Curating the art at Canberra Hospital with Jenny McFarlane and Paul Summerfield

By Kerry-Anne Cousins
Updated June 23 2015 - 11:08am, first published June 17 2015 - 2:11pm
Paul Summerfield's <i>Dreaming of the Sky Aquarium</i> (detail). Print on vinyl. At the adolescent ward in Canberra Hospital. Photo: Supplied
Paul Summerfield's <i>Dreaming of the Sky Aquarium</i> (detail). Print on vinyl. At the adolescent ward in Canberra Hospital. Photo: Supplied
Paul Summerfield's <i>Dreaming of the Sky Aquarium</i> (detail). Print on vinyl. At the adolescent ward in Canberra Hospital. Photo: Supplied
Paul Summerfield's <i>Dreaming of the Sky Aquarium</i> (detail). Print on vinyl. At the adolescent ward in Canberra Hospital. Photo: Supplied

Jenny McFarlane is full of enthusiasm about her job as curator of Arts in Health at Canberra Hospital. McFarlane is responsible for commissioning and co-ordinating the art at the hospital and making the partnership between the artist and the hospital happen. McFarlane says that, in her previous roles as art curator (at Canberra Museums and Galleries, and the ACT Assembly), she represented the voice of the artist. But in this role, McFarlane is conscious of  her prime responsibility being to the audience, that is  the patients and staff of the hospital.