Spread the Word!

In 2020, I was commissioned to design five inpatient waiting room screens for the new Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran. I wanted to celebrate the beautiful and diverse landscapes of Gwent and to encourage its communities to experience this first hand by creating  a visual diary, montaged into the glass designs. I began by taking walks within the health board jurisdiction and recording my journeys in photographs and sketches. Each design displays a visual record of these Gwent walks and includes a historic map, a background pattern of hooped shapes, and a vista or distinctive skyline visible at each location, together with other smaller details. The screens have very different colour schemes and moods which reflects the character of each walk route and by virtue of this gives each waiting area a different and distinctive feel designed to assist way- finding within the hospital.

The ground floor records a walk on the Gwent Levels at the RSPB reserve near Newport, and utilises imagery gathered on that day, including pollarded willows, reeds, a murmeration of starlings (to be rendered in silver), and the Shrill Carder Bee, which is only found in seven areas in the UK, and is a priority species for conservation. I have also included a botanical drawing of Wolffia weed or duckweed (which produces the smallest flowers on the planet) and a list of all the species of bird recorded at the time of my visit.

The first floor screen illustrates my walk around Llanfoist and the Brecknock & Abergavenny Canal, and shows a vista of the Blorenge mountain seen through the wetland-tolerant tree species of willow and alder, which were used to make lock gates and pier pilings for the canal. There are also botanical drawings of the King Cup water lilies, moorhens and mallards, which are placed along a watercolour diagram of the canal.

The second floor depicts a walk from Tintern Abbey to Brockweir along the banks of the Wye, and features the fronds of the willows which grow along the river banks, a kingfisher, reeds, a map of the area and barges

heading along the river. The predominant colour scheme and softness of light is reminiscent of JMW Turner’s painting of Tintern Abbey from the river Wye.

The third floor records my walk around the post-industrial landscape of Blaenavon. The dominant feature is Coity tip, created during the working life of Big Pit. Such tips were once familiar sights in the area, but are now important wildlife reserves. Along the walk, the wildflower meadows glinted in the evening light and the heathers turned the landscape purple. The design contains images of the wildflowers, a map of the area, Coity Tip, botanical drawings of elderflower, gorse and heather, together with the Golden Ringed Dragonfly (which can be seen around the ponds) and the Dipper bird.

The fourth floor represents a walk around Pontypool Park, a 150-acre landscape of mature trees, meadowland, lakes and gardens. The park was formerly the grounds of Pontypool House which was laid out in the closing years of the 17th century for the Ironmaster John Hanbury. The screens show a collage of trees in flower against images of the Afon Lwyd, which flows along the western border of the park. There is also a map of the area and icons which reference the shells seen in the 19th century shell grotto, botanical drawings of the sweet chestnut trees (originally grown to provide charcoal) and the faint outlines of the deer which once roamed the park.