Interview with Joan Swenson

Last week I had a phone conversation with Joan Swenson of Artscape. Artscape is a HealthCare Art Consulting company.

Tell me a little about Artscape.

We started as a HealthCare Art Consulting firm in Philadelphia in 1981. Most of our jobs have been in the Northeast but we are looking at expanding. We have 10 people on staff and work out of an 8,000 square-foot warehouse. In addition to Art Consulting we also have a full-service frame shop.

What percentage of your work is Healthcare.

80% , we also do some corporate work.

What are your thoughts on Evidence-based Art?

A hospital is an organic entity with a personality. Our job is to draw that out of our clients and to make that personality come alive through art.  In one way that expression of personality can be used for branding. In a more meaningful way the art should reflect hospitals as Sacred Places. I say, "Sacred Places" because hospitals are where people are born and die. We are at our most vulnerable when we are in hospitals, so the art needs to respect the depth of that experience for both staff and patient families.

My biggest concern is that evidence-based art oversimplifies the complexity of the selection of artwork programs. Hospitals are very complex. Artwork must be selected that considers the complexity of Hospital spaces as well as their persona.

Let me make an analogy. Is it good to eat only vegetables or only protein? Of course not. In the same sense, is it good to show people only images of nature?

I remember once that you told me you enjoyed Chemistry in High School but decided to go into Interior Design. What was your path to becoming an Art Consultant?

When I graduated from High School in 1971 I was doing very well academically, I loved chemistry, loved singing and science; I was in the National Honor Society.  But rather than encourage me to pursue a career in science or medicine, the guidance counselor encouraged me to go into Design.

Why?

She said “You should be a Designer since you wear such cool clothing.” So I started at Boston University and studied Fine and Applied Arts. My focus was on Music and Psychology. Combining them in a career (such as music therapy) was not an option then. My mother discouraged me from going into music, telling me that “it was a hard row to hoe”; so I followed my next love which was Design.

At that time about 60% of the Architects in Boston were unemployed, so instead of pursing Architecture, I got an MFA in Interior Design. As a college student, I got  a job with “Art For Industry” an art leasing company. It was wonderful work. I found that I really liked the art part of the work. Then I got an Internship working in the Galleries at Lincoln Center. I was sold. I loved working with art. I loved the art & I loved the people.

In 1976 I was floating in a pool at my brothers in North Carolina and an idea came to me. I realized I wanted to create a national art leasing company and I wanted to call it Artscape. In 1978 we moved to Philadelphia and I got a job managing an art gallery that had a frame shop. That is where I learned about framing.

In 1981 I started Artscape. Right from the beginning we did healthcare. My second job was to provide art for an 11-story hospital. This was before art was common in hospitals.  Through word-of-mouth the business took off.

I have had other side businesses over the years, but the core work that I have done for the last 27-years is to be an art consultant for HealthCare.

For more information:
www.artscapeusa.com
Joan Y. Swenson, President
112 Keystone Drive
Montgomeryville PA 18936
215.283.0800