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.

‘ARTISTS UNCOVERED’: Heather Pugh

My name is Melissa and I am a post graduate student at the University of Edinburgh with my academic interests focusing on art, design, history and culture. I became involved with Art in Healthcare as I’m passionate about getting art out of the gallery and into the community. This is the first blog post for an exciting new project entitled ‘Artist’s Uncovered,’ where Abi Allsopp (AiH's new Media Manager) and I will highlight an artist and their work belonging to the Art in Healthcare collection. The project aims to increase awareness of the various and exciting artworks on display in health and care settings through a bi-monthly blog paired with a video showcasing the chosen artist for that month. Furthermore it enables me to explore why artists are attracted to the charity and how they feel about exhibiting their creations outside a more traditional gallery setting.  

Off the Cuff

 

Heather Pugh’s sculptural artworks are fantastic additions to the charity’s art collection and are already earmarked to be put on display in Edinburgh’s new Royal Victoria hospital with generous financial support from the Hope Scott Trust. Her paintings are bright, colourful and quirky, illuminating warmth and cheerfulness. Each of her creations is completely original and could not be replicated as she utilises objects discarded in bins or found on the city streets. She then arranges these found objects, adding or cutting away at them before applying paint and sometimes other media to create multi-layered and intriguing artwork. Her inspiration stems from the things she finds, taking something ordinary with a defined purpose to establish something new and completely unique.

‘To be blunt my work is almost like glorified recycling’

Ten of her works have been purchased for the AiH collection to be displayed at the hospital and my favourite is ‘Off the Cuff.’ The colours make up an attractive palette: contrasting and bold yet still working together and with the multiple components making the piece visually stimulating. Firstly, there are everyday mundane objects such as a hinge and a door handle, which are painted over in geometric pattern and stripes transforming the lowly door handle into a decorative adornment. Pugh is interested in hinges because of their use and function; they are designed to open and close doors and compartments but by placing them in an alien environment their function changes completely.

Another exciting piece is ‘Sign of the Times,’ which drew my attention by incorporating a key initiating me to ponder where the item originally came from and did the owner miss it. Is whatever the key used to unlock unable to open now? The idea for the painting was inspired by Pugh playing with a piece of wood on her jigsaw, which then developed and expanded after a friend gave her some unwanted objects, including the keys.

‘A key is something every day and by changing its function it tied in with my theme of recreating the mundane.’

Sign of the Times

‘Every Nook and Cranny II’ was also motivated by Pugh’s jigsaw and relates to a piece she made the year before that shares a similar colour palette. The aspect that really interests me in this painting is how she cuts away at the artworks surface, revealing new layers and sometimes completely exposing the wall behind. The manipulation has been made through the addition of enamel and acrylic paints and removing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and wood.

These artworks are exceptionally enjoyable to look at and emit a positive energy that patients, staff and visitors will greatly appreciate. Most people who need to spend time in a hospital would likely rather be anywhere else and as these environments can be quite dreary, clinical and even a little scary, colourful and uplifting artworks like Pugh’s can make such a difference. Hospitals hold many negative connotations, yet the aim of a charity like Art in Healthcare is to make places like these more pleasant and welcoming. Furthermore, Pugh hopes that her artworks will have a significant therapeutic and affirmative effect on patients’ wellbeing and happiness, as she describes below:

‘Art in Healthcare is a great way to add colour and atmosphere into hospitals, providing a type of therapy for people going through often and anxious circumstances, Things visual are often memorable in our minds eye, and I think it’s great to have art work in hospitals, which are often associated with negative times. If my work can portray any positive emotion in people, and make people smile for a moment, it’s a job well done.’



Every Nook and Cranny II



Feel free to leave a comment and tell us what you think of Heather’s work or what we're doing here at Art in Healthcare. Cheers!

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

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