Rebirth Event, Rose Strang. Picture by: Steve Bould. Sentinel News. 2009

The Cockenzie Power Station demolition got me thinking about projects past – in 2009 I organised a public art project in response to the demolition of the maternity hospital in Stoke on Trent, and the building of a new centre. It involved hospital staff, local artists, mums-to-be and many families in Stoke on Trent.

The demolition of public buildings is often emotionally affecting and it’s a poetically charged theme creatively, so the challenge was to harness those thoughts and feelings while surrounded by acres of red tape, then bring the project to completion, to a short deadline, on a minimal budget!

NHS arts projects, or indeed any public art project, are challenging endeavours, usually hemmed in by bureacracy and conflicting interests, yet this was in many ways one of the most rewarding projects I’ve been involved in.

You can read about it in this article for Public Art Scotland on this link – Journeys Toward ‘Rebirth’