ARBROATH.- Hospitalfield is an exceptional resource for contemporary artists and local and international audiences in Arbroath, Scotland. A place to work, study, learn, visit and enjoy, it has been undergoing a visionary new redevelopment - the first elements of which were revealed to the public from 27 May 2021 alongside a major new outdoor art work by Mick Peter, the first of a series of artist commissions to be unveiled in 2021.
Hospitalfield plans to restore key elements of the iconic site over the next five years. First to launch will be the new garden and restored 19th century fernery and a glass house café. In response to the 800 year horticultural history of the site at Hospitalfield, the Garden will open alongside the newly restored fernery and glass house cafe designed by Stirling Prize Winning Architects Caruso St John, their first project in Scotland. The cafe run by award winning chef Simon Brown will serve locally sourced menus and produce grown and harvested in the garden. Cafe interiors have also been designed by artists, including a new series of tables by Mick Peter in collaboration with ThreeFourFive Furniture.
The £11m Future Plan which will see a restoration of the 19th century Arts & Craft house and studios including a newly developed garden inside Hospitalfield’s distinctive double Walled Garden, designed by Nigel Dunnett. Residential facilities for artists include the 19th century purpose built artist studios and a renovation of the historic house and new gallery and visitor centre will also follow in the coming years.
The new young garden will be in full bloom later this summer and features a sustainable planting design to promote self-seeding. The garden design will also reflect it’s monastic origins with space also for cultivating fruit and vegetables for the glass house cafe. Artists looking to add a growing element to their work will also be able to make the most out of plots within the garden whilst on residency.
The restoration of the Victorian fernery originally designed by Patrick Allan Fraser in the late 1800s sees the return of a roof and a managed fern collection for the first time in almost 100 years. The fernery with a new glass roof designed by Caruso St John will see over 20 types of fern gifted by Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh now taking root at Hospitalfield.
The 2021 artistic programme at Hospitalfield launched on 27th May with a series of outdoor sculptures by Mick Peter with further exhibitions, performances and screenings across the year.
Peter’s Gerroff! (or User Feedback) are scenes that create a narrative trail at Hospitalfield. The lifesize sculptures address in a humorous way, the ‘rules’ of engagement with art. Peter’s playful installations often incorporate imagery influenced by newspaper cartoons and his sculptures appear as enlarged drawings, remarkable in their sculptural flatness, which wittily undermine the significance and authority of sculpture whilst at the same time being an affectionate nod to this tradition. His work has most recently been seen in a major solo exhibition at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Gerroff! (or User Feedback) is the Hospitalfield Annual Sculpture Commission for 2021. At Hospitalfield the works are being experienced outside in Hospitalfield’s grounds.
New commissions have been initiated through Hospitalfield’s Studio Time programme across the rest of 2021 and into 2022 will also include works by: Jade Montserrat, Luke Pell, Hanna Tuulikki, Rehana Zaman and Sally Hackett. The Studio Time commissioning model has been devised by Hospitalfield for the current times we are in, as artists need organisations to take a new view on how they work with artists. The commissioning process includes funding over a number of months to enable artists to take time in the studio to work on the early stages of their commission. In turn, this gives Hospitalfield time to support the commission to completion.
In summer 2021, Hospitalfield will also open The Judges lll; a vast work by Christina Mackie, held in the collection of Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery. Originally made in 2013 to be installed within the Museum’s picture galleries, Mackie will install the work afresh in the Hospitalfield vast 19th century Picture Gallery, where it will be seen in Scotland for the first time.
Hospitalfield, nestled 15 miles north of Dundee in rural Angus, was originally the project of artist Patrick Allan-Fraser and his wife Elizabeth. Between 1843 and 1890, on the site of a 12th century Benedictine monastery, they created their alluring and highly crafted architectural vision. From 1901, following Patrick’s death, through close affiliation with art colleges in Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, Hospitalfield became a meeting point for many generations of artists, teachers and art students from across Scotland and beyond - and so it remains today.
Since 2012, Hospitalfield has been led by Director Lucy Byatt, who, along with her team, is moving forward ambitious plans to build a bright and exciting future for the site, through the forthcoming capital investment and an ambitious contemporary art programme. Exhibitions or commissions since 2012 have included Rachel Adams, Graham Fagan, Tamara Henderson, Lubaina Himid, France-Lise McGurn and Sekai Machache. The institution also runs an internationally respected residency programme, with previous residents including Adam Benmakhlouf, Chris Fite-Wassilak, Jade Montserrat, Cinzia Mutigli, Patrick Staff, Hardeep Pandhal, Kate V Robertson and Alberta Whittle. Hospitalifield also hosts teaching and workshops, including the Free Drawing School, and continues to develop its own art collection.
