OUR PROJECTS

Langley Green Hospital - The Artist's perspective

Sasha Ward - Lead Artist

Being appointed to the role of lead artist for this new mental health facility provided an opportunity for me to do more than a glass commission, although that was included too. I joined the design team just before the construction phase began, and for the next 18 months was able to gather opinions and inspiration from the building’s future users, so that the work I made would suit the place and be more likely to appeal to the people staying and working in it.

I did this with a series of practical glass workshops in 4 local day centres, and by attending regular meetings of the Arts Steering Group. Using glass is useful for information gathering, as it gets people talking and giving their opinions on colours and themes, setting me on the right path for the design of the windows. In my designs for the prominent windows at the front of the building, I was heavily influenced by the mental health service users that I met and produced a design with no straight lines, where colours fade from one into another. The web of leaves, arcs, stars and circles that I sandblasted on to the glass for these large windows also contains detailed motifs drawn from the work of people who attended the workshops. For this building, it was important to have their contributions upfront.

The work that I, the other project artists and the service users made now extends throughout the building. I made 4 more series of windows, each with a different character and function. The project team became increasingly interested in all the artworks that were being produced and started taking matters into their own hands, even visiting my studio. Some of my pages of preparatory sketches were chosen, framed and hung, along with glass samples that became the identifying signs for the four wards. Finally a specially commissioned set of ceramics for use in the wards successfully uses part of the café window designs.

This project was a very positive experience because of all the people working on it. I found the members of the Arts Group to be warm and enthusiastic, the architect and building contractor to be exceptionally accommodating, and Belinda and Jacqueline from Impact Art to be really supportive, useful and well informed. All this makes the Langley Green Hospital commission one of my largest, and certainly my most complex and rewarding yet.

Project details