Bringing people together through art. Photo by Theodore RoweTheodore Rowe - Contributortrowe@uab.edu
On Thursday, July 14, as part of the Foundation for Hospital Art, Paintfest America gave cancer patients, cancer survivors and hospital staff the opportunity to paint on a range of canvases in the Northern Pavilion of UAB Hospital, home of the Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Hospitals are never-ceasing currents of doctors, patients, cafeteria workers, information assistants, nurses, security guards and delivery drivers that are all shifting around one another in various roles, specializations and daily occurrences. Rarely does one think of the arts finding a place in such an intricate stream.
“It started with the idea of travel and bringing therapy to the patients. Cancer kind of affects everyone in some type of way,” said Anna Kathryn Simmons, PaintFest’s project leader.
The various canvases of birds, American flags and landscapes are donated to the participating hospital by PaintFest. When put together, the images create a larger mural.
“This is something everyone can paint. It’s about bringing people together in a therapeutic way,” Simmons said.
The Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB embodies therapy beyond the treatment of physical symptoms.
“Art is a way for people who may have quite a bit to get out who otherwise wouldn’t be able to,” said Teri Hoenemeyer, Director of Educational Support Services at the Cancer Center. “It’s treating the patient’s emotional and spiritual side; it’s treating the whole patient.”
PaintFest is currently on a 50-day tour across America to bring painting to various hospitals and currently plays a role in the growing network of arts interacting with patients in UAB Hospitals. The Institute of Art and Medicine offers storytelling, yoga, meditation, acting and other art forms to aid patients.
“Arts and Medicine is not art therapy. We come to offer a creative experience, or not,” Arts and Medicine’s storyteller Elizabeth Vander Kamp said. “At worst, it’s a positive, engaging experience, and at it’s best it’s a way for the patient to be removed and taken to a better place.”
Kamp explained that the artists need to have an insight into the patient’s needs as they craft their material.
“I can embellish a story and let it grow if I can tell if someone is enjoying it or pull back depending on the mood,” Kamp said.
While there have not been many long-term, quantitative studies relating the benefits of arts to patients, some of the patients themselves have noticed changes.
“One thing I can tell you is that I’ve come to fall in love with music. I’ve given it to my 17-year-old,” Cassandra Bruridge, a survivor of cancer, said.
Bruridge and another cancer survivor, Martin Townsend, participated in PaintFest after long-term treatment at UAB.
“I’m the type of person who has creative bursts. I’ve always been in different creative fields in my life with different ways of expressing myself,” Townsend said.
Bruridge and Townsend painted a bird sitting on a flower’s branch while filling in the back with lighter blues. The painting represents the Alabama stop on PaintFest’s tour.
“Life has been an adjustment,” Townsend said.
He is considering starting a young-adult support group for Alabamians, while Bruridge recently finished law-school and is taking the Bar Exam in February as well as participating in a competitive body-building group.
“Cancer has made me do a bunch of stuff that I would have otherwise never done,” Brurdige said.
UAB Hospitals continue to promote programs that extend beyond what is commonly thought of as part of the healing process.
“For patients, it can change everything,” Hoenemeyer said. “[The paintings] are symbols of what you’ve been through and something tangible that can be seen and touched.”
