The Model initiated a unique Arts & Health project at Sligo University Hospital’s new offsite ward at St John’s in 2026, creating opportunities for patients and staff to engage with an artist during their hospital stay.

The project began when The Model reached out to the hospital to explore how the significant arts and health work already undertaken across nursing homes in Sligo could be extended into a busy clinical environment.

For patients spending long periods in hospital, time can be repetitive and isolating. Through simple, accessible creative activities, the project offered an opportunity to step outside the routine of care and treatment, engage the imagination, and make space for curiosity and creativity.

Artist Andy Parsons led the project, drawing on his extensive experience working in Arts and Health contexts. Responding to the practical realities of an acute hospital environment, including limited space and infection-control requirements, the artist developed flexible activities using watercolour, collage, pencil and clay. There was no expectation of a finished artwork or outcome; the emphasis was on participation, curiosity and individual expression.

Shauna Horan, Clinical Nurse Manager at the Medical Offsite Ward, said:

“Despite some obstacles, including outbreaks and reduced staffing, we feel the project was very successful and thoroughly enjoyed by both patients and staff. It was lovely to see some of the artwork displayed on the ward, and some of our patients who are here for an extended period participated multiple times in the classes. It was so lovely to have an activity for them to do in the evenings, as it can be a long day in here for some of our patients.”

Reflecting on the project, artist Andy Parsons said:

“Small pockets of time spent away from the ward undertaking art-based activities can change the tone of a patient’s day, and improve their whole experience of staying in hospital. The potential of this transformative work is enormous, and demands as much energy and focus as artists and institutions can give to it.”

Even a small artistic intervention can meaningfully shift the experience of a hospital environment, creating moments of creativity, connection and agency through simple acts of making. The St John’s project demonstrated the value of bringing artists into places where art has to negotiate its space, offering meaningful encounters and creative possibilities for both patients and staff in the midst of a long hospital day.

In relation to his own practice, Andy found that the project further confirmed the relational potential of practical art activities and slow looking, while also reaffirming the wider value and potential of arts in health within hospital settings.

This project was generously funded by Sligo County Council and the Creative Ireland Programme 2023–2027. It was developed in partnership with staff at Sligo University Hospital, with support from the hospital’s Research & Education Foundation.

Andy Parsons’ practice combines working in community contexts with making drawing, sculpture and painting. Projects have focused on people and places, and on activities where people work together and help each other. He has worked in a Community Care setting for older people, Mental Health Inpatients, and a community boatbuilding project in the Sligo docks.

Andy Parsons has received several significant awards, including the Pollock Krasner Foundation Award. He has exhibited in exhibitions internationally, with solo shows in London and Tokyo.