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Recovery College Springfield Hospital 2016
Hospital Rooms has collaborated with South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust to transform their highly innovative Recovery College at Springfield University Hospital.
PROJECT INTRODUCTION
In the Summer of 2016, Artist and Hospital Rooms co-founder Tim A Shaw created a temporary large scale mural for both the exterior and interior spaces of the college, and worked with Colart to programme a series of tailored art workshops for students.
Shaw’s geometric mural lead from the outside to the inside of the building and borrowed the colour schemes from key international museums such as Tate Britain, Tate Modern, MOMA, the Guggenheim, the Matisse Museum and many more. He included a series of rectangles and squares in the design, which acted as ‘frames’ for the artworks produced by students in the workshops. These artworks were created using high quality art materials that were generously donated by Colart, and hung in the same manner as the exhibitions in the museums that Shaw has referenced. The mural was an extension of the Phoenix Gallery, a dedicated art space designed by Shaw that was created for the Phoenix Unit at SWLSTG after many service users asked for a place to exhibit their own work.
Niamh White
Co-Founder
Niamh (Pronounced Neve) is a medium height white woman with light brown hair. Her pronouns are she/her. She was born in Dublin, raised in Cornwall and now lives in London.
Niamh does something different every day but mostly loves dreaming up the future of Hospital Rooms. She builds projects, generates funding, monitors our impact and plans for the long term. Niamh is a curator who began her career on the front desk at Hauser & Wirth, worked for Nick Knight at SHOWstudio and has undertaken a variety of independent projects. She has always been fascinated by the ways in which the arts can drive social change. Niamh likes essay collections – a recent favourite is All We Can Save by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K Wilkinson. She likes getting blown around on the Cornish coast.
Tim Shaw
Co-Founder
Tim is a tall man with brown hair and eyes. He lives in London, grew up in Kent and had Welsh, Scottish and Pakistani grandparents. He has Tourettes Syndrome so has some frequent facial and body tics. His pronouns are he/him.
Tim started the charity with Niamh. He raises funds for the projects and works with the different teams on how to deliver their projects. Tim is an artist and makes installations, light sculptures and paintings. He started his career in the arts as an Art Technician and ran his own art installation company for 10 years. With Niamh, outside of Hospital Rooms, he runs an art prize for exceptional emerging artists. He authored a book called Draw & Be Happy. He eats a Mars Ice Cream every day.
“The artwork that Hospital Rooms created on our Phoenix ward really engaged our patients, carers and staff.
We are really pleased to be working with them again on this exciting project. The environment you are in has
a considerable impact on your well-being.This project is an opportunity to breathe new life into the old Recovery College whilst work is being completed on building our brand new college facilities which will be ready in 2020.
We are keen to ensure that our new facilities carry on this exciting relationship with art and recovery.”
Thank You
This project was supported by a wide variety of partners without whom it would not be possible. We are very grateful to: South West London and St George’s Trust, Arts Council England, and Colart