Spinal Accord by Jane Dorner

Spinal Accord is a glass installation by Jane Dorner who is an outpatient at this hospital. Using her own spinal injury as inspiration, as well as researching other conditions, she contrasts the unseen fragility of the construction of the human body with its inherent robustness. She uses glass, which - like bone - is both brittle and tough. The whole, being cradled in stainless steel, references in form and detail the tools and devices used in reconstructive surgery.

The installation is intended as an optimistic expression of vulnerability and recovery, which every viewer's own experience and imagination will augment. Every personal interpretation is as valid as the artist's, but for those who like to know where ideas come from, a few words of explanation may add meaning.

The spinal curve represents the thoracic and lumbar area and the 17 disks correspond to its 17 vertebrae, starting with the first cervical vertebra to the left. The design of the disks draws on X-rays of common orthopaedic problems, and abstracts from them. For example, T6 derives from Jane's own anterior wedging, T7 plays with surgical devices used to mend a collapsed vertebra, L1 uses a bone cyst as its starting point, L5 is based on knee replacement surgery, and several take the undulations of scoliosis to give licence to artistic expression.

Spinal Accord by Jane Dorner.

The glass technique is innovative. Jane makes an embryo form in pâte de verre - literally 'glass paste'. This is an ancient technique going back to the Egyptians and revived in the 19th century by art nouveau artists. Jane's work is entirely in the modern idiom. She 'paints' into a mould with finely crushed glass mixed with a binding material to create a paste. This is fired to fuse the glass. It is then removed from the mould, heated up again, picked up on a bubble of hot glass and fired in.

Jane said: "I like the happenstance of trying to predict the final effect. The initial pâte de verre form is a canvas for abstract painting. I then make use of the distortive qualities of the blowing, heating and shaping process to add dynamism and depth."

Jane is grateful to Matthew Lane Sanderson for the construction of the steel frame, to Steve Frey for help with cold-working the glass, and to the following glass-blowers with whom she worked: Potter Morgan Glass, Adam Aaronson, English Antique Glass, Bruce Marks, Jake Mee, and Colin Webster.

Jane's piece also provides the theme for the remainder of the building with enlarged photographic images by Gudawer Kalirai in the clinic rooms and the lift lobbies.