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December 1, 2008
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital benefits from Alcoa gift
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Alcoa of Australia has today donated 36 artworks from its corporate collection to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH) in Perth – in line with its core value to make access to the arts a reality for all.
The artworks, valued at around $75,000, include four pieces by well known West Australian artists Elizabeth Durack and William Boissevain.
Alcoa’s Director of Business Development Bill Reid, who formally donated the works at a special ceremony this morning, said the famous pieces of art deserved to be shared with the wider community.
“We strive to make access to the arts a reality for everyone and this donation was one way of doing that,” he said.
“At Alcoa, we aim to help build stronger communities. We believe creative communities are stronger communities and in order to achieve that art is essential.”
Alcoa Managing Director Alan Cransberg said: “We employ more than five thousand people in Western Australia, so many of our people or their families are likely to have contact with the hospital at some stage in their life.”
“It’s our hope that the artwork will help lift the spirits of the patients and their loved ones and help provide a more healing environment,” Mr Cransberg said.
SCGH Art Curator, Joanna Wakefield, said research into the benefits of art in hospitals was ongoing, but it was fair to say that any images which improve emotional well-being during often difficult and stressful times can only have a positive effect.
“Displaying such works is in keeping with the hospital’s increasingly holistic approach to patient care,” she said.
“It is through the generosity of corporations such as Alcoa and private individuals that the Hospital’s collection has swelled to almost 700 artworks - the display of which calms, lifts mood and inspires patients and staff alike.
“It is especially an honour to present four highly regarded Western Australian works for the appreciation of the hundreds of thousands of Western Australians who attend the hospital for treatment, work or to visit friends and relatives each year,” said Ms Wakefield.
Some of the donated Alcoa artworks are on display for public viewing in the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Art Gallery E Block, Nedlands, until early next year. Following that, a number of pieces will be hung in the oncology unit and in the wards throughout the hospital.
- ENDS -
The artworks donated to SCGH are:
• William Boissevain - “Bullsbrook” 1971
• William Boissevain - “Girl in a Hat”
• Elizabeth Durack - “Small Wren with Nest” 1980
• Elizabeth Durack - “Two Possums with Dryandra” 1980
• Elizabeth Durack - “Honey Possums and Banksia” 1980
• Vanessa Messig - “Bird Series” 1992 (14 watercolours)
• Ignacio Jose Marmol - “Clipeus”
• George Wilkinson - “The Cattle Drovers”
• Dzidra Lux - “In the Forest”
• Mae O’Halloran - “Shothole Canyon, Cape Range”
• Maureen Foster - “Warrunjie”
• Alexander Edgar Hills - “The Fisherman and His Son, Wilsons Inlet”
• Mary Jane Malet - “Yachts, Peppermint Grove”
• Clifford Dudley Wood - “Through the Stanley Chasm”
• Tor Holt “Droving Across the Divide”
• Maurice M Kennedy “Summer Gold, Wanneroo”
• Charles Frank Norton “Warburton”
• Loyal Greenwood “Chinese Dragon”
• Geoff Masters “The Weavers Bend”
• John Brunsdon “Sunset over Castner-Kellner”
• Mary Victoria Talbot “The Emperor”
• Tony McColin “Au Commencement Dieu Uio le Ciel et le”
• Artist Unknown “Red Tailed Black Cockatoo”
Background:
Alcoa invests more than $6 million dollars on partnerships in Australia every year, with one of its partnership portfolios being “Arts for Everyone.” This includes support of the Perth International Arts Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival and Sculpture by the Sea at Cottesloe and Bondi.
Alcoa has been donating its corporate art collection, which in total was valued at close to $3 million, since 2002. In that year the company donated one of Sidney Nolan’s most ambitious and significant paintings, Landscape (Salt Lake) c.1966, to the National Gallery of Victoria. In 2005, Alcoa donated six works to the National Gallery of Australia including Jeffrey Smart's Waiting for the train c.1970 and Playground at Piraeus c.1970; Robert Juniper's Ferns and flowers c.1968; Ray Crooke's Ant hill country, Laura c.1969 and Landscape with rocks in the foreground c.1968 and Fred Williams' Landscape 1977.
Alcoa media contact: Sarah Tempest 0404 800 417
SCGH media contact: Kristen Taylor 0406 428 701
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