CUSTOM ARTWORK FOR VETERINARY HOSPITALS
Photography designed for the space it lives in.
Shershow Studios creates custom photographic artwork for veterinary hospitals and animal-care environments — from initial concept and visualization through production and installation.
Each project is developed for the individual hospital: its architecture, its community, its patient population, and the experience it wants to create for the people who walk through its doors.
The result is artwork that feels like it belongs there, because it was created to.
CASE STUDY
VCA Bay Area Veterinary Specialists & Emergency Hospitals
VCA approached me to create permanent artwork for several veterinary hospitals, with photographs appearing throughout.
The objective went beyond filling empty walls.
Veterinary hospitals are inherently emotional environments. Clients may arrive worried, frightened or grieving. Staff work long hours in demanding surroundings. The artwork needed to work with the architecture while also helping create an environment that felt warmer, calmer and more human.
The Approach
I began by reviewing the available wall spaces and determining where artwork could have the greatest visual impact.
From there, I developed a complete artwork plan, selecting imagery, determining sizes and groupings, and creating digital visualizations showing the proposed photographs in place before anything went into production.
This allowed the team to see exactly how the finished installation would work within the hospital, and make decisions before a single piece was printed.
**Proposed Installation for an examination room. 30” x 40” acrylic matte.
Not every wall has the same job
Artwork for a veterinary hospital shouldn't be selected simply because it features animals.
The purpose of the room matters.
A busy reception area can support imagery with energy and personality. A long clinical hallway may need scale, rhythm and visual warmth.
And a comfort room, where families may be saying goodbye to an animal they have loved for years, requires something entirely different.
For these spaces, I select or create photographs specifically for their emotional context: quieter, gentler imagery intended to support the atmosphere of the room rather than compete with it.
The artwork is considered room by room, because the experience of the space changes room by room.
CREATED FOR THE HOSPITAL
The collection itself is customized as well.
For one VCA location, I learned that rabbits represented a significant part of the hospital's patient population.
Rather than simply working with the photographs I already had, I created new rabbit portraits specifically for that hospital.
Those photographs became part of its permanent collection, making the artwork more representative of the animals, clients and veterinary team that actually use the space.
The space determines the artwork, not the other way around.
That can mean creating entirely new photographs, responding to a hospital's particular patient population, selecting imagery for emotionally sensitive spaces, or designing sizes and groupings around specific architectural features.
FROM SCREEN TO WALL
Once the artwork plan was approved, I managed the production process from beginning to end.
That included preparing the photographic files, coordinating fabrication, confirming sizes and specifications, and overseeing the final installation.
The VCA team didn't have to manage multiple vendors or determine which photograph belonged on which wall.
My team handled it.
THE RESULT:
Clients voiced that it made a stressful experience calmer, warmer, BETTER.
More than decorated walls.
The finished installations created a cohesive visual identity across each hospital, while bringing warmth, personality and a distinctly animal-centered point of view into a clinical environment.
Just as importantly, the artwork became part of the experience of being in the hospital.
Clients and staff responded positively to the finished installation, with the photographs providing moments of recognition, conversation and connection throughout the space. Clients voiced that it made a stressful experience calmer, warmer, BETTER.
WHAT I HANDLE
From an empty wall to finished artwork.
Site-Specific Concept + Curation
Developing the visual approach around the hospital, its architecture, patient population and individual spaces.
Custom Photography
Creating new animal portraiture when a hospital's community or a particular space calls for something that doesn't already exist.
Visualization
Creating digital mockups so the project team can see proposed artwork in situ before approving production.
Production
Preparing files and managing fabrication, sizing and specifications.
Installation
Coordinating final placement and installation.
One creative partner. One point of contact. Concept through installation.
“Ellen. Is. AMAZING!!! Seriously, even my crazy 60 pound Staffie, who has severe fear-aggression issues towards strangers LOVED her from the beginning! She will take all the time needed to get “the” right shot! She’s also very creative and did what she needed to get it perfect... I’m so glad I met her and got to experience her work, you will NOT be disappointed.”
“If you are looking for a photographer who is literally a dog-whisperer...who instinctively knows how to bring out your dog’s unique personality in each photo taken. Who not just “takes photos,” but inspires and creates. Who is professional, caring, compassionate, fun-loving, and dares to be creative and think outside the box...hands down, work with Ellen Shershow. You will be beyond amazed!”
“Ellen is a pure joy to work with. Ellen has some sort of innate talent to establish a friendly rapport with your dog & put him/her at ease almost immediately. Ellen has a lot of tricks up her sleeve to bring out the playful, the regal, the goofy, the whatever personality of your dog in a portrait, & we were simply amazed at how gorgeous her final photos were.”