Art program
Our Hospitals have vibrant art programs to make our wards, clinical areas and meeting spaces welcoming and visually interesting for children and young people of all ages, their families, carers and staff.
We offer a range of opportunities throughout the year to engage with the art program including competitions, patient-led exhibitions, exhibitions by visiting artists ad printable art activities. Together with the Department of Education, we host the Operation Art program, where art created for our patients by school-age children is acquired as part of the permanent art collection, after finalists are exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW.
Why have art in a hospital?
Art transforms the hospital into an environment to be explored, by filling the corridors and waiting areas with vibrant and colourful artworks we hope to create spaces which comfort and engage children and young people. In offering a creative diversion from the clinical nature of a hospital, we hope to address not just the physical recovery of our patients but also their emotional and mental well-being.
The permanent collection
Visitors to the Hospital are welcomed by a display of over 2000 artworks from our permanent collection featuring examples of painting, sculpture, photography, works on paper and limited edition prints.
A number of well-known modern and contemporary Australian artists are represented in the collection, and there is also a strong representation of Aboriginal artists from across Australia.
Artists including; Malcolm Jagamarra, Gloria Petyarre, Margaret Olley, Elisabeth Cummings, Peter Kingston, Tim Storrier, Charles Blackman, Maclean Edwards and Kerrie Lester are hung alongside the incredible artworks by NSW school students submitted through the Operation Art program.
Our collection has been built over almost three decades of donations from artists and benefactors. The majority of the collection was assembled by Joanna Capon OAM, who was Honorary Curator for 20 years and utilised her art world contacts to create one of NSW’s most remarkable public art collections. We are registered as a public gallery with the Cultural Gifts Program, administered by the Federal Government's Department of Communications and the Arts.