Ben Whitehouse

Exhibitions 2008:

Delaware Center
for the Contemporary Arts
Solo Show

Wilmington, Delaware
August 17, 2007 - January 6, 2008

Eastern Illinois University
Solo Show

Charleston, Illinois
January 12 - February 24, 2008

Chicago Cultural Center
Group Show

HereThereEverywhere
Curated by Gregory Knight, Sophia Zutautas
January 19 - April 6, 2008

The Los Angeles Art Show
Barker Hangar, Santa Monica
January 23 - 27, 2008

The Alfedena Gallery
Group Show

Chicago, IL
February 8 - March 8, 2008

Commissions


arttalk image
Public Commissions

Private Commissions
Path to the lake
Healing art:
Ben Whitehouse's
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

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