Health Care Fine Art

Featured Artist: Eric Higgs

Dignity by Eric Higgs, Marble Sculpture

Eric Higgs created Dignity for Planned Parenthood in Sarasota Florida. The marble sculpture is 8-feet tall, 2-feet wide and 2-feet deep.

I asked Eric to tell me a little about the piece:

The common definition of “Dignity” is “the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect”. Created as a dignified feminine figure, this sculpture aims to evoke the pure essence of "Dignity" in the context of Planned Parenthood’s mission.

The process of gaining “Dignity” results from the opportunity to make difficult decisions in a peaceful environment, supported with  appropriate resources, and absent of moral judgment or guilt.

I discovered his work in "The Guild Sourcebook of Architectural & Interior Art" Vol. 20. 

To learn more about Eric's work:

Higgs Sculpture Studio, Inc.
2245 4th Avenue South
Saint Petersburg, FL 33712
727.322.2309
eric@erichiggs.com
www.erichiggs.com

Featured Artist: Sandra Bell

Geronitius by Sandra Bell, Bronze Sculture

Sandra Bell lives in Ireland and creates bronze sculptures. She is self-taught and uses the lost wax method to create abstractions of the human form. "My aim is an artist is to portray the essence of the human form and the tranquility of the inner self by means of abstract figurative expression."

One of her healthcare pieces was for the Galway Clinic. I asked her how she got that job.

It was quite by chance that a director of the clinic visited an exhibition and saw the maquette of Gerontius. He bought it to place in the foyer of Galway clinic. He had in the past bought small pieces of mine through galleries and was familiar with my work. Galway clinic features a grand piano in the foyer and the sculpture being on the theme of Elgar's Gerontius may have seemed suitable.

Tell me about where the name of the piece came from.

I find "The Dream of Gerontius" by Elgar uplifting.

What process did you use in creating Gerontius?

I concentrated on a vertical theme of the figure with a trumpet, however the base needed to be stronger visually and I added the bars to denote bars of music and strings of a harp. The sculpture seemed well balanced at that stage and I resisted doing anything further.

In the US Sandra is represented by Kearon-Hempstall Gallery in Jersey City, NJ. You can see her work on page 143 of The Guild Sourcebook Volume 23 or on her website: www.SandraBell.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: Mary Ellen Scherl

I met Mary Ellen Scherl in New York City last week while attending the Symposium on The Value and Importance of Art in Health Care. She was showing snapshots of her sculptures to someone as we waited for the sessions to begin. I liked what I saw and asked her to be a featured artist.

The Symposium was organized and sponsored by Vanderbilt University, so it fits that she would tell us about her piece installed there:

Surrounded by Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s new Children’s Hospital and various research buildings joyfully stands “The Ladder”; a bronze sculpture inspired by a 21st century biogenetic interpretation of Jacob’s dream.  Jacob dreamed of a ladder, four messengers, and God telling him his descendants will flourish.       

In 1953, Watson and Crick created the model of the physical material of heredity, commonly referred to as the ladder of DNA. Biblical scholars say the ladder in Jacob’s dream had a bend in its path, much like the curving, helical shape of DNA. The four messengers “ascending and descending” remarkably mirror the four nucleic acids which travel up and down the ladder of DNA. The nucleic acids carry genetic information up and down the sugar-phosphate strands, like the angels carry information to and from God.

If the simple meaning of the ancient text is about future generations, perhaps the prescient interpretation is that the chemical structure of genetic material resembles a ladder.  The biblical ladder may be our first glimmer of the notion that the ladder of DNA is how man creates future generations.

Passers-by may not know the scientific impetus that inspired this sculpture; more than likely they simply see the playful, gravity defying babies that invigorate the garden. Either way, I hope that in some small way “The Ladder” offers a smile and a prayer that the babies in the building next door will once again be full of life and climbing.

The Ladder, 2003
Bronze, 31x31x74 in.
Permanent Collection, Vanderbilt University

Mary Ellen has a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis. She studied painting and sculpture at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League in New York City. She lives in Tenafly, New Jersey, with her family.

To see more of her work:

www.mamorial.com

www.maryellenscherl.com

Featured Artist: Cai Guo-Qiang

“Transient Rainbow,” 2002 by Cai Guo-Qiang
Realized on New York’s East River, August 29, 2002, 9:30 P.M., fifteen seconds. A thousand three-inch multicolor peony fireworks fitted with computer chips.

This week's New Yorker has an article by Peter Schjeldahl reviewing an exhibit featuring the art of Cai Guo-Qiang at the Guggenheim Museum. Schjeldahl is my favorite art critic, I love his style of writing and I often agree with his judgment.

About Cai Guo-Qiang he writes

He is the innovative master of the medium- the art of making nothing out of something, suddenly... He understands gunpowder as Velazquez understood oil paint.

Certainly art made from exploding gunpowder should never appear in a hospital. However, Cai Guo-Qiang's innovative art is is appealing in many ways.

I'm going to learn more about Cai's work next week since I'm going to be in New York for the Symposium on “The Importance and Value of Art in Health Care". While I'm in New York I'm planing a trip to the Guggenheim.  

The Guggenheim's website has a good introduction on Cai's work. It even includes a video. Click here. 

Click here to read the full text of Peter Schjeldahl's article in the New Yorker.

If you want read a book on Cai, Phaidon published one which I read a couple years ago and enjoyed. Here is a link to it on Amazon: click here

Featured Artist: Art Wells

My friend Bill Knight introduced me to another sculptor whose work would fit well in HealthCare settings: Art Wells. Art created the sculpture to the left which is called: "La Femme Du Jardin."

I asked Art to tell me a little bit about himself.

"I feel that fine art is food for the soul, so I strive to create something nourishing.  I want my work to serve a purpose, other than to bring me a paycheck or as an “investment for someone. Long ago I thought, “If I had a nickel for every person that said ‘Ooh… Aah…” while looking at my sculpture I’d be rich.”  Now I’ve realized that “Ooh… Aah…” means my sculpture is serving a higher purpose.  It is bringing more peace and joy into people’s lives.  So many people even ask me, “May I touch it?”  Of course, it’s stone, it’s meant to be touched.

As an artist, I’ve wanted to set myself apart from the rest of the pack.  Sometimes I sculpt in clay for bronzes, but prefer to take my work to the next level.  My passion is carving the human figure in stone.  Carving a beautiful, convincing human figure in stone is becoming a lost art in America.  There are only a handful of sculptors here that are willing and able to do this.  I feel honored to be one of them.

Besides sculpting realistic portraits and figures in stone, I also love to stretch the boundaries of the traditional, creating more modern, stylized interpretations.  La Femme du Jardin is one example of my modern interpretation of the figure carved in granite.  Whichever style, my goal is to create sculpture that adds to the fullness of the viewer’s life, making it brighter, stronger and happier."

Art lives and works in McKinney, Texas.
To see more of Art's work check out his website: www.artsculpts.com

Featured Artist: Martin Puryear

Charm of Subsistence, Rattan and Gumwood,  by Martin Puryear, St. Louis Museum of Art.

We leave today to travel to New York to see the Martin Puryear Exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). I have always loved his wooden sculptures. He uses manual skills to create rich organic shapes.  One of the 45 sculptures in the exhibit is shown above. I know well, since it is part of the collection of the St. Louis Art Museum. Like many of his sculptures, this is large (almost 8-feet tall) and curvaceous.

The MoMA website is particularly well done if you are interested. You can see it here: Website

Unlike much contemporary art, I think his work would be perfect in a HealthCare setting. His sculptures are unusual in that they can be appreciated by both connoisseurs and the general public.

If you miss the exhibit in New York (it closes in 4 days), my friend Vaughn told me that it is travelling next to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth where it will be on display from February 24th through May 18th, 2008.

Featured Artist: Kevin Robb

As I have tried to learn more about other artists working to create art for HealthCare I came across the metal sculptor Kevin Robb. His work is listed in "The Sourcebook of Architectural & Interior Art 20."

His wife, Dianne answered when I asked for a description of his work and to explain his involvement with healthcare:

Kevin has been sculpting for over 29 years and specializes in fabricated (sheet) bronze and stainless steel. They are contemporary in nature and range anywhere from 2 feet to over 18 feet in height.  If you have visited his website you can see that he has been collected internationally.
www.kevinrobb.com

This past month we installed three small sculptures in a hospital that just opened here in Colorado and am currently working with a new cardiac hospitalscheduled to open in about a year in OK.

As far as further involvement with the healthcare industry, I hold a Masters degree in healthcare organizations.  Three years ago, at the age of 49, Kevin suffered a massive stroke.  I left my hospital management position to care for him.  Now, three years out, he is in the studio full time again creating his fabulous works.  He has lost his ability to speak and walks slowly with a cane, but oversees our studio staff with a close eye and can convey just how he wants the metal to bend, to connect, to look.  The quality is as precise as ever with his seamless intersections and smooth to the touch edges.  His current designs are as strong, if not stronger, than before the stroke.  Kevin is truly a walking miracle and I believe it is the will to continue to create his sculptures that has brought him back to us.

He is a true testament to the healing power of art.

More of Kevin's work can be seen on the website of Kevin Robb Studios

A Plea for Less Public Sculpture

I have to make a confession:
I usually hate public sculpture. Especially if it is in gardens.

Call me crazy, but...
It seems to me that in the last three decades there has been a proliferation of cheesy sculpture in gardens. This weekend we are traveling for a family wedding. The Inn we are staying at has some amazing landscaping. However, scattered amongst the plants is a large variety of metal sculptures.

I took the picture above on my way back from breakfast.  To me this over sized fake metal daisy is like a bad cartoon set in a beautiful garden. What is it doing here?

The Missouri Botanical Garden has always been one of my favorite places in Missouri. However, over the last few decades the gardens have been taken over by sculptures. I find them very distracting. Aren't the plants enough? It feels more like a theme park. Likewise, these sculptures are popping up in Hospitals. It is just so much clutter.

Does anyone else share the opinion that there should be less public sculpture?

Finding a Stonecarver

Stone Carving is one of the most ancient and most durable of all art forms. Having a stone sculpture prominently placed near the entrance of a hospital can help create an atmosphere suggesting longevity and quality. How do architects, designers and art consultants find stone sculptors and stone art for their projects? I don't have any experience with this at all, so I asked an artist friend Bill Knight:

As one who is primarily a private, or hobby artist, I lack direct experience about how these things work, so I don't have a good answer for you.  I can tell you, though how I have found stone sculpture to study and enjoy, and that has been through the Internet. You might say I have too much time on my hands, but I have spent hundreds of hours ferreting out stonework. 

A very common way for a town or city to boost its cultural profile and enrich itself with art is to hold a stone-carving symposium.  Participating sculptors are selected on the basis of their portfolio or a proposal maquette.  Very good records of these events are kept on line and they feature photographs and artist's resumes, which in turn offer links to more symposia or artist's web sites.  Another avenue I have taken is the obvious one of googling search words related to stone sculpture, stone types and names of carvers once I know them.

Using geographic signifiers such as town or nationality can be very helpful especially when the search words are in the language of the nation.  Japan has an amazingly vibrant granite carving scene with many, many symposia and artists.  Googling in English has had great results, though I have had to be very patient working my way though sites where I could not read the text.  Cutting and pasting the Japanese characters of artist's names also produces good results.

For people not wanting to go to these lengths I can recommend three web-sites that maintain stone sculptor lists and links:

1. The Stone Foundation: www.stonefoundation.org
   
2. StoneCarver's Guild: www.stonecarversguild.com
3. About Stone Directory: www.AboutStone.org

About Stone has hundreds of artists and their websites listed and is by far the most comprehensive, but is also difficult to use, because of the number of artists included; it is not easy to get a quick idea of the artwork without actually visiting each site, and much of it is not professional or public.

The question of how to find great artists not mentioned on those sites remains.  It's beyond my ken, but I conjecture that a need for a consultant/panel of peers remains. I could try to help if people wanted to email me.

Bill Knight trained as a stone carver during his studies at the Art School at Washington University in St. Louis. He lives on a farm near Fredericktown, Missouri with his wife Angela who is also an artist.