Interview with Curator Phaedra Siebert
Ben Whitehouse talks about his painting and
the evolution of The Revolution Series
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio
March 15 - April 25
Revolution Still Lifes
ArtChicago
April 30 - May 3
Perimeter Gallery, Booth TBA
Grand Rapids Art Museum
June 4 - August 22
GRAM and Ox-Bow
Perimeter Gallery, Chicago September 10 - October 9
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 Healing art: Path to the Lake. |
Soon, hospital patients may wake up from anesthesia to see images like Claude Monet's Argenteuil Basin or Ben Whitehouse's Path to the Lake. According to Dr. Roger Ulrich of Texas A&M University, patients who view art can recover more quickly, with lowered pain, anxiety, and blood pressure.
In a test, people exposed to nature scenes showing calm water fared better than average; those viewing abstract images did worse. Noting this, Chicago's newly reopened Northwestern Hospital displays pastoral scenes in its rooms.
In a similar program, the New York-based organization HEART: Center for Healing & Art is researching art's curative powers, with the goal of placing it in hospitals, including New York's Beth Israel and a few Harvard-affiliated ones. "Patients' hospital stays can be very grim and long-lasting. Often, the only thing patients can see is the ceiling and a big black machine coming toward them," says HEART director Maurice Tuchman, senior curator emeritus at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Anyone who doesn't understand the connection between the physical environment and the health of people has to go back to school."
--Nancy Brundin LaPonzina