have surfaces that are as germ free and washable as possible. But we are creatures of spirit, heart and mind, not just tissue and bone.”

You see, I always knew that creativity, art and music, matter in life and matter even more in an environment when people are sick or dying. All very well making sure that hospitals have surfaces that are as germ free and washable as possible. But we are creatures of spirit, heart and mind, not just tissue and bone.

Recently, I spent 18 months at the Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Hackney and experienced a hospital full of art and sculptures. Every wall has a painting or print. Every open space has an installation. There are regular exhibitions of work by patients and rotating shows on the main corridors. This is a hospital with its own art curator and leadership in art – the Trust’s chair leads the art committee. This Trust was a long-term partner of Paintings in Hospitals. This is why I applied to be a trustee: I was curious to know how I could influence beyond one hospital and on a national scale.

What I have found is an eclectic mix of clinicians, artists, organisers and philanthropists. We meet every couple of months and have a well-organised agenda. We also have events and hospital visits. Everyone who contributes is a volunteer. I am learning how to be a trustee, how to oversee a charity. Above all, I am experiencing the very best of civil society, when people work together because they know it is right and are willing to engage to make things happen.

“I have had my eyes opened to the depth of expertise and the range of art that the charity holds.”

So far, I have helped shape the new website, attended events including the Patrons Circle dinner and Ian Davenport exhibition, found a volunteer to join the team, and have had my eyes opened to the depth of expertise and the range of art that the charity holds. It makes me happy being part of this group. I get to meet interesting and generous people, and I get to make a difference.

There is so much more I could learn or do. But mostly when I think about this organisation, I appreciate what can be achieved with trust and with generosity. Across the country, there are people we cannot see who are moved or uplifted by an art workshop, or by an artwork that they pass on their often-difficult journeys. Sometimes it feels as though there is an invisible circulatory system crossing the land and conveying life through this art. I sleep happy knowing that this is happening.

Find out more about our trustees…