Center Stage at the Milton S. Hershey College of Medicine along with the Penn State Hershey Clinical Simulation Center hosted the Eighth Annual Student Art Show. The outstanding art assignment creations of students from Palmyra High School, were chosen for an art display. Art was displayed throughout the Clinical Simulation Center, a state-of-the art facility with more than 9,500 square feet of space dedicated to all types of simulation including computer-controlled manikins, task trainers, virtual reality flat screen simulators, and clinical equipment. Students visited the show and learned about careers in medicine.
Public Art Committee Adds to Permanent Collection
Our Public Art Committee coordinates art work commissions to enhance the environment of clinical and public areas. We are proud of the work that inspires our whole community and establishes a tangible connection between humanities and medicine. Center Stage added works by Ralph Gilbert, Erica Harney and Bruce Evans.
Ralph Gilbert, Atlanta, GA. Healing in Art, 2019, oil on canvas
“The Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and the Penn State College of Medicine art project was enormously challenging. As an artist, I am not of the world of medicine, so there was much to see and absorb before setting out to design the paintings. Generally, works on this scale are viewed at a distance in large public spaces and avoid detail in the service of a cohesive and compelling narrative.
Along those lines, I set out to portray the culture of the Medical Center and the College in a style that was evocative, not illustrative, and creating a cohesive whole was the major concern. The work had to succeed in broad terms as a panorama, not as technical illustration. That meant that much of the imagery would be suggestive rather than literal—the idea of a microscope would be conveyed, but not with exactitude or in detail”
Erica Harney, Philadelphia, Pa. Reverie, 2019, acrylic on canvas and wall
“Reverie is a multi-phase painting which is a combination of paintings on canvas over a mural that I painted directly on the wall. I started the paintings in the summer of 2019 and I did the wall section here on site in August 2019 over the span of about four days. This was a collaboration with some of the students and we talked about what was important to them being a reflective, meditative, mindful, installation that also incorporated the elements of the space around it relating to the artwork that is nearby.”Bruce Evans, Meadowbrook, Pa. New Life, 2019, acrylic on canvas
Recognized by the meticulous attention to detail, Bruce Evans creates hyper-realistic art pieces to captivate the viewers. Due to the precision detail found within the artwork, hyper-realism art is often times mistaken as photography
Center Stage offers monthly Guided Art Walking Tour of the Permanent Collection, also available online.
2019 Community Art Gallery
Featured to the left is Daniel E. Hale, MD who exhibited his needlework art in the Community Art Gallery. His work was one of four shows that were on display this year. Also, this year, the gallery was renamed to allow opportunities for our patients, students, and employees to showcase their artistic talents.
“My most persistent memories of my mother are of her sitting on the couch, in a kitchen chair, on her bed, on the porch swing, or in the church pew with knitting needles in her hands. She believed that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” and so her hands were never idle. This legacy was passed down to her three sons, none of whom can sit still for more than five minutes. As a consequence, this trait challenges their respective spouses.
In medical school, I found I needed to do some activity that would keep my hands busy but did not require me to read. So, I asked my mother to teach me to crochet. After multiple attempts, she realize that I had no ability in that regard, so she gave me a small needlepoint kit to try. Forty years later, I am still needlepointing. Aside from the pleasure of working with glorious colors and fibers, needlepointing is a time for quiet conversation with Mom (she died in 1994). I can hear her voice “oohing and ahing” over a pretty thread or clever stitch. When the piece is finished, if she truly liked it, she would say “That would be a really nice present for …” If she did not find it particularly appealing, she would say, “That would look very nice framed and hung in your office.”
2019 Art Therapy Program
Art Therapy Program Grew in 2019
Art Therapist Alexis Lombardo, MA, ATR-P, grew the art therapy program at Penn State Health. Art therapy is for patients and families to support and improve psychological, developmental, physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual well-being. Art therapy is relevant for people of all artistic abilities and confidence. It focuses on the artmaking process, rather than the product, to achieve desired outcomes. Art therapy works to engage the mind and body in order to support coping with hospital experiences, provide a safe outlet for emotional expression, promote feelings of control, and instill resiliency and relaxation.
Alexis passed her board certification exam through the Art Therapy Credentials Board, the national organization for Art Therapy credentialing. She is a Registered and Board Certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC), the highest credential that can be obtained for those practicing Art Therapy in the United States. This takes a minimum of 2 years to achieve following graduation from an accredited Master’s level Art Therapy Program, and requires a minimum of 1000 direct client contact hours post-education, 100 hours of supervision post-education with another ATR-BC, and a passing score on the board exam.