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.
Image: ‘Mirage’ by Ade Adesina
Welcome to the thirteenth blog post from the Collection Technicians!
“I’m proud to be part of the Art in Healthcare collection, where even a monochrome print can offer a steadying breath in a place that holds so much feeling. Knowing that my work can bring a moment of quiet or clarity to someone moving through a challenging day gives it a life far beyond the studio. Their remarkable commitment to weaving art into healthcare spaces turns ordinary corridors into gentler terrain. I’m grateful that my piece can stand among others carrying that purpose. It’s an honour to have my work contribute, even softly, to the wellbeing of those who pass by it.”- Ade Adesina
This week is mental health awareness week and inspired by this quote above Ade Adesina we wanted to focus this week’s blog on their artwork titled Mirage.
Ade Adesina creates large scale linocut, etching and woodwork prints as well as sculptures and painting. His work focuses on climate change and the ever-changing state of nature in the world today. His emphasis on the environment is tied together with a temporal understanding, affirming memory while drawing our attention to the modern changing world.
The climate is changing rapidly and Adesina’s large scale work creates an intricate mirror for us to look at and reflect. Ade Adesina was born in Nigeria and studied Fine Art at Greys School of Art in Aberdeen, where he still creates his work today. His motifs make up a larger narrative and story. Adesina says he wants to push the possibilities of linocut by using etching techniques, which creates tone rather than the stark contrast often seen in linocut prints.
Mirage shows the Firth of Forth Estuary, set in an iconic composition. However, unlike many other artworks showing a similar scene, Adesina depicts fish farms in the foreground reminding us of the realities of human influence on nature.
The quote from Adesina above is a beautiful thought-provoking way of describing the importance of art in healthcare settings. The corridors can now become brief moments away from difficult or long days thanks to Ade Adesina and so many other artists we’re lucky to have in our collection.
“My message is to capture the romance of something one has seen”
His paintings are all about looking, noticing and documenting. From certain colours he wants to remember to his favourite gardens, the act of noticing and looking at the world is what Michie’s paintings ask us to remember to do.
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
13 May 2026 by
Amy Miles