News / 13 Dec 2024
Foundation Diploma alumna awarded Paris residency
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design alumna, Fiona Grady, was the Retina artist in residence at Centre Hospitalier National d’Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts (The 15-20 National Hospital) in Paris.
The 15-20 National Hospital has developed an ambitious cultural policy to improve the hospital environment for patients, visitors and teams, and a key component of that objective is delivered by the establishment of the Retina artist residency. Through the support and curation of Arthur Bessaud, founder of the Galerie Bessaud, the hospital allows artists to have a production studio and for the visibility of their works within its spaces dedicated to meeting and exchanging social ties around art.
Fiona was provided with an apartment and a well provisioned studio in Bastille and spent a month developing new artworks and collaborating with the staff of the Ophthalmology Consultation Center and the Retina Center.
"I had a wonderful time exploring all that the city has to offer whilst making art and working with the team at the specialist eye hospital. Thank you so much to Arthur, Chloe, Celine and the team at 15-20 for welcoming me to the city, and to Aslan for their generous support of the project."
Fiona Grady, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design alumna
Through a series of workshops, Fiona explored how to introduce art interventions into the waiting rooms to make them more hospitable spaces; with the aim of improving the daily lives of the people visiting or working there. Resulting in three large-scale vinyl artworks which Fiona installed across the windows of the related departments.
"The third and final artwork 'Coloured Droplets / Gouttelettes Colorées' is installed in the patient waiting area for what is known as the 'injection room'. Here patients are administered treatments that are injected into their eyes. Based on the feedback from the staff, I created a design made from colourful droplet shapes that slide down the windows. The artwork is an uplifting intervention for the clinical setting and an important enhancement to the space."
Fiona Grady, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design alumna