Health Care Fine Art

The Guild Sourcebook, Volume 23

Yesterday the UPS truck showed up with a box containing the latest edition of the Guild Sourcebook of Architectural and Interior Art. This is now Volume 23.

The book is a rich visual reference for those seeking art for healthcare. This year the book features 11 artists that are "Moving Toward Green". I'm happy to say that they asked me to be one of those artists (see p. 250).

To learn more about The Guild Sourcebooks, I interviewed Jenna Brandt in May 2007:

What is unique about your service?

The Guild represents more than 1,200 top artists working in media from glass, sculpture, and prints to furniture, lighting, and jewelry. The Guild Sourcebooks offer a professional and comprehensive marketing package to artists while working to connect the design trade with professional artists and their work. Our Sourcebooks have resulted in thousands of new art commissions for public and private spaces.

How are artists selected for inclusion?

Artists either contact The Guild or The Guild contacts artist about participation in The Guild Sourcebooks. Once an artist has made the decision to participate, a space reservation is made. All artists are then juried into the Sourcebooks based both on quality of artwork and photography. Our jury is comprised of design and art professionals as well as The Guild’s design, production, marketing, and trade professional relations staff members.

Do you have a sense of what percentage of your readers are involved with HealthCare Design?

We have a large number of interior designers, architects, and art consultants who work in healthcare design.  We find that these professionals are interested in both of our books - The Guild Sourcebook of Architectural & Interior Art for public areas, both indoor and out; and The Guild Sourcebook of Residential Art for smaller-scale work for patient rooms and other private areas.

How many copies are printed?

10,000 copies are distributed annually to a select list of North American architects, interior designers, art consultants, public art administrators, landscape architects, liturgical consultants, and other design professionals. This publication showcases site-specific architectural and interior artworks for public, corporate, healthcare, hospitality, and liturgical spaces.

The Guild Sourcebook of Architectural & Interior Art Published each fall since 1985

How many artists are represented?

On average, about 250 artists are represented in each publication.

If someone isn't getting the "book" now, how could they request it?

To register as a Design Professional visit:
www.guild.com/servlet/Guild/AuthenticateDesignPros

Registering as a Design Professional with The Guild is FREE, and allows password-protected access to portions of our website specifically for design professionals. Benefits of registration include:

• Annual editions of Guild Sourcebooks
• Exclusive design professional discount of 15% on all purchases made at www.artfulhome.com
• Direct email access to hundreds of Guild artists
• “Post-a-Project” for instant broadcast of project opportunities directly to Guild artists

 Is there a website that shows the artists?

All current Sourcebook artists are online.  You can view both The Guild Sourcebook of Architectural & Interior Art and The Guild Sourcebook of Residential Art page-for-page in Guild's Custom Design Center at www.guild.com/cdc.

For artists who might be interested in receiving more information. you can contact:
Jenna Brandt
Guild Sourcebooks

The Guild, Inc.
Toll Free: 800.930.1856
jbrandt@guild.com
www.guild.com/cdc

Featured Artist: Byron Jorjorian

257_5746 by Byron Jorjorian

My twin sister gives me good tips on new artists. She has to find them for her Interior Design work. A couple of years ago she showed me the wonderful nature photographs of  Byron Jorjorian. He has a large selection of works on his website. Images range from Landscapes and Florals to Sand Dunes and Waterfalls. Very diverse and very high quality.

Many of his images would work well in a HealthCare setting. The prices, especially for his smaller prints are quite good.

His website says this about him:

Fine art photographer, Byron Jorjorian has been capturing the natural world on film for over 30 years. With over 210,000 images in his files, his photographs have appeared on nationally published greeting cards, calendars, magazines, posters, murals, fine art prints, brochures, and advertising. Byron has had over 10,000 images published.

To learn more about his work, his webstite is:www.byronjorjorian.com
Byron Jorjorian Photography
PO Box 306
Thompson's Station, TN 37179
615-599-9823

Featured Artist: Robert Creamer

Jello Peony by Robert Creamer

I was talking with an Art Consultant in Florida this week and she said I had to check out the work of Robert Creamer. She said she had just bought a large print from him.

His floral pictures are certainly distinctive. He tends to use cultivated plants; often scattering the petals in decorative patterns. Since they are scans and not photographs, almost all are with black backgrounds.

There was an interesting article about his work in Smithsonian Magazine:"What Camera?"

The article explains his process:

Creamer, who has been professionally photographing architecture and museum installations for more than 30 years, migrated from camera to scanner—essentially an office color copier—over the past five years after clients began asking for digital images instead of the 4- by 5-inch film he had long used

To learn more, Robert's website is: www.creamerphoto.com

Featured Artist: Linda Dolack

'Richie and Palmetta' by Linda Dolack, mixed media, installed at the Palmetto Health Children's Hospital, Columbia, S.C.

Linda Dolack is a mixed-media artist from Chicago. She creates some wonderful whimsical sculptures that are perfect for bringing a smile to a scared kid. For example, she recently installed 'Richie and Palmetta' (shown above). I asked her to tell me about the project

I was contacted last fall by the Director of Arts and Fundraising for South Carolina, Dot Ryall. She had seen a large sculpture of mine at the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital.  She described plans for the new children's hospital being built in Columbia that included a variety of natural habitats for each floor and area of the new hospital.  These included, for example, desert, aquatic, woodland, etc. 

Richland Memorial Hospital had been using a raccoon image online (Richie) as a kind of mascot for information relating to health issues of interest to children and their parents.  Since Richie was such a big part of the hospital's information system already, I proposed using his image and creating a larger than life Richie to be placed in the 'Woodland' section, which includes the Oncology floor.

The name of the new hospital is Palmetto Health Children's Hospital.  Not wanting to leave the little girls out, I created Richie's friend Palmetta, a girl raccoon, to stand alongside him.  My sculptures, once painted and finished with UV varnish, are embellished with Swarovski rhinestones. 

To further the woodland theme, I added a butterfly net to Richie and had steel laser-cut butterflies made, which were painted and also encrusted with more than 15,000 Swarovski rhinestones.  Richie is cross-eyed as he tries to see the one on his nose.   The rhinestones are unexpected and children, especially, are drawn to their sparkle.  Palmetta's dress is painted in a daisy and bumblebee pattern and more steel butterflies are attached to her dress and back.

To see more of Linda's work, check out her website: www.lindadolack.com
She is represented by Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA.

Incidentally, her birthday is tomorrow (July 23rd). Happy Birthday!

Featured Artist: Daniel Sroka

Dream-like abstract photographs from simple elements of nature by Daniel Sroka

My twin sister rarely emails me links to look at, but today she insisted that I check out the wonderful artwork of Daniel Sroka. She found him on the website called Trunkt.

This was good timing because I was wanting to feature him anyhow. I've been following his work for over a year.

This is how he describes his work:

I create abstract photographs from what I call the 'artifacts of nature' -- flowers, leaves, sticks, bark, and seeds. I'm drawn to the obscure beauty that can be found within these broken and decayed pieces of nature that are normally just trod underfoot. In the beauty of their organic decay, I discover scenes that feel strange, mysterious, and yet vaguely familiar. As your mind tries to resolve these abstractions into something familiar, they reveal unexpected stories and characters.

In addition to his work on Trunkt, here is a link to his main website: www.danielsroka.com
He also has a very interesting blog that I read routinely: daniel sroka open studio

Artist Doctors

"Amish Country", Acrylic, 61 x 76 cm by Dr. Wolfgang Ritschel

When I first started to get really serious about art I downplayed the fact that I was a physician. I didn't want people to think of me as an amateur. For a long time on my website I avoided mentioning that I was a physician.

But being an artist and a physician makes for an interesting story. One of my business advisor's (Kim Reiss) kept telling me to open up and let people know I was a doctor. She was right.

Many physicians are deeply involved with the arts. Painting, printmaking, music, etc. I don't know why that is so, but in my limited experience, I would have to say it is common. Here is a small list of doctors that I know of who now devote their full energies to making art:

Dr. Wolfgang Ritschel: www.wolfgangritschel.com

Dr. William Renzulli: www.renzulliart.com

Dr. David Clark: www.davidclarkart.com

Dr. Henry Domke: www.henrydomke.com

Thanks Bill for sending me the link to Wolfgang's website.

Featured Artist: Joanie San Chirico

Marshlands Triptych by Joanie San Chirico, each 42"x42" pigment, paint, hand stitching on linen and framed.

Joanie San Chirico's work is unique in that it incorporates photography, paint, stitching and textiles in such a way that the viewer is challenged to decipher the actual composition of the painting. Her Environmental Series combines these mediums to portray natural surfaces using imagery of the planet's fragile beauty.

In my travels I photograph fragments of lichen, rocks, dead vines and trees, and I never know when I'll find an interesting image or texture that I'll save for later use. This work is about raising awareness about the fragility of our environment. The exhibit depicts a balance of art and nature; portraits of our vanishing landscape.

Joanie is a Massachusetts native, but currently resides in New Jersey. She is also a cancer survivor:

...that is why I'm interested in putting my work in hospitals and healing places because I'm convinced that my work got me through the hard times after my surgery and subsequent chemo.

More of her work can be seen at her website: www.joaniesanchirico.com

Marshlands Triptych (illustrated above) will be installed at the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, Atlantic City, NJ. The selection of the art was through through Aesthetics, Inc.

Featured Artist: David Muench

The cover of David Muench's newest book: Arizona

The Arizona landscape has long appealed to me; perhaps because it stands in such contrast to the lush green landscapes I am normally immersed in. After a while, green becomes monotonous.

One of the masters of the Arizona Landscape is David Muench. If you are looking for Arizona Landscapes for your hospital, you should see his work. You can do that in the book "Arizona" or at his website: www.muenchphotography.com

The June 2008 issue of Outdoor Photographer magazine has a cover story on Muench. To read the story: click here.

Another Arizona photographer covered on a previous post was Alain Briot: click here.

Featured Artist: Gregory Crewdson

Brief Encounter by Gregory Crewdson

I just finished another book by Gregory Crewdson: Beneath the Roses.

His dark mysterious photographs are a delight to contemplate. Certainly they would not be well accepted in a hospital setting, but in a collector's home these 4 x 5-foot prints would be stunning.

Many of the images are like the one shown above, often shot just past sunset in small towns. He uses very careful  lighting with multiple light sources: street lights, shop windows, headlights and faint illumination from the gloaming.

Like Jeff Wall he uses actors and elaborate sets to create the scenes he photographs. In the back of the book he has credits, just like in a movie, of the production crew and actors he works with. He often uses 50 or 60 people to help with each image!

I can't imagine working with a crew like that, it would drive me crazy. However, I have been toying with the idea of using actors in my landscapes. This idea came to me when I was reading about the history of landscape painting last year. Historically, landscape paintings almost always showed people. Landscape photographs typically do not show people; but they could...

Featured Artist: Rhonda Grimberg

Peaceful by Rhonda Grimberg

The April issue of HealthCare Design arrived today and I was delighted to see Rhonda Grimberg's work featured in the Art Corner. To read the article click here.

Studio portraits of garden flowers against a white background is her signature look. These cheerful images fit perfectly in healthcare interiors.

I met Rhonda at the HCD Conference in 2005 and I have enjoyed keeping in touch with her since then. One thing I learned from the article was about her notecard project:

Grimberg decided to use her art as a positive healing force by providing individually packaged notecards and envelopes to infusion centers. The concept is to make the notecards available to patients as they spend time getting their chemotherapy...They represent joy, hope, and looking forward. They are happy images, and I hope this kind gesture will be something to brighten patients' days and serve a purpose...

You can see more of Rhonda's work at her website: www.RhondaGrimberg.com