Art students create work for Suffolk mental health wards

Fine Art students at the University of Suffolk have created artwork for the walls of mental health wards in Suffolk to promote better health and wellbeing for service users.

The collaboration between Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and the Fine Art course at the University of Suffolk began with commissions for Lark and Poppy wards at Woodlands in Ipswich.

The ongoing partnership is now working on another artwork commission for the older adult ward, Willows, at Woodlands in Ipswich.

Kayleigh Brooks, a final year Fine Art student, has completed two panels for inside the ward and is due to work on two large panels for the exterior courtyard gardens.

Funds for the initial project were raised by service user Andrew Colley, who completed a sponsored walk around the coast of East Anglia in 2022.

Andrew has since completed another fundraiser, walking 200km in May from Southwest France over the Pyrenees and into Spain, towards enhancing ward environments at Wedgwood House in Bury St Edmunds.

The project has been co-ordinated by Senior Lecturer Jane Watt from the University of Suffolk and Lead Art Psychotherapist Maggie Batchelar at the Trust.

Maggie said: “The King’s Fund wrote about art in hospitals back in 2016 saying there is growing evidence to support the widely-held belief that art can influence the health and wellbeing of patients and staff in health care settings, something which goes way back in time to the Medieval period and 18th and 19th centuries.”

The project for Lark and Poppy Wards was influenced by arts charity Hospital Rooms, which embarked on its first project outside London at Woodlands in 2016 and has recently just seen the culmination a huge project at The Rivers Centre new wards at Hellesdon Hospital.

This joint partnership supports BA (Hons) Fine Art students as part of their second-year professional engagement module whereby they work with a range of organisations and community groups to develop art projects outside the university.

That work includes creating designs to a specific brief, pitching to the client and delivering the commission to a deadline.

Jane said: “The partnership with NSFT has given the students a chance to gain valuable professional experience and skills. For the commission with Woodlands, students visited the wards where possible and talked with patients and staff about the environment, to better inform their designs. This offered opportunities to bridge conversations about mental health and recovery.

“It’s a great experience for students, as not only are they developing their creative ideas but also considering how they integrate practical solutions into their work, tailored to real-world environments.”

Artworks for the first wave were created by students Diane Legg, Jacqueline Wright and Kayleigh Brooks. Kayleigh, who will graduate in the autumn, has just completed two artworks for Willows ward using acrylic on wood panels.

Kayleigh, from Peterborough, said: “I knew I wanted work that would provide calm to the space, I wanted to bring the outside world in, utilising summer colours.

“Through the process, some of the patients came up to me and said that art is really important, so I was able to show them mock-ups of what I had done so far, and the patients said they loved it. That was very emotional.

“It’s also been really important to give me that experience navigating a professional project, and it is artwork in a community-based space where all sorts of people will see it.”

Maggie added: “We hope that the relationship with University of Suffolk will be ongoing and continue to be of mutual benefit, to students and to our service users receiving care and staff working in these spaces, as well as championing the role that art can play in wellbeing and healthcare environments.”

Chief Patient Experience officer and Deputy CEO Cath Byford congratulated the artists on their work and welcome the collaboration with the university.

“It’s great to see NSFT working with other partners in their localities to enhance the experience of our service users. Art can have a huge effect on the environment on the wards and on the recovery of those who are being cared for,” she said.

To find out more about the Fine Art course at the University of Suffolk, visit the website here.