Posts Tagged ‘arts in healthcare’

We were given a challenge to make something that cost very little for centerpieces for our dining room. No containers? OK. Let's do styrofoam cups. But we don't want it to look like a plain white cup. Spraypaint and scissors fixed that. I pre-cut strips of colored paper and stared forming them into shapes and taping them with double sided tape. It ended up being very social as our residents came in and out all day long, participating and adding ideas. Each of the 20 centerpieces looked different and they are now enjoying color and beauty from the work of their own hands.

Nancy’s emotions come out in unusualy ways through subjects in her paintings. She loves beauty. She loves nature. What she struggles with is being stuck in bed 90% of the time and not able to live the vibrant energetic life that she used to. She is angry about that. Here is one of her paintings. I placed a vase of flowers on the table and asked her if she would like to paint them. She happily painted the beginning of the wonderful bouquet but was sidetracked and started painting caterpillars with scowling faces. I am fascinated by the contrasting emotions shown in this painting. The title she gave it was “Angry Caterpillars”.

We had 40 paintings exhibited in our first art show for Parkview Nursing Care in Muncie. All of the paintings were painted in the last 5 months. We had a good crowd to come and see the art and talk to 6 of the artists that we were able to bring out of the nursing facility. It was a success. The picture shows one small part of the gallery in downtown Muncie, Indiana.

Jesse, Jerry and David involve themselves in art daily. Every painting leads to another. One thing they all have in common is that none of them have painted since they were young. Now they are painting unusually expressive paintings that come from within.

Jesse knew that he had art talent. He had not done art since he was a little boy. Now, being disabled, and in a nursing care center, he has started drawing and painting. He paints what is near to his heart, and that is his faith. He spends many many hours on each painting. We use them in a church that our residents have formed. Each piece of art says what words can’t. He has a dream of doing more with his art so it can go more outside the walls of our center and reach more people.