Health Care Fine Art

Feeding Frency

Forester's Terns Feeding

Thousands of Forester's Terns feeding near the shore greeted us on our arrival to Sanibel today.  I've never seen such an intense feeding frenzy! People we talked to as we walked along the beach said that the birds have feeding like this all day. There must be an amazingly dense concentration of small fish to eat.

The way they feed is to plunge into water from flight.  Usually they hover briefly before they plunge. This all happens so quickly that it is very hard to capture in a photograph or even with your eye.

Some people believe that bird images are not appropriate in healtcare settings. However, it was certainly magical to experience.

T:Magazine - Dissapointing New NYT Art Publication

Natalie Portman on the cover of T:Magazine

When the New York Times launches a new website and they describe it as "all about art and the ways it shapes culture" I pay attention. Today they launched "T:Magazine".

Reading their press release I see however that instead of being about art it is:

"written for a smart, discerning audience with an interest in incorporating style in all aspects of their lives. It will have issues dedicated to women's and men's fashions, beauty, travel, lifestyle and design."

Hmm... didn't hear much there about art. If you poke around the menus however there are some articles covering Art. However, the focus seems to be Fashion and Fashionable living.

Anyone who knows me understands that women's and men's fashions don't appear anywhere on my long list of interests. Nowhere...

To make things worse, it is loaded with videos and animations which were painfully slow to download on my high speed internet connection. Navigation was stylish and confusing. Clearly they have not read the work of Jakob Nielsen.

There is an associated blog with it called "The Moment"

The webiste for T:Magazine is: www.nytimes.com/tmagazine

This is not likely to appear on my lists of favorites.

Featured Artist: William Renzulli

Warm Skys by William Renzulli,  Pastel 24" x 29 "

I'm surprised by how much I have in common with William Renzulli. He too is a physician who has left medicine to devote himself to art; he even has a blog.

Here is some background:
He established his Internal medicine practice in Wilmington, Delaware in 1971. In 2002 he retired and moved to Paducah Kentucky to devote his full energies to art. His website shows a wide range of media: pastels, watercolors, acrylics and something I had not heard about before: clay monoprints. He is best known for his architectural studies.

Several healthcare facilities feature his work, including The Christiana and Wilmington Divisions of the Christiana Medical Center in Wilmington Delaware, the Christiana Care Out patient center, the Union Memorial hospital in Elkton, MD, the Lourdes Medical Center in Paducah, KY, and the Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah.

His website: www.renzulliart.com
His blog: Reflections on a Life in Medicine and Art

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus

Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park by Diane Arbus, 1962

Diane Arbus was one of the most influential photographers of the 20th Century. Most would consider her work totally inappropriate to decorate the walls in a Hospital. Instead of relieving anxiety she reveals it. Her disturbing portraits show people on the fringe: dwarfs, giants, transvestites, mentally retarded individuals and nudists in a nudist colony.

Some would argue that her freak pictures are not merely tasteless but pointless. Richard McClure countered that:

“Whereas once (Arbus) stood accused of voyeurism and prurient curiosity, she is now painted as a kindred spirit to the misfits and outsiders she commonly depicted. Far from seeming exploitive or demeaning, her pictures have come to be read as metaphors for her own suffering; a cumulative self-portrait of a troubled mind.”

Today I've started a movie on DVD called Fur: An imaginary portrait of Diane Arbus. It got mixed reviews, but I'm looking forward to watching it while I'm on the treadmill.

If you want to learn more about Diane Arbus I suggest Diane Arbus Revelations. My good friend and photographer Nick Kelsh said that this is his favorite photography book of all time.

Incidentally, the photograph above of the kid with the hand grenade  sold for $408,000 in 2005 at a Christies Auction in New York. 

Does Evidence-based Design mean Paint-by-Number?

Enthusiasm for Evidence-based Design may have gone too far and that might stifle creativity and lead to prescriptive design. At least that is what one Designer said to me on the phone today.

Just because evidence-based design is a great idea (and it is!) does not mean that we have all the evidence yet. In fact, the scientists doing this type of research tell me that less than 5% of design decisions have solid evidence behind them.

Designers may assume that just because a few studies have been done on a given topic that there is a "right answer" on how to do something and they should not question it; after all, it has science behind it. But the research may be flawed, or it might not apply to their given situation. Furthermore, some kinds of questions can't be answered with numbers and therefore can't be reliably researched.

Until we have definitive evidence on a certain situation, what should we do? The Designer I was speaking with (who shall go unnamed) suggests that Designers should consider evidence-based design as only one of many tools that can be used in on a project. She urges:

• Using creativity to seek a "vision"
• Beware of making decisions that are too safe
• Take a more holistic view
• Consider meaning, consider the sacred
• Avoid "Painting by numbers"

Note: this all applies to Evidence-based Art too.

The Value and Importance of Art in Health Care - National Symposium

Today I got a postcard in the mail that caught my attention. There will be a symposium on Art in HealthCare in New York City at the Museum of Modern Art March 7th, 2008.

Here is the text from the postcard:

Vanderbilt University Medical Center, The Museum of Modern Art and the Society for the Arts in Healthcare invite you to join us at MoMA in New York for the second national symposium on:
THE VALUE AND IMPORTANCE OF ART IN HEALTHCARE

Hear from experts in the field of art and science on the value and importance of incorporating art into health care. Learn about collections, model programs, budgeting, and current research at this daylong symposium geared toward health care decision makers, museum professionals, architects, designers, researchers, and artists.

I called the Office of Cultural Enrichment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to get more information. They do not have details of the meeting yet. When they have more information I will put up another post about it.

In the meantime, consider marking March 7th on your calendar to attend. I will be there! Not only does this sound like a great meeting, but MoMA is one of my favorite museums in the world.

The picture on the postcard (seen above) is in the collection of MoMA. It is by Odilon Redon. (French, 1840-1916). Rocky Peak. c. 1875. Oil on cream wove cardstock mounted on board mounted on wood, 9 3/4 x 13"

Humor Therapy

Some people think that Humor can heal. It certainly can improve your mood; it can make bad things less horrible. Finding ways to improve the patient experience is one of the recurring themes of this blog; Humor can do that.

One problem with humor is that it does not always have a broad appeal. I may love the New Yorker Cartoons (like the one above) but you may not. It would seem that offering a wide variety options for humor may be the best bet for a hospital; Cartoons, DVDs, Stand Up Comedy recordings, books and TV shows.

I first became aware that humor might have some healing power in the late 1970s when I read Norman Cousin's book "Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient". He found, when dealing with his own illness that "ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of painfree sleep."

The American Cancer Society has a discussion of Humor Therapy on their website. Click here.

Europe's Journal of Psychology ran an article in 2005  that tried to explain How Humor Heals.

Top Five Blogs for HealthCare Art

  Where are the other blogs on Art in HealthCare? I asked 6-months ago. I'm still not coming up with much. The five top blogs I have selected deal with the edges of HealthCare Art: Evidence-based Design, Contemporary Art and Architecture. Surprisingly my Google searches did not find much on HealthCare Interior Design or Art Consultants.

1. BLDGBLOG
   Photos and commentary about architecture from around the world.
2. Looking Around
   Reflections on Art and Architecture by Time Magazine's Art Critic Richard Lacayo.
3. Modern Art Notes
   The Wall Stree Journal recently called this "the most influential of all visual-arts blogs."
4. The Center for Health Design Blog
   A group blog for the staff of The Center for Health Design; which seeks to improve the quality of healthcare through evidence-based building design.
5. Research Design Connections Blog
   A blog to discuss recent research of interest to designers.

If you know of any blogs that deal with the use of Art in Hospitals and Medical Clinics around the world, please let me know.

Featured Artist: Paul Starosta

Every year we spend the first two weeks of December in Sanibel Florida. Sanibel Island is one of the better seashell collecting spots in the world and I am planning to add some more images to my gallery of shell photographs.

To help prepare I find it helpful to look at the work of other photographers. I ordered a book that just came out called "Shells" with photographs by Paul Starosta. It arrived today and the images were impressive enough that I decided to have him as my featured artist. This is a large format book and the images are stunning. Most of the 384 pages in this book; which was printed in Italy have one of his image blown up full size on rich glossy paper.

With shell photography there is a tradition to use black backgrounds. Most of Paul's photographs feature these pure black backgrounds. Personally I find the intense depth of the black rather distracting. It works well if you are trying to show off a specimen as if in a museum, but that is not my goal. I want to help reveal the natural beauty and have it fill the frame.

Paul is is a French biologist as well as a master photographer. He has published more than 30 books on plants and small animals over the last 30 years. His website (which is in French) is: www.paulstarosta.com

I emailed him in France and he responded:

Merci beaucoup Henry.
Je me permets juste de vous faire une petite demande : est-ce que vous pourriez remettre la photo en verticale,  comme elle l'est dans le livre ou alors en mettre une autre mais horizontale, car dans mon travail la direction d'ou vient la lumière principale est très importante pour la compréhension de l'image telle que j'ai voulu la montrer. Désolé de vous dire ça après votre gentillesse.
Bien à vous

Paul Starosta

Winner for Best Use of Art in Healthcare Facilities

Regional Acquired Brain Injury Unit (RABIU), Musgrave Park Hospital, England

The results of this years Building Better Healthcare Awards  in England are in.

The winner for Best Use of Art in Healthcare Facilities:
Regional Acquired Brain Injury Unit (RABIU) in Musgrave Park Hospital.
The design firms who won the award were:
McAdam Design
Gilling Dod Architects

One unusual aspect of this facility was that they wanted an uplifting environment not only within the building but in the exterior patient areas as well (see picture above). This progressive facility provides specialist care under one roof for 25 inpatients and 15 outpatients.

HD Hospital Development Magazine has an article on the awards click here.

In addition to the winner for Best Use of Art, there were two in the category of "Highly Commended":
Highly Commended Architectural Art Glass Window and Film Installation, Nightingale Centre and Genesis Research Centre  by Lime   

Highly Commended GO Create! Arts and Humanities Programme  by Victoria Jones and Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital       

The Building Better Healthcare Awards were also covered in a earlier post.