Art is vital for health

• Published in: Printmaking Today (U.K.) Vol. 9; no. 4; pp. 22 - 23
• Main Author: Behrman, Pryle
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.12.2000
• ISSN: 0960-9253

Examines the contemporary role of art in hospitals and the contribution of prints to the healing process, focusing on the Vital Arts project of St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London and the London NHS Trust launched in 1996. The author outlines the wide remit of the project and the central place it gives to printmaking, noting that prints account for c.75% of the Trust's permanent collection of art works, and describes the series of 15 monotypes commissioned from the artist Tom Hammick and the success of the outpatients print workshops run by Hammick and his wife Martha Theis. She considers the non-NHS funding of the scheme, which includes an exhibition programme, and stresses that hospitals often form excellent venues for the sale of art, highlighting the case of the exhibition Love or Money held at the Royal London Hospital in London (Oct. 1999), which featured works by Peter Dover, Hammick, Brenda Hartill, John Hoyland, Anita Klein, Toni Martina, Pippa Smith, and Richard Walker. She concludes by noting the benefits contact with art offers to patients and hospital staff alike.