Historically, public health-care provision on the Isle of Wight began in 1790 when Parliament authorized one of the first 'Houses of Industry' (an early workhouse model) to be built adjacent to the Parkhurst Forest on the site of the present St Mary's Hospital. Part infirmary, part orphanage, part house of correction, this set in motion the social movement of the nineteenth century to build public subscription hospitals in Ryde, East Cowes, Whitecroft Asylum, and, most notably, the National Hospital for Chest Disease at Ventnor. This latter building featured craftwork from William Morris and other members of the arts and crafts movement. In 1980, the decision was taken to build a new district general hospital (DGH) at St Mary's, Newport, Isle of Wight, and to centralize healthcare provision. St Mary's is a 'pathfinder' in DGH design, setting the agenda for new buildings in the 1990s. Whilst adhering to Department of Health 'nucleus' design, the building breaks the pattern of monolithic, clinical, institutional plans of the 1960s and 1970s and counters with a piece of good intelligent modern architecture, the emphasis of which is on a human scale, with natural light, energy conservation, a clear and logical clinical floor plan and the use of the arts from the design stage onwards, to create an environment for healing. The Isle of Wight Embroidery is a principal work in the programme of commissions by Healing Arts for St Mary's DGH. The hospital was designed by Richard Burton of Ahrends Burton and Koratek and opened by Princess Alexandra in 1991. The main staircase of the hospital was identified, along with several other spaces within the building, as a principal focus for the public life of the building, and is where the embroidery is situated. The Isle of Wight has a long tradition of embroidery and textile design, a medium which lends itself to community participation. It was considered important that an artwork for the main entrance staircase should incorporate and acknowledge the island community's use and ownership of the building, and, in particular, exemplify the many levels of skills and ability encompassed by those people receiving health-care. Therefore, the textile artist Candace Bahouth was commissioned to design a textile which would reflect the island's natural beauty in the form Figure 1 At work on the Isle of Wight embroidery