In 2011-12, Angela Kingston worked as an associate of Willis Newson, an arts consultancy specialising in hospitals. With them, she curated art collections for the ocular, nuclear and endoscopy departments of The London Clinic. The collections include artworks by Stephen Chambers, Gina Glover, Neeta Madahar, Simon Roberts and Sophy Rickett.
She previously curated a glass panel by artist Shelagh Wakely for the entrance of Beckenham Beacon, a health centre in Kent. This was commissioned by NHS manager Heather Bruce and arts consultant Josie Aston (2009).
The images show the finished panel by Shelagh Wakely, plus working drawings and a photograph showing the previous, popular, ivy-clad hospital which inspired the artist’s design. The panel also serves as an entrance sign.
From 1998 to 2005, Angela Kingston worked as a curator and arts consultant on several art schemes at The Cancer Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, from 1998 to 2005. She curated a collection of photographs and paintings – including by Antoni Malinowski, Carol Robertson, Helen Sear and Trevor Sutton – for the main waiting area in 2005. Prior to that, she curated/co-curated artworks for this hospital during two phases of its construction: a video ‘Mknki’ by Alnoor Dewshi; radiotherapy treatment gowns by Rebecca Earley; an artist’s garden by Richard Harris; a forty-part photographic installation, ‘Last Year…’ in corridor spaces by Sharon Kivland; a photographic installation for a day room by Alice Maude-Roxby; ‘Florid Moon’, a tapestry by Jennie Moncur; sculptures for a stairwell by Cleo Mussi; a direct wall painting for a staff stairwell by Richard Wright; an installation for a radiotherapy treatment room by David Ward; and an artwork for an adjoining waiting area by Simon Faithfull. These artworks were commissioned by oncologist Dr Michael Cullen and arts manager Alison Chute.
In David Ward’s installation in a radiotherapy treatment room, patients walk along a narrow corridor, past lightboxes with images of comets. They then turn and face an image of the Milky Way. David Ward worked closely with staff to decide on images etc. The artwork encourages an outward-looking perspective within the narrow confines of what is essentially a concrete bunker, and makes a positive link with high-tech equipment via the world of space exploration.
Simon Faithfull drew the skyline around Birmingham, using a Palm Pilot, a simple digital device. His drawings were then etched onto linoleum panels and installed in a waiting area that is windowless and little more than a corridor. The strong colours help give the waiting area an identity and patients like to pick out popular local landmarks