CAMH Announces Five Therapeutic Art Installation Projects as Part of Queen Street Redevelopment

When CAMH announced it would transform its historical Queen Street site into the mental health facility of the future, its vision and plan for the current phase of the redevelopment project included provisions to commission and display art in public places as a way to promote patient recovery and engage the surrounding community.

Today, CAMH is proud to announce the first five therapeutic art installation projects and artists as part of this transformational project. The five artists and projects are:

• Dan Bergeron - teaching kitchen frit, McCain Complex Care and Recovery Building
• Niall McClelland - glazing frit, main lobby stairway, McCain Complex Care and Recovery Building
• Alex McLeod - digital media wall, library, McCain Complex Care and Recovery Building
• Sean Patenaude - video/photography/documentary, both new buildings
• Nathan Whitford - light art, both new buildings

Learn more about each of the projects.

In 2016, CAMH put a call out to local artists to commission 10 architecturally-integrated, public-facing pieces for prominent places inside and outside of the two new hospital buildings currently under construction, as well as 24 stand-alone pieces for corridors and waiting areas. The hospital received more than 300 responses to the call.

Each submission received was evaluated by the CAMH Artist Selection Panel. Finalists were invited to submit their designs to a technical panel for review, and then present their concepts to a jury, who made the final selection.

“CAMH recognizes the healing power of art and we wanted to resource our new hospital buildings with art installations that would promote recovery for patients, and also integrate with the neighbourhood in a way that would help reduce stigma,” said Dr. Ivan Silver, CAMH’s Vice President, Education and Chair, CAMH Art Reference Group. “We also really wanted to encourage submissions from local artists and artists with lived experience of mental illness and I’m pleased to say we achieved that objective.”

Dan Bergeron is a Toronto-based artist whose mother was diagnosed and lived with bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia for over 40 years. That personal connection heavily influenced his ceramic frit piece, titled Support. The piece takes the visual of a common household chair and explores it within the context of CAMH’s purpose and its patients hope.

“The purpose of a chair is to support a person in a comfortable, upright position that allows them to focus on thought, food, conversation, rest or work. It’s freeing,” says Bergeron. “With Support, I wanted to show how the chair also symbolizes the support that CAMH provides for patients and the ultimate goal of the patient to be able to support oneself.”

The process to select the next five installation pieces is currently underway and will be announced before the end of 2018. All 10 installation pieces will be on display for the public’s enjoyment when the new buildings open in 2020. The 24 stand-alone pieces will be selected early in 2019.