Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund Scotland, Caring for the Collection is a project that will focus on Art in Healthcare’s vast art collection, enabling us to undertake a programme of maintenance and conservation of artworks currently in our art store.
We are delighted to have the support to recruit two technical roles, who will be dedicated to working with collection artworks and improving how they are stored safely. In November, we appointed Giulia Gentili, our Technician, who brings several years of experience working with a wide range of artists and organisations as an art technician, fabricator and artist.
Followed by the recruitment of our Collection Technician Apprentice, Mina Brennan, who will work closely alongside Giulia. Together, they will review, maintain and restore artworks, with the aim of placing them in hospitals, care homes and community spaces across Scotland. In addition to gaining hands on experience working with the collection, Mina will gain a Museum and Galleries Technician Modern Apprenticeship [SCQF level 7] qualification.
As part of this project, and to celebrate Art in Healthcare’s 35th Anniversary, Mina has launched a blog exploring 35 works from the Art in Healthcare Collection and her findings from her apprenticeship.
Welcome to the first blog post from the Collection Technicians!
Image to the left: Mina standing in front of ‘The Herring Quine’, Graham Fyfe, 1997, Art in Healthcare Collection.
Image to the right: Giulia standing in front of ‘Too Blue’, Fiona Scott, 1992, Art in Healthcare Collection.
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I’m Mina, the new Collection Technician Apprentice working with the Art in Healthcare Collection alongside Giulia Gentili, the Collection Technician. Giulia and I have been going through the artworks in the store archiving, reporting and repairing them one by one. This means we get to see pieces which may not have been seen in a little while.
Over the next year, we plan to share with you some of our findings each week. Throughout the year you will hear all about what we find as well as what we’ve been up to in the store. I hope you enjoy hearing all about it!
Image: ‘The Herring Quine’, Graham Fyfe, 1997.
We discovered the painting ‘The Herring Quine’ because we saw the top right-hand corner of the canvas and the colours and brush strokes looked exciting. You can see in the image below which colours were visible to us. The top right-hand corner shows a vibrant magenta layered on top of an ochre base.
Image: Top right hand corner of work (left) and detail of painted fish (right).
Once we had the painting out from storage we could step back and look at the full image.
First, we identified the vibrant red grouse, then the delicately painted fish in the bottom corner.
As we discussed what we thought the painting depicted the face of the ‘Quine’ appeared. Quine is a doric word spoken in the North East of Scotland meaning young woman. It is mostly used in and around the Aberdeen and Moray area where Graham Fyfe, the artist of the painting, grew up and studied. Fyfe left school at 16 and worked in the shipyards before attending Greys School of art which he graduated from in 1997. The back of the painting notes that ‘The Herring Quine’ was completed in his 4th year.
‘Herring Quines’ have had an important place in the fishing industry throughout the years, playing a vital role in the processing of fish. Graham’s own thoughts on the painting are centred around a wish to depict the strong grounded women he was surrounded by in his childhood. Discussing the painting he says, “for me it was only about my love and adoration for colour, scale and memories of one Herring Quine who made my childhood worthy and loving.”
Once the painting was out in the open, we could see what work needed to be done to conserve and get it ready for future display. Luckily the canvas itself is in excellent condition and the only work we will be carrying out is on the frame which needs a few small repairs before it looks brand new again. For now, ‘The Herring Quine’ has been carefully wrapped and place black in its spot in the store.
Caring for the Collection is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund Scotland.
Thanks to National Lottery players, we will be able to dedicate time to improve the condition of our artworks currently in our store, so that they will be able to be displayed in health and social care settings across Scotland.
Museum & Galleries Technician Modern Apprenticeship is supported by Museums Galleries Scotland provider of the apprenticeship, mentor and SCQF level 7
20 January 2026 by
Amy Miles