Health Care Fine Art

Interview: Diana Spellman

Interior Designer Diana Spellman

Diana Spellman is one of the leaders on the use of art in HealthCare. Last year she wrote a cover article: "The Art of Healing" for HealthCare Design Magazine. Recently she answered a few questions about her company and the use of Art in Healthcare during a phone interview:

Last year you were diagnosed and treated for Breast Cancer. Has that experience altered your view on the use of art in Healthcare?

Yes! I’ve become more passionate about the use of color and Artwork in Healthcare facilities, the Mind, Body, and Spirit connection is very real. For instance, I received Chemotherapy for five months with an excellent team of doctors, but the infusion area that I spent a lot of time in was painted in grayed blue tones, did not take advantage of the wide expanse of windows, and the Artwork consisted of several silk wreaths. Fortunately, I had a very positive and fighting spirit, but the patient care environment does have a significant influence on the patient’s state of mind, thus affects their health.

I witnessed many patients come into the Chemotherapy area, completely down in their spirit, and really scared. I believe that if the environment utilized warmth in neutral wall finishes, allowed the sunlight and nature outdoors to come into the space and utilized interesting macro images of nature within the spaces that a sense of positive hope would transcend full circle to the patients and caregivers.

In addition, I was hospitalized numerous times for surgeries, again experienced firsthand how the built environment affects the patient experience, as well as my family and the caregivers.  The exterior/interior environments from the time you leave your car, cross the parking and enter the building, the color, materials and Artwork affect your sense of security and well being. An example of this was my experience of pre-op prep in an area that had a sense of coldness, from the use of hard materials in grayed/cool colors, cool lighting color that made the patient feel like a specimen and lastly no Artwork of any vibrance and clarity with color. Henry, that is something your work brings to the environment, a true sense of hope and compassion.

One last example of an experience I encountered, was my hospital room, right out of the retro 60’s with the built-in lockers for my clothes, and an attempt to update with paint and a pastel wallpaper border. The paint selection and the use of a beautiful image of nature, say an up close branch with a butterfly, brings into the space, a special sense of nature’s surprises. As a patient, I would have felt more cherished than looking at the foot wall that was crowded with numerous signs and marker boards, that I could not even see with out putting on my glasses.

  

What impact will the downturn in the economy have on the use of Art in Healthcare? Does this mean reduced budgets and more poster art?

There is no doubt that people will continue to cut budgets, money is tighter. With less money for Art, I encourage my clients to do less, but do it with the most sensitive impact possible. Rather than buy more quantity and inexpensive, plan on blending the budget with Fine Artwork in the key wayfinding focal points and if needed, implementing it in phases over time.

I am very proud to say that many times we have helped our owners create events to raise dollars to fund the better quality Artwork, we are there to really partner with the owner. An example of this was several years ago, I created a Wine and Cheese fundraiser for an owner, and we did a private Fine Art Preview tour with community leaders. It was so much fun! We had the help of an auctioneer to auction off “Naming Rights” on the specialized pieces and we helped to raise over 40% of their entire Artwork budget in a two-hour period.

Many hospital CEOs understand the value of working with design professionals to create the Healing Environments – with Artwork Master Plans. If they read the latest information on this topic or have completed new buildings or renovations with well thought out Artwork, they experience dividends with their patient satisfaction, thus it translates into more market share. That being said, it is more critical than ever to work with experienced professionals that understand the administration’s mission and goals. The Artwork budgets must be carefully planned and executed to get the most value for the dollar. No owner has money to waste, that is why working with the professionals create the most successful end results.

Tell me a little about Spellman Brady & Company. How did you get into this, how did the company start and how has it changed over the years? Who is the “Brady” part of the name?

Well, first of all, the Brady is my maiden name. I like it and am proud of it, so I wanted to utilize it in our company’s identity. We are also a certified WBE, (Woman Owned Enterprise), so again it was important to use the Brady name. I grew up in a medical family but always loved design and Art. I love to create Artwork, but that tapered off as I became busy with my career and family. My husband, Stan and I got into the Healthcare design specialty (28) years ago working with a large architectural firm HLM. That is where we met each other, working in the interiors department, and have moved cross country twice during our careers, working out in the inter-mountain west and also California.

We always knew some day we would open our own firm, and seventeen years ago when our oldest was a baby did just that. Our goal was to create a smaller firm with experienced designers, to interface with the owners (Hospitals, Senior Living, and Universities) and the architectural teams across the country. Our expertise creates the bridge between the owner, architects, furniture manufacturers and artists directly. We have the ability to design with the finishes, furnishings and artwork as functional sculpture with the facilities. Our processes are very effective to create the most successful timeless designs and be fiscally responsible. Once we have teamed with different architects they realize they can team with a company like SB&C that understand their vision and wants to create a seamless end result. That is why, for instance, our Artwork Master Plans look cohesive and integrated with the architecture, not applied like frosting. Same goes for the furniture packages, timeless and integrated.

 

How many people work there now?

The first four years in business, Stan and I worked out of our home with a part-time assistant, but it became too much of an invasion on our family, (I was expecting our second child.) In 95’ we moved into our first office with three other team members, and it grew by about six team members every five years. With (21) full time and (4) part time, I would say, that we have been careful to control our growth, by doing a good job of forecasting and budgeting our overhead  in order to have a healthy business, and to be able to pass on operational savings to our clients.

What geographic area do you serve?

We work all across North America; we’ve done business in 28 states, as well as planning for one of our University clients who has a campus in Geneva, Switzerland. We are able to work very efficiently long distance because we began our careers working across the country, long distance with hospitals. That was back in the day, when shipping in samples quickly, was sending them overnight on a bus or an airplane, well before overnight Fed Ex and UPS.

What percentage of your business is HealthCare?

Our work breaks down into three vertical markets:

1. Healthcare 50%
2. Higher Education: 30%
3. Senior Living: 20% - this is a big growth area

We actually see growth in all three of our markets, but as we all know, the baby boomers are getting older.

 

Do you refer to Evidence-based Art when helping a HealthCare client come up with an art program?

Evidence-based Design is certainly a buzz-word these days; it is very exiting and progressive. I believe the whole language of Evidence-based Design was created in order to associate meaning to this movement of Healthcare design as non-institutional in appearance, but still with patient safety/ infection control, quality care/patient stress reduction, caregiver productivity and of course environmental efficiencies.  

However, many great Designers were doing Evidence-based work long before the term was invented. Evidence-based Design is looking to create ways to  measure what we do and that is very important as the profession progresses.

 

Some research on Evidence-based Art suggests that abstract art is inappropriate for patient care areas. What is your opinion?

Hard abstraction, or pure abstraction (like Jackson Pollock) is difficult for many people to understand; they reject it. However, I do believe soft abstraction; with a component of realism can work well in patient care areas, as long as the colors produce a sense of calmness. I am thinking patient care areas such as a Chemotherapy infusion area where a patient needs to escape into an image that is thought provoking and calming at the same time. Truly, the general population does not like abstract, unless they can see imagery in it, such as mixed media collage Artwork that has actual images within the overall piece. A large macro Fine Art photograph can have a sense of abstraction to it and still be very effective. What’s fun in creating Artwork Master Plans is to create an element of surprise and delight in key focal point areas.

What differentiates you from your competition in putting together art projects for hospitals?

Overall there are numerous Artwork specialists around the country that can do a very good job of creating Artwork in Healthcare settings. I believe that my education and experience as an Interior Designer adds a huge benefit of integrating the art with the rest of the building architecture, interior design and wayfinding.   We design a lot of custom design features that incorporate art or become art.  Our team has the resources and expertise to integrate these elements with the building that may require some architectural and/or engineering work by the design team or by the fabricator.

Tara Hill dicusses Color in HealthCare

Interior Designer Tara Hill 

Tara Hill discussed how to best use color in Hospitals in the Sept/Oct 2008 issue of HC&O News. To read the article, click here. Tara is a recognized expert in the use of color in healthcare.

When asked about interior colors for adult patients she wrote:

I always go back to the patient population and what is appropriate for each population. If the population can withstand saturated color, I find that people respond to a stimulating environment. The quickest and easiest way to create a stimulating environment is with colors. We know that a stimulating environment often promotes healing.

Tara explained the trend she saw toward the use of big, graphic and colorful images in HealthCare in a post on this blog last year. click here.

There is also an article about Tara's Corian Healing Colors Collection click here.

Tara R. Hill, ASID, is a registered interior designer and is the founder of Littlefish Think Tank.

Leigh Fogle Interview

Leigh Fogle owns and manages one of the fastest growing companies involved with art for HealthCare in the Southeast: Fogle Fine Art. I called her this week to ask her some questions about the business.

How has the current economic downturn affected your business?

We started seeing a slowdown in the 3rd quarter of 2007. Small companies like ours started to feel the downturn before the larger companies got hit.
 
Our business has three sides, retail, corporate and healthcare. The corporate work has had the biggest hit; especially the banks. Our bank business is gone. High-end retail has remained strong. Our healthcare business is fine. However, we are bracing for a possible downturn in Healthcare Art budgets over the next few years. Hospital construction will continue, but if inflation goes up (as we expect) then the hospitals will have less money to devote to Art. Art budgets will be cut.

 
Tell me a little about Fogle Fine Art. How did you get into this?

I started college at DePauw University with a major in economics; I’ve always loved numbers. But numbers weren’t enough, I love working with people and I love art, so I switched to Indiana University. There I earned a BA with a degree as an Art History major. I minored in psychology and studio art.
 
Right after graduation my husband, a musician, convinced me to move to Jacksonville, Florida.

How did the company start and how has it changed over the years?

In 1994, one year after moving to Jacksonville, I started Leigh Fogle Fine Art. I bought a used Matt-cutter and  my husband (Bryan) and I started the business in our house. Our focus was providing framing and poster art for corporate clients.
 
In 1996 we got an SBA loan and leased 3,600 square feet of office space. We also changed the name to Fogle Fine Art and Accessories. Business grew rapidly so in 2001 we leased the adjacent office to expand our space to 6,000 square feet.
 
Healthcare became an increasing focus starting in 2003. Jacksonville was a referral hub for healthcare with facilities like Mayo Clinic and Shands. We worked with them and that became a special interest of mine.
 
In 2005 we moved to our current location. It is bigger (10,000 square feet) and it is in a better location to hold events (we have a lot of events in the gallery).

 
Why are you drawn to art for healthcare?

My interest goes back many years. Even in the 7th grade I remember writing a school paper on the psychological impact of color. With my background in art and psychology in college, I considered Art Therapy as a career move in 1994.
 
Art in hospitals affects people more than corporate art. I don’t treat it as a “product”, but rather I approach the work as a partner with the hospital. Often I involve local artists to reach out to the local community.

 
How has your staffing changed over the years?

In 1994 there were just two of us. In 1996 we had expanded to 4. In 2001 we had grown to 12 employees, but most of them were part-time. Today we have 8 full-time employees and 2 or more part-time employees. We intentionally want to stay small. I want to stay small enough to be “hands on”.

 
What geographic area do you serve?

We serve the entire Southeastern United States and plan to stay within that region. Since framing is such a big part of our business (60-70%), shipping the framed art becomes a major issue. By focusing on the Southeast we can keep down shipping costs and be more available to our clients.
 
Recently my husband has gotten a full-time job as a songwriter in Nashville. This means  I will be spending more time in Nashville which is perfect to better serve the Southeast. I had already been working with companies based in Nashville (Earl Swenson, Gresham Smith and HCA). Now that I will be there more I can better serve them.

What percentage of your business is HealthCare

20 to 25% and growing.

Do you refer to Evidence-based Art when helping a HealthCare client come up with an art program?

I am not an expert on Evidence-based Design (EBD) yet, but I’m learning about it. I tend to go with my gut and my background in Art History.

I am aware of the studies done at Texas A&M showing that art depicting clear, unambiguous nature scenes helps patients recover faster and with less pain medication. Crisp, clear photographs are always powerful as the viewer can put themselves into the picture, so to speak.

Some research on Evidence-based Art suggests that abstract art is inappropriate for patient care areas. What is your opinion?

Even though I like abstract art, I agree. In patient care areas representational art that is calm and peaceful is important. But I think that even more important than subject  matter is color. Blues and greens are the colors of nature and these work much better in healthcare.
 
In other parts of the hospital I think it is fine to bring in abstraction. Often I like to see a transition to abstraction when going from patient care areas to public areas. One way to do this is to use representational images of nature are close up and hence tend to read as abstract; like images of water.

Fogle Fine Art & Accessories
3312 Beach Blvd.
Jacksonville FL 32207
www.foglefineart.com
(800) 298-4828

Research Projects for non-Scientists

There is a tremendous interest in Evidence-based Design these days. I have had several people suggest to me that I conduct some research studying the impact of my art on patients. If I wanted to do do research, what would be involved regarding time, people and money? When I say research here I mean real research; high-value research that will stand up over time. I would want it to be research worthy of being  published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

To help begin to explore what needs to be considered for a research project I asked someone who does this for a living, Dr. Debra Harris. Debra is an Evidence-based Researcher for RAD Consulting. The following is an interview conducted by email:

Let's say I want to study the impact of black-and-white vs. color nature photographs in ICU patients diagnosed with a heart attack. I want to see if it alters their heart rate, blood pressure, duration in the ICU and amount of pain medication requested. I was thinking there could be three groups. One group with no art. The second group with a 30 x 40-inch color landscape and the third group with a 30 x 40-inch black-and white landscape.

First, is that a reasonable way to propose a research topic? Or should it be refined?

Yes, this is an excellent proposed study. Your research question is… Does natural photographic artwork influence the physical responses of ICU patients who have suffered a heart attack?

The dependent variables are heart rate, blood pressure, amount of pain medication used (not requested) and average length of stay. These data points are easy to collect from the patient chart. Statistical analysis will show if art is having a significant impact on the patient’s condition based on your four data sets.

What would I want to budget for a project like this if I wanted to make sure it was done properly?

This is always a loaded question. If you are hiring a research firm to conduct the study, then the cost is the expense of the research team, time and materials (equipment, expenses). If using an academic research team, the costs include the time of the research team (lead investigator, graduate students), tuition, indirect cost to the university which is an additional 25% - 53%, equipment, travel and other expenses.

If I were to guess and make certain assumptions like you were providing the artwork ready to install at no cost to the study, data collection took maximum 4 months and that the hospital was local to the research team, minimizing travel expenses, I would guess that this study could be conducted for about $40,000.

Interested in finding funding? It sounds like an interesting study!

How long would a project like this typically take from inception to publication?

The time to complete a project like this from research design to final research report would take from 8 months to a year. This would include research design, receiving approval from the IRB, collecting data, analyzing data and assimilating it into a meaningful report. This does not include publication. That is a different animal. A study of this nature could be completed in one year at an academic institution, but may require less time if a professional research firm was conducting the study. 

In order to get good evidence, how many patients would need to be studied? Should it include men and women?

Gender is a variable that should be determined while defining the research design. There may be reasons for limiting the study to one gender or the other, but for this study, I would include both men and women that suffered a recent heart attack and is recovering in the ICU.

Determining sample size requires a statistical power analysis. One cannot guess at the sample size. In order to determine sample size, one must know how big the difference needs to be to be meaningful for each variable, the confidence level (.95 is typical for peer review), the variability, and the effect size. Once you have that information, you can run the equation to determine sample size; then you need to add a percentage to account for invalid responses.

Since I am not affiliated with a University and since I have no idea how to do research properly, who do I need to hire? Where do I find them?

You could contact a university that has researchers interested in your topic which may lead to an academic research study utilizing available resources. As mentioned before, it may add time to the study plan. Another choice is to hire a professional research consulting firm like RAD Consultants that can allocate time and resources.

Are there any common road blocks I should anticipate? Are hospital ethics committees likely to veto the project?

Ethics committees at hospitals are called the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The study will have to go through an approval process with the IRB in order to collect data on your patient population.

Most medical IRBs require that the principal investigator complete an ethics course and test for certification.

The IRB process can take as little as three weeks or take months, depending on the data to be collected and the board’s satisfaction that all measures are taken to protect the health and privacy of subjects.

I do not think that an IRB board would veto this project as long is the risk to patients is very low and the research design has enough power to test the hypothesis.

Once the research is done, how does one go about submitting it for publication?

Publication to a peer review journal takes a significant amount of time. First, you have to write the article based on the methodology and the findings in a way that meets the criteria of the journal. Then, the article is submitted and may be rejected, accepted with provisional revisions or accepted with minimal changes. Once accepted, the article will be placed at the publisher’s discretion in the cue for publication. The process may take several months to a year or longer.

There was a previous post about Debra's work at RAD consulting on this blog. To see the article click here. 

Debra Harris, Ph.D., AAHID

ICU Art so bad I wanted to cover it with a towel

Click Image to see a larger view of what Vaughn saw from his bed in the ICU

My good friend and fellow photographer Vaughn Wascovich was hospitalized this week. I wanted to get his perspective on what the art experience was like as he lay there in his ICU bed for two days. He was in a brand new ICU room in a hospital close to Dallas.

What art did you see, what was it like?

I was really disturbed by the art. There was only one black-and-white print, a studio shot of a flower. Where I lay in bed I had no choice but to look at it. It was so bad I wanted to cover it with a towel.

Why did it bother you so much?

The flower was obviously a studio shot with a white background. It seemed anemic; like me. It seemed disconnected and since I felt disconnected, that was bad.  I care about home and place and this picture did not put me there, it bothered me.

You mentioned that it was black-and-white, do you think that made it worse for you?

I can't say, normally I love black-and-white photography. But in this setting it seemed dated, disconnected and not organic. Nothing around me was organic, even my limited view out the window was a parking lot.

When I was in bed I had very few options about what to look at; it's the clock, the TV or the art. The TV just made me feel worse. All the ads seemed to be about food. Since I couldn't eat that was very stress inducing. A Wendy's hamburger never looked so good...

I should have brought my iPod, that would have helped a lot, I could have closed my eyes and listened to music.

What art would you have liked?

Well, I'm drawn to landscapes, but not one by that Painter-of-Light guy, what's his name... (Thomas Kinkade). His pictures show beauty as a fantasy, they are not real. I wanted to be connected to the real world.

What was it like when you got out?

I went to a local garden and that helped tremendously. I touched and smelled the plants. It really felt good.

Vaughn Wascovich teaches photography at Texas A&M. You can see his work at: www.wascovich.com Below is a close up of the picture that was on his wall:

New Journal: World Health Design

July 2008 Cover of "Design for Health" CLICK TO SEE LARGER IMAGE

World Health Design (WHD) is a new journal published by The International Academy for Design and Health. To learn more about it I interviewed Marc Sansom, the Marketing and Communications Director by email. Marc is based Essex, England.

Is there a plan to have articles about the use of Art in HealthCare?

Art in healthcare is a hugely important topic, and often underestimated by decision-makers in respect of its contribution to the health and wellbeing of patients, staff and families in the healthcare environment. We will be providing coverage of this key topic in WHD, but also hope to work with partners on supplement reports and publishing projects to promote the research and practice being done in the field.

Who is the intended audience?

Design & Health is a global knowledge community with an international interdisciplinary network of health planners, architects, designers, engineers, health managers, clinicians, nurses, health scientists, psychologists, constructors and industrialists working in research and practice in government, academia and business. The audience of WHD reflects the make-up of this network.

If someone wanted to subscribe, how do they sign up? What does it cost?

Subscription offers are available for both individuals and teams across one or two years and offer great value for money. To subscribe, either download a subscription form from www.designandhealth.com or
e-mail marc@designandhealth.com for a form.

How often does it come out?

World Health Design is published four times a year, but we hope to publish bimonthly in 2010.

The second issue is just going to press, is that right?

The second issue has been published and distributed. The third issue goes to press in October.

How many different countries is it being mailed to?

The readership is truly global and coverage is provided across all the major continents of the world in both the developed and developing world.

What is the website for the magazine?

Information on the magazine is available at the web site for the International Academy for Design & Health: www.designandhealth.com

We are, however, also in development of a new, modern and interactive web site platform for both World Health Design and the International Academy for Design & Health, which we hope will be launched by the end of September.

Anything else you would like to say about this new Journal?

World Health Design is the most exciting publishing project in the field in its unique attempt to bridge the gap between research and practice to an interdisciplinary audience at an international level, and we welcome anyone who wishes to support our ambitions, either as contributors or through advertising and sponsorship to join us in achieving this ambition.

Does Art spread Superbugs?

Superbugs in hospitals have everyone scared; and for good reason. Doctors and researchers fear that these bacteria may become entrenched in hospitals, threatening the very patients that go there for treatment.

Understanding Superbugs is important for Designers. Jain Malkin in her new book wrote: "Infection control is such a big issue today; it has to be the No. 1 thing that architects and designers understand."

To see if the art in hospitals might cause infections I contacted an expert: Mark D. Winton, MD. Dr. Winton is a board-certified specialist in infectious disease. When I worked as a Family Practice doctor I always referred the cases that stumped me to him. The following is based on an email interview we had this week:

Can art prints contribute in any meaningful way to the spread of hospital-acquired infections?

Not that I am aware of. They are no more potential fomites than the walls.

Should hospitals attempt to disinfect art prints? If so, how?

No disinfection is needed. The chance of art prints retaining resistant organisms is very small. The pigments in paint (and inks) tend to be antibacterial in nature.

How likely is other hospital art (sculpture, water walls, backlit panels, paintings) to contribute to hospital acquired infections?

Very low risk.

What are the major contributors to all hospital-acquired infections, especially with superbugs?

• Instrumentation (putting devices in patients)
• Poor hand washing

Based on the etiology, Urinary tract infections from Gram-Negative rods is common, and bloodstream infections by coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Enteric GNR, and fungi, nosocomial pneumonias related to ventilators, it seems as if the major reason is instrumentation.

Hospital staff hands I would think would be common. Doctors are notorious for poor hand washing.

Overuse of antibiotics contributes.

Hospital equipment, such as foley catheters, IV catheters, thermometers and Blood Pressure cuffs.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in the hospital seem to be related to invasive procedures, and to colonized hospital staff, rather than to floors, walls, sculptures, desk surfaces or glass doors.

Clostridium difficile spores tend to be gravity driven to collect on the floor, or carpets. They tend to be focused on the floors and beds in patient rooms, not in common areas like cafeterias or lobbies. I don't know of any outbreaks involving these areas.

Carpet can hold on to molds like Aspergillus, and can cause problems in immunocompromised hosts. We used to see a lot of carpet on the floors and walls in hospitals, but not so much any more.

The current issue of The New Yorker has an article called "Superbugs: The new generation of resistant infections is almost impossible to treat". click here to read it. That is where I found the illustration by Bruce McCall at the top of this post.

Note: there were many technical terms used in the interview. I've provided hyperlinks to explain them. Just click on the underlined words.

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

Health Environment Art Services

Front desk at Health Environment Art Services's new office

I first met Denise Rippinger at the HealthCare Design Conference in 2005 in Scottsdale. I was pretty inexperienced at providing art for hospitals at that point. She was kind enough to introduce me to people and explain what she did as an art consultant. Recently she has moved to a new office, so I thought it would be a good time to call her to find out what was going on.

Tell me about Health Environment Art Services. How long have you been in business?

This year is our 20th anniversary of being in business.  I started the first company "Corporate Artworks Ltd" in 1988.  Coming from a business background, having a love and passion for art as well as being an artist is what gave me the idea to start this business.  If you recall, in the early 80's art did not yet play a big part in the office environment or hospitals.  

In the beginning all of my clients were corporate offices and then gradually I started getting requests to improve healthcare environments.  It seemed like a natural thing to do and I found that it gave me great pleasure to have an audience that not only enjoyed the art but that gave art a deeper meaning and purpose.

How many people work there?

Currently we have 21 people on staff and this is our third facility due to growth.  In 2003 we officially started a new company called "Health Environment Art Services". Although we had been placing artwork in hospitals and healthcare environments for many years, the stigma of "Corporate" did not give us the credibility that we deserved.

I understand you have recently moved. Tell me about your new place.

Our facility has a beautiful showroom, and great areas set up specifically for our art consultants to design out projects.  We also have office space, frame styling, frame shop, shipping and receiving.  It is quite a busy operation with anywhere from 30 to 50 jobs going on at the same time. Our new facility houses both companies.

Since you are based in Chicago, do you work primarily in the Upper Midwest?

We work with clients nationwide. 

Earlier you mentioned your "Creative Solutions Team", can you tell me a bit about that?

We pride ourselves in going to a much higher levels of creating healing environments that are unique.  We have formed a "Creative Solutions Team" in essence a brain storming team made up of very experienced art consultants, interior designers, art degree graduates and artists. It allows everyone to express their creative ideas for a specific project and as a team we expand on those ideas. It's a great thing for our clients because they know that their space is going to be special.

What are your thoughts on Evidence-based Art ?

I am often asked what my thoughts are about evidence-based art.  This is a tough question because I feel like this has become an industry buzz phrase.

In reality what might be comforting or distracting to one person could be the total opposite to another.  Ethnicity, age, demographics, and religion are just a few elements that can throw a wrench into the evidence-based philosophy.  What works for some doesn't work for all. 

I think that every hospital needs to be looked at individually and the artwork be based specifically on its patient population.  This is not to throw research out the window, but to use common sense.  Whether it is evidence-based or not, I personally think that nature is the source for all healing

To learn more:
Denise  Rippinger - President
Health Environment Art Services
www.healtheart.com
76 West Seegers Road
Arlington Heights IL 60005-3917
(847) 843-3636

Evidence-based Design Consultant

Where can you turn for help if you are a Art Consultant, Design Firm or Hospital that wants to explore how to use Evidence-based Design? A logical first stop is the Center for Health Design. They are a leader in the field and have been referenced many times on this blog.

But what if you wanted to work with an individual consultant and you didn't have a Ph.D. researcher that specializes in Evidence-based Design on your staff. Where do you turn? One option would be to work with Dr. Debra Harris at RAD Consulting. I called her this week at her office in Austin to ask her a few questions:

Tell me about your new firm,  RAD Consultants. What do you do and who do you do it for?

We do two things:

• Consulting services for Evidence-based Design

• HealthCare Design, primarily Interior Design

Where did you get the name RAD Consulting?

RAD is short for "Research and Design" that is what we specialize in.

What background do you have in this field?

I have a Ph.D. in Architecture from Texas A&M where I learned Evidence-based Design from the pioneers in the field.

I have 25-years of practical experience in HealthCare design and 16-years of experience in applied HealthCare research.

What kind of projects have you worked on?

A key area of focus has been patient safety and infection control. I have worked on everything from testing flooring options in patient environments to reducing infections in Neonatal Intensive Care Units.

In what way have you be involved with art for HealthCare projects?

We have worked on researching how to use art to help with Wayfinding and as positive distractions. We could help hospitals conduct research to measure the impact of art on their patients and family.

If you are working with an Architectural Firm, Design firm or Art Consulting firm, what specific consulting services could you offer them?

We could help them:

• Learn how to formally incorporate Evidence-based Design ideas into their Design Process

• Develop procedures and protocols to document Evidence-based Design projects.

• Help clarify research goals and objectives

To learn more, the Website is: www.rad-consultants.com

Debra Harris, Ph.D., AAHID
President
RAD Consultants
7923 Ridgeline North
Austin, TX  78731
512.853.9138