Art Programme

A specially commissioned art project has been designed for the Children's Hospital for Wales to help children feel more relaxed and at home in the hospital, in the hope of speeding up the healing process.

The colourful pictures and interactive activities will help make the hospital a fun and friendly place for children to visit, and not the cold and clinical environment that many of them will have experienced before.

It is well recognised that art, music and activities on hospital wards can help lower levels of anxiety by making surroundings more relaxed and less institutional. Children especially will benefit from the array of textures and colours on show, providing a source of fun and laughter and raising their spirits in difficult times. Research has shown that keeping in a positive frame of mind is essential to patient recovery, and doctors and artists alike are hoping the artwork in the new Children's Hospital will be an integral part of that healing process.

The Art Project Team was faced with a huge list of criteria to make sure the inside of the new hospital would be as spectacular as the outside. Their briefing was that the art should be child-friendly, reflect the culture of Wales and be fit for such a state-of-the-art facility that the hospital will be once it has opened. The finished result also had to be functional, playful, interactive, unique, distinctive, contemporary and safe.

Each of the four floors of the hospital carries a different theme. The artists created a magical Sea & Fish theme for the ground floor, Trees & Field for the upper ground floor, Sky & Birds for the first floor and Space for the second floor.

The process of selecting the artists was a huge task. Art Project Director, Alison Scott searched through UK wide registers of artists and craftspeople and studied pages of national advertising. Eventually a shortlist was drawn up to include a good balance of styles and locations.

Many of the artists have worked closely with local school children to create designs that will have mass appeal to the appropriate age group. The artists, each using different materials, from vinyl to mosaic, have interpreted the children's designs and transferred them to a design that will be used in the hospital.

The art project will ensure that the Children's Hospital for Wales will be a colourful, creative and palliative environment in which sick children can receive care and recuperate.