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 sixth blog post from the Collection Technicians.
Giulia and I were in the store on Friday, we were at a point in the day where we were waiting for things to dry having just finished sanding and painting three frames. Whilst waiting I decided to take a deep dive into the collection database, going page by page looking at all the pieces we have. The database is a really great way to research the collection, there are almost two thousand pieces catalogued.
I was scrolling through the online collection when I noticed the name Andy Goldsworthy. I immediated got excited to see what the artwork was and so did Giulia, we located the piece ‘Sweet Chestnut Leaf Hole’ and placed it on some foam blocks. The piece is an amazing example of Andy Goldsworthy’s work which often features non-permanent interventions in nature. A reoccurring motif in his work is circles, often created using leaves. These circles can be made by arranging leaves in a certain way or in this case Goldsworthy has carefully cut a hole into this group of chestnut leaves. The accompanying image shows the hole from further away with a note underneath letting us know where the piece is located.
Images: ‘Sweet Chestnut Leaf Hole’ by Andy Goldsworthy.
Andy Goldsworthy is a British land artist and sculptor who often makes work placed within the landscape. His most recent exhibition in Edinburgh had largescale natural sculptures in an indoor setting. Goldsworthy hoped that this juxtaposition would help to draw attention to the landscapes around us, large and small. One piece in this exhibition was a large installation of barbed wire. This towering wall looked almost like lace from a far. Andy said of this piece, “That is the British landscape, once you get up close, that is the difficult bit, the thorny bit, the challenging bit.”1
I could see this thought process being applied to ‘Sweet Chestnut Leaf Hole’ Goldsworthy is asking us to look closer. The first image could be easily looked over as a photograph of a hedge, and it’s not until Goldsworthy shows us in the second image his tiny circle sculpture cut into the leaves that we see what he is trying to say. There are things to see all around us if we look closely.
Our two works had a little bit of damage on the frames, so we set out to repair them. We sanded the sections back, glued and clamped them together, and finished with a little bit of wax to make it all blend in. Both frames are now good as new and ready to be exhibited!
Image: Work being done to repair the frame of Andy Goldsworthy’s ‘Sweet Chestnut Leaf Hole’.
1 Andy Goldsworthy, Fifty Years, National Galleries of Scotland Film
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
4 March 2026 by
Amy Miles