Art and Autism

I first heard about Andrew when I was working at Leith School of Art in 2004. Andrew had been attending classes since the school opened in 1989. His style is unmistakable in that he has an absolute unwavering attention to detail. For example, whereas the other students will create expressive representations with paint of the plants used in a still life setup, Andrew will paint every single leaf. He also doesn't really like anyone standing too close to him, although I’m kind of the same in that respect when I’m painting. However, it's the way Andrew views AND captures the world in paint that makes him such a unique artist.

I’ve always been fascinated with Andrew’s art and although I rarely ever saw him because I only worked Saturday’s at the school, I would immediately recognise his oil paintings before anyone else’s as they hung on the wall drying with all the other students' work.

About a month ago I was at my local café that I visit religiously every morning for a much needed strong coffee before work and John, the "white van man" (who is also usually there every morning for his caffeine fix) mentioned that he had a load of artwork to be picked up at a flat in town and he wondered if Art in Healthcare would like it. He said the artist’s father had just died and as the artist was autistic, and his mother was also no longer alive, the estate was being sorted out by a law firm. John was hired to go to the residence to organise, document and pack up all the belongings and the lawyers weren't sure what to do with the rooms full or art. No one else seemed to want it.  

Just out of curiosity as I figured it was rather highly unlikely, I asked John, “Do you know if the artist is called Andrew Gilchrist?” I couldn't believe it when he said he was. John explained that it was Andrew’s father who kept all the work and Andrew really didn’t have much to do with it after he finished it. I assume Andrew enjoys the process of creating more than having a completed artwork to look at. At least this is what I think. I have a lot of questions and I plan on meeting with Andrew’s main teacher at the art school to find out a little more. The lawyer in charge of the estate provided me with the email address of Andrew's cousin, who will also hopefully be able to give me a little more information about Andrew and his painting. 

So here we are now. Art in Healthcare has a huge body of artwork (literally hundreds of pieces) by a very unique and talented artist. I would very much like to organise an exhibition to showcase this wonderful work but also to try to shed some light on how autistic artists engage with the world and the positive affect creativity has with regards to health and wellbeing. 

I think Andrew’s work is important. It tells an exciting story and it provides some insight into autism. I plan to apply for funding to help with costs such as framing the work, securing a venue, perhaps a book, advertising etc. We'll possibly accession some of Andrew's artwork into the Art in Healthcare Collection to display in hospitals and then we'll be selling the rest of the work to raise funds for the charity and to help cover exhibition costs. I'm sure a lot of people would love to have an original A. Gilchrist in their homes to admire. I don't know what Andrew's financial situation is but it would be nice to give something back to him if the exhibition was successful. If you have any questions, advice, suggestions etc please don’t hesitate to contact me at tjones@artinhealthcare.org.uk

Trevor Jones
Executive Director

Art in Healthcare

Looking for a very unique Christmas gift?

Adopt your favourite artwork from our Collection and help our charity support Scottish artists, display more uplifting artwork in healthcare settings and provide fun-filled art workshops for patients and care home residents.

Beach Tent by Jack Knox

Since 1991 our charity has been assembling one of the largest and most prestigious Collections of original Scottish art in the country. These artworks are uniquely available for display in hospitals and other healthcare settings.

Art in Healthcare is truly committed to the important role that art plays in the healing environment but we need your help to properly maintain and build this unique Collection for the enjoyment and benefit of the hundreds of thousands of staff, patients and visitors who view it each year.

Winter Trees and Townscape by Gordon Byrce

Portrait of the Poet by Steven Campbell

Adopt an artwork from our Collection for just £3 a month and you'll receive:

• Your name (or a loved one's) written next to your chosen artwork online (view example)
• A certificate of adoption with a picture of the artwork
• Invites to Art in Healthcare's special events
• Double your chances of winning our artwork giveaways
• First to view our latest Prestigious Print
• Our colourful e-newsletter

With your help we're able to:

• Keep our Collection on display in hospitals and care homes
• Support young artists at their degree shows
• Buy artwork from professional artists
• Provide fun-filled art workshops at hospitals, hospices, care homes and more
• Develop our training programmes for volunteers 

Zoom Bird and Bees by Pat Douthwaite

Click the paint brush and palette to view all the artworks available for adoption now.

Art in Healthcare’s quick response to QR codes

You will have seen them in magazines, on bank statements, food, clothes labels and business cards. The black and white square QR codes are appearing everywhere. You might find their two-dimensional pixilated look intriguing in a way that the linear one-dimensional bar codes have now ceased to be and you might be wondering at their purpose.

QR (Quick Response) codes started as a tracking device in the automobile industry and today can be accessed by anyone with a smartphone equipped with a camera and a code reader, a free downloadable app for smartphones. All you need to do is click the barcode reader app, point your phone at the QR code and that's it - immediately the encoded information appears on your screen. There is no need to key in a long website address and you can do it all while on the move. You can even create your own code and download it on printed materials or online.

Here's a short video explaining how to use a QR code.

Art in Healthcare was prompt to recognise the benefits of this technology for their art collection displayed in hospitals and care homes and earlier this year, they initiated a large task that involved several of their staff and a dozen volunteers. Artworks and artists were researched and the information was uploaded to the artworks' webpages selected for the new Royal Victoria building at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. There are more than 50 artists with artwork in the Royal Victoria including Elizabeth Blackadder, Alan Davie and John Houston.

Abi Allsopp, the AiH Media Manager, explains: “When a label is scanned by smartphone, a webpage for that specific artwork is opened and the viewer can find out all sorts of information including descriptions and details about the work they're looking at, the life and work of the artist who painted it, and other pieces which are similar to it. The project at the Royal Victoria building was generously sponsored by Laing O’Rouke building contractors and match funded by Arts & Business Scotland. Since starting the project in June we've had almost 100 page views per month.”

The number of views mentioned by Abi confirms the opinion generally held that QR codes are more than just a passing phase. The benefits to the patients, staff and visitors are obvious, the QR codes enrich the experience of the artworks and of the moment by opening a whole world of ideas and information in just a few seconds.

If you have not tried it yet, why don’t you have a go with the two QR codes below.

Martine Foltier Pugh is a freelance writer 

and visual artist based in Edinburgh

Artist: Chris Bushe

http://aih-art.com/gallery.php?regno=P776

Artist Uncovered: Damian Callan

For my second blog, it is my pleasure to ‘uncover’ the artist Damian Callan.

The human body in motion is a constant source of inspiration for Callan. He often depicts his own children, in groups or singly, by the sea or swimming pools as they paddle, row, run and sometimes simply stand still or sit down. But even when apparently motionless, the body is not inert and Callan’s consummate knowledge of anatomy illustrates this paradox with mastery. His paintings and drawings convey all the fun and happiness that children find in physical pursuits. They exude health and well-being.

The two paintings in the Art in Healthcare collection are early works from Callan’s degree show at Edinburgh College of Art in the mid 90s and both are set in swimming pools.  They are quiet studies. In ‘Boy with Armbands’, there is no splashing about, no shrieking with fear or pleasure, rather the artist has chosen to describe the motion of the bodies as they wade slowly through the water, feeling its weight as they push their way through.  As in most of his work, the figures are rendered broadly and details are kept to a minimum. This simplification is deliberate as it emphasises the subject’s movement and the dynamics of the composition.  

                         'Boy with Armbands' Damian Callan, oil on board, 1995, Art in Healthcare collection

Another of Callan’s skills is his use of back-light and shadows to create an atmosphere. It comes as no surprise to read on his website that he admires Edgar Degas, the Impressionist grand master of light and movement, famous for his studies of ballet dancers and horses and for his dramatic use of ‘contre-jour’. In both paintings in the Art in Healthcare collection, Callan has captured to great effect the particular luminosity, a mix of artificial and natural light that saturates swimming pools.

Following a commission by Sports Scotland to produce a series of paintings for their head office in Stirling, Damian Callan has been, for the last four years, in tune with the nation’s Olympic mood and working with divers from Edinburgh and young gymnasts from Lasswade. With oil and charcoal and also, for the first time, with stencils, he has pushed the process of abstraction further still. 

                                         

                                   'Handstand' Damian Callan, oil on canvas, 2012, the artist's collection

He has clearly enjoyed the experience: “It has been a treat to work with all the movement in these disciplines as well as the colour in the swimming pools”. But he also confides that he has missed not working with his children. Even without that personal element, I feel assured that he will have grasped the essence of his subjects and as one of his ex-pupils, I know that he will have made them feel relaxed very quickly and helped bring out the best in them.

Martine F Pugh is a freelance writer and visual artist based in Edinburgh.

www.damiancallan.co.uk

Volunteering with Art in Healthcare

My name is Martine, I started volunteering for Art in Healthcare (AiH) in January this year and have been involved in five different projects since. This first blog allows me to look back and reflect on my experiences over the past six months.

AiH has a large collection of high quality contemporary artworks which they place in hospitals and care homes all around Scotland. My first job was to promote this service to care homes and explain how it can improve their patients’ quality of life. It was a revelation to me. I learned as much about these homes and patients’ care as they did about AiH’s services. The length of calls varied between a few seconds to 20 minutes and I am grateful to that manager who took the time to educate me in the needs of her patients.

'April 1997', Barbara Balmer, currently at the new Royal Victoria Hospital

Next I helped with the documentation of AiH paintings for the Public Catalogue Foundation, a national project which will eventually make available online every oil and acrylic painting in the public domain. Led by the collection manager, the AiH team of volunteers went to track down all such relevant paintings hired out to hospitals and homes. Eventually each artwork was taken down, photographed and rehung.  A considerable achievement made even more interesting wherever the description on ‘the list’ had become somehow disconnected over the years with the actual painting. We met some wonderful hospital staff as we searched around. Somehow, when put together, the words ‘art’ and ‘healthcare’ seem to make people want to talk and share anecdotes.

I also met up with another volunteer and shadowed her as she gave a talk in a care home about two paintings hired from AiH. I was able to see for myself the positive impact this carefully planned activity can have. At the end of the talk, some of the residents who had appeared disengaged at the beginning were chatting with her about the paintings and reminiscing about their own experiences.

'Energy is Delight', Alan Davie, currently at the new Royal Victoria Hospital

Next I became involved with the QR (Quick Response) code project. AiH are gradually encoding each of their work on display in hospitals and I was part of a team tasked with writing up reviews for the paintings going to the new Royal Victoria Building in Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital. I found this opportunity very enjoyable and it allowed me to put into practice my training in art history. My list of artists included some prominent Scottish painters such as Barbara Balmer, Elizabeth Blackadder and Alan Davie. It was a pleasure to research the artists and to correspond with some of them. It was also enlightening to consider their works from a healthcare perspective and the effect they can have in a nursing environment.

Finally I was asked to write the introduction to the NHS Lothian art collection for the Public Catalogue Foundation mentioned earlier. AiH were recently appointed to develop and implement their arts strategy. As part of my research I visited the Chaplain of the Royal Infirmary who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the collection. He gave me some fascinating insights into its history and the logistics of displaying works in hospitals, an exercise which can provoke strong reactions, positive and negative, from staff and patients.

When I started to volunteer for AiH I never imagined the range of activities they are involved with or the variety of tasks that would be opened to me. It has been, and still is, an education.

Artist's Uncovered: Olivia Irvine

Our ‘Artist Uncovered’ for June is Scottish painter and artist Olivia Irvine. Irvine’s work is a fascinating inclusion in the Art in Healthcare’s collection. One part is due to her art, which I’ll discuss in a moment; the other is that her professional and artistic career combines art with healthcare. Initially she pursued a career in medicine, studying and volunteering as an auxiliary nurse during the summer months; however after realising where her true passion lied she switched to study drawing and painting at the Edinburgh School of Art. The experiences she had while working and studying in medicine gave her a real interest in issues involving art and healthcare institutions.

Irvine paints a whole manner of different situations and draws from inspiraion from across the world. The three paintings in Art in Healthcare's collection are all inspired by gardens. Each one is an image of the outside world which contains its own unique metaphor. For example ‘Kite flying’ is a symbol of freedom. The monoprint depicts the idyllic scene of two children flying a kite in a lush green field. It is an uplifting and bright image that allows for nostalgic response as it reflects an enjoyable children’s pastime.

  

Kite Flying

Olivia Irvine

‘How does your garden grow’  is a rather intriguing image, an insight into the artist’s memory as she paints a scene from her early childhood. The landscape here is one she used to spend time in as a little girl and the painting explores how the centre piece of that landscape changed from a sandpit to a flower bed. The painting is abstract and multilayered with different tones and shades, playing on light vs. dark. The feelings she explores with this image are this idea that landscape can grow and change simultaneously to us growing up and changing as people.

 ‘I want to invoke a psychological response’

How Does Your Garden Grow

Olivia Irvine

‘Another metophoric painting of Irvine's we have in Art in Healthcare's collection is 'The heat of the moment’ . This simple painting of a young tree surrounding by a metal protector acts as an artistic metaphor for protecting oneself against adversity. This is my personal favourite image out of the three as I feel it perfectly sums up Irvine’s artistic inspiration and practise. She takes a simple and familiar landscape and creates a pictorial language that conveys a comforting and positive dialogue. I believe this is one of the many reasons her work is so suited to Art in Healthcare.

The Heat of the Moment

Olivia Irvine

Olivia Irvine’s paintings are colourful and interesting additions to healthcare settings. They invoke an optimistic and affirmative message that is so important when being exhibited in spaces that may traditionally hold negative connotations. Irvine's relatable and familiar pictures are a very welcomed addition to both the Art in Healthcare collection and the healthcare settings they are displayed in.
 

‘It is great for patients, visitors and staff. It makes the place looked cared for.’

Callum Innes: Works on Paper Fundraising Event

On 8^th May 2012 Art in Healthcare hosted a hugely successful fundraising evening at the Ingleby Gallery with the  internationally recognised Scottish artist, Callum Innes, giving a tour around the gallery and his paintings currently on show. Innes studied at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen before going on to establish his own style of reductive painting. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1995 and later went on to win The Jerwood Painting Prize in 2002.

Walking into the Ingleby Gallery I had no idea what to expect from Callum Innes’ latest exhibition. As a relative ‘newbie’ to contemporary art myself I was looking forward to hearing about the thoughts and processes which go behind his modern, minimalist style.

Innes’ work is often very bold and intense, making use of statement colours and shapes to draw emotion out of the audience - a complete contrast with the artist himself who was very soft spoken and eloquent as he addressed the 20 or so people gathered in the gallery with a great passion for his work and craft. Everyone attending the evening’s fundraising event was pinned on his every word as Innes described his beginnings as an artist, his old college tutors, anecdotes of artists he had worked with, and parts of his life which had inspired his own art. 

“All these works are fragile, emotionally, physically…and (they) retain a human fragility about them. They’re imperfect; if they were perfect they wouldn’t work”

Untitled No 33, 2011
Oil on Canvas

He told us how he regularly finds himself throwing work away and how he is somewhat of a perfectionist. Once out of the studio or exhibition context he regularly sees his work in a completely different light and often discards it completely. He once worked with curator Marco Livingston on a run of 50 books which were to be beautifully letter pressed and each covered with an individual painting. However, when the time came to wrap the books, it was discovered the paintings had been cut down 2cm too short and were therefore unusable. Innes immediately went up to his studio, gathered pictures which had been displayed in the Tate and in the ICA, and cut them all down to the correct size, destroying 30 paintings to make 50 books.

“It was about trying to achieve perfection. I learnt in that process of looking at your work and making decisions about it. I learnt how to edit, which is something you can only really learn through time, and I’m still learning.”

The ‘Works on Paper’ exhibition at the Ingleby Gallery fundraising event was filled with paintings focussing on what had been taken away from the painting, what wasn’t on the page, and what had been left behind, rather than what had been created by the paint. Innes described how when painting onto wax paper, turpentine made certain parts disappear and it was this in which he was most interested

Untitled, 2008
Oil on wax paper

Having been a figurative painter until his early 20’s Innes told us how he slowly worked the figure out of the painting but still kept the gesture and the marks to make paintings as objects. The small series of squares which were displayed on the upper level are an example of this. Two blocks of colour had been painted over each other  freehand to create a semi-transparent look. The result is wonderfully effective and the bold colours oozing out the side of squares really draw in the eyes of viewers.

Quinacridone Violet / Lemon Yellow, 2012
watercolour on paper

“In all the paintings I make there is always a single line that goes through the painting; there’s a moment where the canvas is filled with oil paint and I take a line from the bottom to the top of the canvas so it doesn’t meander, it looks like its formed naturally but it’s controlled, picked out very delicately and it forms itself at a certain point.”

 Innes’ work will be displayed in the Ingleby Gallery until 14^th July 2012 and I highly recommend you make a trip along. Seeing the different layers and textures of the paint on the paper, and understanding the form and gesture of each painting gave me a much greater admiration for contemporary and abstract artists. Innes has also kindly donated two pieces of his work to Art in Healthcare’s collection, one of which will be displayed in the new Royal Victoria Building at the Western General Hospital along with a large selection of other fantastic artworks from our collection which we have just recently hung there.

GET INVOLVED with Edinburgh University Art in Healthcare Society

Are you full of bright ideas? Organised and committed? Keen to enhance your CV? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, Art in Healthcare needs YOU!

An exciting new society, associated with the Scottish charity Art in Healthcare, will be launched at the University of Edinburgh in September 2010. The Edinburgh University Art in Healthcare Society is currently advertising for the positions of President, Secretary and Treasurer. The only condition is that you must be a matriculated student at the University of Edinburgh. If you think that you could be the one for the job, get in touch!

If you are interested in fulfilling one of these roles on the committee or in becoming an active member of the society, please come along to an information meeting at the end of April to find out more.

• 6.30pm
• Thursday, 29th April
• Balcony Room, Teviot, University of Edinburgh

If you cannot make it to the meeting, but are still interested, please get in touch.

This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference and gain valuable experience at the same time. We look forward to hearing from you!

AiH x

The Thrill of it All

We were delighted to see many of our members at Ingleby Gallery on Tuesday 16 March for another stimulating HEART Event. Thank you all for coming!



The exhibition of Peter Liversidge's latest work at Ingleby Gallery was well worth the visit and made even better by the opportunity to view the exhibition in a group and discuss the artwork afterwards.

David Mackay, who works at Ingleby Gallery, gave us an excellent introduction to the exhibition and shed a great deal of light on Liversidge's artistic process, which is quite unique. We were then free to explore the artwork displayed throughout the gallery, which we had all to ourselves, before reconvening to ask David lots of questions and have a good chat about the exhibition.

The breadth of Liversidge's creative practice is striking, as is his limitless imaginition. Reading through the framed proposals, which are arranged in a single line at eye level in the downstairs gallery, we spotted some highly amusing ideas, as well as some very simple, personal and moving suggestions. David also treated us to some hilarious anecdotes relating to the realisation of certain proposals. I don't think any of us will be asking Peter Liversidge to cook us a fish pie in a hurry!

The HEART Event at Ingleby Gallery provided a fascinating insight into all of the stages of Liversidge's creative process and I can safely say that we all left the gallery with big smiles on our faces, having been touched and tickled by Peter Liversidge's work.

Thank you very much to David Mackay and everyone else at Ingleby Gallery for hosting this event and allowing us to stay after closing time!

AiH x

Project with Edinburgh World Heritage and St. Crispin's School

We're very excited to be asked by Edinburgh World Heritage to work with them on a project to reach out to the young in Edinburgh. As part of World Heritage Day that EWH is organising in April, we will be bringing some beautiful pictures of Edinburgh from our collection next week to St Crispin's School. Using these pictures and a couple of prints by Scottish artist Jane Hyslop, several students will create works of art that show what Edinburgh means to them. The works will then be mounted and exhibited at a venue in Central Edinburgh, in conjunction with World Heritage Day. That's from April 15 to 22, so mark your calendars and watch this space! It's going to be fantastic.

St Crispin's School is a special school that provides education to primary and secondary-age children, and meets the additional needs of pupils with more severe, complex learning difficulties, according to its Web site. We visited the school last week to observe their learning, and are so moved by the dedication and patience shown by its teachers and helpers in making a difference in the children's lives. And they love art!

Similarly, EWH aims to make a positive impact on these children's lives by inspiring them to think about their environment and the city's architecture creatively. This is a pilot project for EWH to reach out to the young and other groups that have traditionally not been audiences of heritage. EWH's mandate is to build awareness of the city's World Heritage Site - consisting the Old Town and the New Town - by promoting enjoyment, understanding and appreciation of its value and significance, it says on its Web site.

This collaboration, we believe, will yield pretty great results. We'll be writing again after the event next week to show exactly what came out of it, so please do come back!

Have a great week ahead!
AiH

HEART Events - Tuesday 16 March

Thank you to everyone who attended the HEART Event on Wednesday 24 February! It was a great success and we were all delighted to have the opportunity to hear Mark Eischeid talking about his artwork.

The next HEART Event will take place next Tuesday at Ingleby Gallery. David Mackay from the gallery will give a tour of the current exhibition of Peter Liversidge's work, entitled 'The Thrill of it All'.

Peter Liversidge is an artist whose imagination knows no bounds, so prepare to be tickled and surprised! His exhibitions always begin as a set of proposals – ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous – which are written on his old typewriter and then sent to the gallery. The 'Thrill of it All' features his suggestions for Ingleby Gallery, as well as the realisation of a selection of them.

As always, this HEART Event will be followed by drinks and discussion at a nearby bar.

• 5-6pm
• Tuesday 16 March
• Ingleby Gallery, 15 Calton Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8DL

Put it in your diary!

AiH x

HEART Events - Wednesday 24 February

We've just announced our next speaker for HEART Events (Art in Healthcare's series of monthly talks on health and art). Drum roll please!

MARK EISCHEID - an award-winning American artist - will be talking about his time as artist in residence at QMRI (Queen's Medical Research Institute).

Eischeid was the 2009 recipient of the ‘British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Artist in Residence Award’ and is currently completing a postgraduate degree in Art, Space & Nature at Edinburgh College of Art. He also has a professional background in geology and landscape architecture.

It promises to be a fascinating talk and will be followed by drinks and mingling at a nearby bar.

• 5-6pm
• Wednesday 24 February
• Lecture Room 1, Minto House, 20-22 Chambers Street, Edinburgh

Put it in your diary!

AiH x

Allow us to introduce ourselves...

We're new to this blogging business, so excuse us if it takes a little while to get the hang of it!

Art in Healthcare is a Scottish charity, which believes in the healing power of art. Our main aim is to put artwork into healthcare settings and improve the physical environment for patients, visitors and staff. We currently have over 850 stimulating works of art on display around Scotland.

We also run a series of talks on art and health. More information on HEART Events coming shortly...

Until later!

AiH x