Art Works - City

Location: South Corridor, City Hospital

A hospital never stands still.

This fabric collage is a picture of City Hospital, made by an unknown artist or artists. The shape of the cars suggest it was made in the 1960’s or 70’s but we don’t know much more about it than that. Many of the staff who work here walk miles every day in the course of their jobs up and down the corridors past different artworks.

What do you know about the history of City Hospital?

 

This City is a Village

This City is a village,

Carrying its history in a horse-drawn cart

Laden with provisions

Heavy with a sense of duty

Men and women with starched collars

Gave their time and money

To help.

 

Children grew up here,

Lost stories woven in the rough fabric

Of workhouse uniforms

Soldiers clothed in heavy worsted

Carried home from trenches

Offered a place of peace

To heal.

 

A hospital never stands still,

Thousands of steps taken every day

Wheels turn, moving beds and chairs

Progress being made

There is always someone awake

There is always a hand

To hold.

 

Comments from staff who walk along these corridors every day:

They took different parts of the hospital and put them together. I like it! It’s green and clean. I see it every morning. I like the blue sky.

I like imagining how the hospital used to be. Back when they horses and carts for delivery and transport. It’s intriguing thinking about the olden days.

I see it when I walk past, every day. It’s always been here, and I’ve worked here forty-four years.

Oh yeah. It’s this place. I can see it, that doorway, it’s just outside.

Things change over the years, but it’s got a character, this hospital. If it was a character it could be Florence Nightingale or a lion, the chief looking after the whole herd.

I’ve never saw this picture before! I’m also so busy, I don’t really look. Oh, it’s here, isn’t it? It’s of here, City. it’s lovely. Is it new?

Location: North Corridor, City Hospital

These artworks inspired contributions from staff, patients and visitors, who said what’s special about the city and what they like about living, working or visiting here.

Dear Nottingham ,

Your lions, left and right, provide rides for our children.

Your square, a place to sit and your fair a place to play.

What do you love most about Nottingham?

Location: North Corridor, City Hospital

A series of multiple silkscreen prints by the artist Derrick Greaves, who was one of the most eminent British painters and was extensively represented in museum and public collections.

He initially gained acclaim in the 1950s, when he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale along with the other ‘Kitchen-Sink’ painters: Bratby, Middleditch and Smith. However, his work swiftly developed into a more heraldic style that paralleled 1960s Pop Art.

Location: North Corridor, City Hospital

Tas is a professional artist working from his Nottingham studio. He is relaxed yet passionate about his work. There is much breadth to his art, as he works in a number of mediums and his style varies from graphic realism to loose and abstract.

The subject of Tas’ work is as varied as his style and use of medium. Scenes of Venice, English coastal towns, seagulls, robins and landscapes are very popular with buyers and collectors.

 

In workshops and consultations staff, patients and visitors were drawn to this painting because of its bright colours. People gave us comments and reflections which are brought together into this reflective poem:

Staithes 

When I look at this picture, I see bright colours,

vivid colours that I love,

they make me happy. 

There’s life quickening, in a joyful, vital stream.

 

Yellow, warm and inviting, draws me in.

Red, holds back, rich and vibrant.

Cool blue, flowing through.

The radiant colours entice me, like going to a different place.

 

I look and look again, it takes my eyes away, 

reflections in the water.

The colourful river of empathy brings people together,

through different flows of emotion.