Background:

Duke’s Children’s Health Center offers outpatient services (including oncology) in a newly constructed 250,000 sq. ft. facility.

Challenges:

• A tight six-month time frame in which to commission, execute and install site-specific art in public and inpatient spaces.
• Artworks had to conform to a specific theme developed by the interior designer: Music, Dance, Fine Art, Film.
• The organization wanted the participation of area schools.
• Artworks had to reflect the demographics of the locality, which includes a mix of ethnic groups that includes African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.

Results:

After a review with Duke, we quickly commissioned artists to execute works for the various themes in locations throughout the facility. The major artwork for the lobby’s four-story, meandering, light-filled atrium, is a kinetic sculpture of feathers dyed orange, yellow and red mounted on stainless steel wheels. Suspended on fine stainless steel cording, the wheels twirl slowly, some clockwise, others counter-clockwise. When seen from the ground floor, the slow turning of the wheels commands attention and delights the eye. To the viewer ascending in an elevator, their shapes change gradually from slivers to ovals to full circles.

Another visual enhancement in this area is a Plexiglas-enclosed display of a series of small primitive musical instruments that were decorated with wild acrylic patterns by the children from one of the local elementary schools.

In the public waiting area on the second floor, the space is enlivened by wall-mounted reliefs of musical instruments crafted in brightly colored plastic, wood and vinyl. On the third floor, a series of hand-carved, painted wood figures of little girls pose in various ballet positions. And on the fourth floor, there is a series of works that use skateboards as canvases, each with the artist’s personal pop iconography. Elsewhere, installations of commissioned textiles add color, warmth and texture to the interiors.

In the waiting-room area of a surgical clinic, a work titled, “Ship,” sails illusionistically and majestically towards the viewer. For other patient treatment areas, artwork was created by students in the area’s public and private schools. Using archival materials and working (loosely) with themes that we formulated, each child not only created a unique work, but wrote a short encouraging message underneath his or her image. And so it was: was children encouraging other children back to health.

This project is exemplary of our ability to respond quickly and work efficiently. The project was smoothly executed, within budget, using artists from various geographic areas, along with selected local artists. Through the participation of local galleries and schoolchildren, the community was involved in creating a singularly pleasant and reassuring environment.