Public Art

The works currently in the building include: 

‘Ecbolic Garden, Winter’

By Christine Borland, 2001
50 Hand blown glass vessels containing bleached plants & roots preserved in alcohol solution.

‘Ecbolic Garden, Winter’

The artist made this work while researching the existence of a possible Mediaeval ‘physic’ garden in the environs of Glasgow University. The plants used – birthwort, dropwort, marigolds, winter savory, wild parsnip, forking larkspur, juniper, penny-royal, hogs-fennel and asplenium were all annotated in a pocket version of what was, at the time, the most important book detailing the possible medicinal application of plants – Leonhart Fuchs ‘De Historia Stirpium Commentari Insignes’ (‘Significant notes on the History of Plants’, 1542). At the time, all of the plants were thought to relate to midwifery, although we are now familiar with them for different reasons; as common weeds, for culinary purposes or for their association with homeopathic medicine. Using a technique employed in 19th Century ‘Spirit Collections’ each plant specimen was initially placed in a bleaching agent, draining the colour from the leaves to reveal the “skeleton”. It is then preserved and presented in an alcohol solution.

3 works by Toby Paterson

(from left to right as viewed in the Centre for Health Science)
‘New Façade’     ‘Sunny Blunts’     ‘Park Hill’
Silkscreen prints, 2003

Toby Patterson was born in Glasgow in 1974 and still lives and works in the city. He studied at Glasgow School of Art. He has exhibited widely both in this country and abroad and his work has been commissioned for several new public buildings such as the new BBC headquarters in Glasgow and the University of Aberdeen. In 20020 he won the prestigious Becks Futures prize for visual arts.