Medical Students Present Art Show

Medical school is not just about science and disease. At UAB, students in the University of Alabama Medical School (UASOM) have a chance to explore and display their artistic nature with the 2001 Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Medical Student Art Show.

Posted on January 25, 2001 at 10:06 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Medical school is not just about science and disease. At UAB, students in the University of Alabama Medical School (UASOM) have a chance to explore and display their artistic nature with the 2001 Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Medical Student Art Show. AOA is the national honor society for medical schools. The show, in the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences, runs from January 22 to April 30. An awards ceremony and reception will be held from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. on February 2, at the museum in the Lister Hill Library, 1700 University Boulevard.

The show, sponsored by the Alabama Alpha Chapter of AOA, drew sixty entries. The top three winners will receive cash prizes and all sixty entries will be on display in the museum.

“The idea for the event originated from the faculty’s desire to increase medical students’ exposure to the arts and humanities,” says Stephen R. Smith, Ph.D., director of student life for the medical school. “Additionally, the show helps to involve them with UAB’s Historical Collections and showcases the talent within the student body.”

The grand prize winner is an untitled clay sculpture by first year student Mary Boyd Barfield. “I view medicine as both an art form and a science,” Barfield says. “In medicine and art, one must be able to visualize and move from two dimensions to three, to think on many different levels in search of the best solution.”

Second place went to first year student Brian Geary for his black and white photograph, "Looking Back." Third place was won by Keith Harrison, a second year student, for his acrylic on canvas titled, "Old Blue Eyes."

The judges for the competition were Alan Atkinson, Ph.D., UAB instructor of art history; Susie Harris, Birmingham Museum of Art; Chuck Fletcher, AOA member and fourth-year medical student; and Stefanie Rookis, curator of the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences. They also presented two honorable mention awards, as well as the UAB Historical Collections choice and the AOA choice.

AOA plans to continue the art show and competition on an annual basis due to the positive response to this first year’s show.