Art Projects
NOC Heritage Mural
This spring will see the completion of the hospital arts project charting the history of the NOC. The hospital received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and charitable funds to run a two year project to create a mural in the atrium.
The contemporary design traces the history of the hospital from 1871 to the present day. The aim of the project is to create a digital mural that will chart the history of the hospital from its origins as the Wingfield Convalescent Home in 1871 right up to the current PFI and looking at future developments in medical research. The finished mural will be situated on the curved wall behind the main reception and will be printed on six metal panels.
View the individual panels below: (PDF)
Orthopaedics
Our Hospital
Patient Care
Rehabilitation
Wellbeing
Education, Training and Research
Introduction
Over many years we have developed a number of interesting art projects in the hospital. These range from large scale archive images in the Wingfield Building to a ‘Fantasy Tree’ for the Rheumatology garden. We are also working with staff groups, patients and the greater community of artists in Oxford to create a stimulating, interesting and healing place for everyone.
Artweeks
The NOC holds exhibitions during Artweeks showing a variety of work by staff and patients alongside invited professional artists. In previous years artists from our local neighbourhood in Headington have been invited to show work in a new exhibition space in the Oxford Centre for Enablement. Each artist shows two pieces of work and all the work is for sale.
". . . the range of work showed good examples of the artists abilities and varying techniques and choices of media."
Ithaca Project
Ithaca is an arts organisation who specialise in working with disabled people. Two artists from Ithaca worked with patients across the hospital, including patients from the children’s ward, over several months, to create four textile pieces that will be displayed in the new hospital. An exhibition of artwork from around the county was displayed in the hospital in 2006 and some or the work has been donated to the NOC art collection. This project was kindly funded by the League of Friends.
"I felt that the exhibition made an often intimidating or emotionally charged space warm and inviting."
Mosaic Project
The Occupational Therapy department wanted to brighten the walls in their activity room. Rather than buying works of art they wanted something created by the patients that could be changed and added to over the years. A group of staff were trained to make mosaics by local artist Becky Paton; they could then use mosaic making as a therapeutic tool on the Bone Infection Unit. This project was funded by the Oxford City Council Arts Development Fund.
Music in the NOC
The reception of the Oxford Centre Enablement and day room has hosted a number of musical events throughout the year. Professional musicians and Oxford Brookes University students have performed a variety of music and entertainment from poetry readings to African drumming and vocal gymnastics.
A collaboration with Oxford Contemporary Music has brought several world class musicians into the hospital to perform in day rooms across the hospital. These include Anglo Scandinavian jazz trio Stekpanna and the Weekend Guitar Trio from Estonia. Other musical events include Cecilia Macfarlane and Crossover dance group in the OCE reception; Dave Noble aka Nature Boy playing live in the Green Room and Serendipity performing in the BIU garden.
Paintings in hospital
Through the charity Paintings in Hospital the NOC has secured nine artworks which have been distributed around the hospital. The works were chosen following a trip to London by members of the Identity & Arts group to view the catalogue and in consultation with the staff on selected wards. The reception of the OCE was highlighted as needing brightening up and four new pieces have been installed including one from the Saatchi collection called 24 hours by Mark Cannon.
Archive Images
The newly completed corridors of the Wingfield Building were targeted as a space for artwork to be installed. The hospital has an extensive collection of archive images; a selection of these were reprinted on a large scale directly from the original 1930's glass plates. The images give you an intriguing vision of what the hospital used to be like.
The Waiting Rooms Exhibition
Four artists, originally from four continents and now based in Oxfordshire, came together to participate in an exhibition of their work due to tour medical Waiting Rooms in the county. Some of these artists were forced into exile; others emigrated and found it hard to return because of subsequent war. All can identify with the challenges of expressing themselves in a different culture, and their artworks are an important part of this. At the same time, their work is varied and by no means necessarily 'represents' their culture or country of origin.
Artists Madi Acharya Baskerville (India), Rafael Borja (Colombia), Mohamed Bushara (Sudan), and Zeljana Schonauer (Croatia) were asked to create work to fit into purpose-built display cases.The cases were displayed in the waiting room of the OCE an will move to the Warneford Hospital; it will then tour to other medical settings in rural areas in the county.