Emily Thomas, an artist by training, is the CW+ Arts Manager at West Middlesex University Hospital. In this video, Emily talks about Drawn in Residence – an innovative programme, supported by the Tavolozza Foundation, designed to encourage drawing at the front line of care.Â
Watch the video or read the transcript below.Â
Emily Thomas, Arts Manager at West Middlesex University Hospital, explains how the Drawn in Residence programme opens the door to meaningful conversations, offering valuable insights into patients’ needs and experiences
Emily’s story: transcript
I’m Emily Thomas. I was an artist on our Drawn in Residence programme at CW+ in 2021, and I’m now Arts Manager for our West Middlesex site and I manage the Drawn in Residence programme.
Using drawing as a tool for communication
Drawn in Residence is a programme designed to actively encourage drawing at the front line of care in our hospitals, so we support artists to facilitate and deliver projects, interacting with patients and using drawing as a tool for communication.
From the moment that an artist asks a patient, ‘Can I spend some time sitting with you and drawing you?’, you really open the door for what can be a really powerful conversation and a really powerful interaction between the artist and the patient, and it can really provide an accessible kind of distraction while the patient is probably going through a really challenging and difficult time in the hospital. It really opens up a door to talk about the environment and the experience that that patient is having that can then be conveyed through drawing.
The artist is able to spend prolonged periods of time in the space and build up a real relationship with patients who might be going to that space on a regular basis, or may have stayed there for a while.
We’ve had really positive feedback from patients who’ve had that experience with an artist.
Improving the hospital environment
It’s also meant that the conversation that’s happened through the artist speaking to the patient has allowed us to identify needs or gaps in the provision of the environment for the patient and what we could improve in that space. We’ve been able to identify where there might be practical things that are needed, such as tables in a treatment area or artwork on the walls, and we’ve actually been able to then deliver that following the presence of the artist on the unit.
The presence of drawing artists at both hospitals has really improved the experience for staff. They’re always incredibly welcoming of our artists on the ward or department and it allows them to get on with what they need to do with patient care. For the patient, having the artist present is a positive distraction.
I’d never drawn in a hospital setting before, but it was so incredibly valuable – the interactions that I had with patients and staff, and my understanding of how a hospital functioned and the roles that were within it, were really, really shaped by the Drawn in Residence experience.
The future of the programme
The next chapter of Drawn in Residence will be to continue to support emerging artists through universities to have this springboard opportunity to come to site, do a residency and really expand their practice. We want to keep doing that because it really opens the door to arts in health as a sector.
When I was a Drawn in Residence artist, I had no idea that I would end up in the position that I am now, and I want to carry on facilitating that opportunity for the other artists, and ultimately increase the awareness of what we do and how young artists can get involved in that and utilise drawing to be part of that.
It’s incredibly important to support our Arts in Health programme. Not only would you be supporting the delivery of the outcome of work, whatever that may be, in a ward or department, but you’re also helping to support the people behind it. By donating to and supporting the Drawn in Residence programme, for example, you’re supporting the development of an early-career artist, you’re helping to widen the access to arts in health and ultimately helping us to continue doing what we do.
Since 2019, Drawn in Residence has enabled artists to use drawing to communicate, enhancing the hospital environment and improving the wellbeing of staff, patients and visitors.Â
Please do not reproduce without permission.
Support emerging artists in healthcare
Help early-career artists gain experience in the hospital environment and create moments of connection, comfort and inspiration.
