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We will start the New Year with an exciting and special exhibit that deals not only with “art for art’s sake” but with the healing aspect of art: the good it can do for ones soul and well being. We are referring not only to the act of viewing and appreciating artwork or an artful environment, but also the experience of making art. 

 

The exhibit features artwork by local artists working for ArtsCare, a six-year partnership between The Arts Center and Samaritan Health Services and active now in all five SHS hospitals from the Valley to the Coast. ArtsCare’s essential purpose is twofold: beautification of the hospital environment and direct work with patients at their bedside. We also work with staff and families of patients in our popular workshop settings. Examples of site enhancement are the full size mural of an oak grove on an otherwise concrete dominated patio, a running mosaic on an outdoor breezeway, and recently the Employee Art Show. ArtsCare serves dozens of patients each year in the dialysis units, cancer centers, mental health, and many other places.

 

The artists whose work we will be showing are  mosaic artists Wendy Brewer and Ella Rhoades, ceramic artists Holly Dubrasich and Terry Inokuma, basketry artist Jan Wilcox, Dr. Georg Norek practicing Shodo (Chinese calligraphy), and fiber artists Kerry McFall, Jennifer Smith and Leetra Taylor. In some case these artists will “cross over” and work together in each other’s medium and create specific work for the exhibit, other work in the exhibit is borrowed from places in the care facilities, and some is their own work.