Staff with Project Art at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics will use a matching grant from the Iowa Arts Council to create a unique one of a kind piece of artwork for UI Hospitals and Clinics – and you may be invited to participate. Marsha Howe, collections coordinator for Project Art, talks about the project:
Tell us a little about this project. How did the idea come about?
This idea came about from a conversation between Project Art Director Adrienne Drapkin and me. We know the value of art work in the healing experience and health care experience. We wanted to go one step further and involve patients, staff, and visitors in creating a unique piece of art. Illuminated Voices is the name of the project and patients, visitors, family, and staff will be asked to contribute words—it could be a single word, it could be a phrase, it could be a poem.
Artist Cheryl Jacobsen will take these words, these phrases, and incorporate them into a work of art which we have commissioned. That is why we’re calling it Illuminated Voices, because we think these phrases, these words, which are the feelings of the community within the hospital will reflect not only healing but artistic value, too.
Who will you be inviting to interview as part of the project?
We will be inviting anyone that’s involved within these walls of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. That is patients, of course, family members, visitors, and especially staff who are involved in healing and health care.
Will you accept written works from those not interviewed?
Yes. I will be available to interview and will be happy to do that, especially for patients or anybody who wishes that. We’ll also have participation brochures in which the person can write their thoughts. I want to emphasize that this is all anonymous, we will not be asking for any names. This will all go into the piece of art. There will be numerous opportunities to pick up brochures. We also hope to have this online on our Project Art Web page site.
What will you do with the interviews and writing works collected?
We will take all of these contributions and interviews and we will review them and give the artist that list to turn into a work of art.
What will Cheryl Jacobsen’s role be in this process?
Cheryl is a nationally recognized calligraphist and artist at the UI Center for the Book and she, if you’ve seen her work, is wonderful. She has the ability to turn words, through the ancient art of calligraphy, into beautiful, meaningful works of art.
She will put these words, artistically, on vellum, and there will be four panels of this vellum which will create the final work of art, and this will be suspended in the glass walkway between two buildings—actually between the Pappajohn and the Pomerantz—and that is a very well lit natural-light area. So, because it’s done on vellum, the light will come through and add to the artistic value of the work.
When do you plan to start and finish the project?
We will be intensively interviewing and accepting the contributions, for the next month to five weeks, and then all of the responses will be given to Cheryl. She will finish her artwork by June. It will be installed in June and the project will be finished by July 1.
If someone wanted to participate in the project, as a patient, guest, or staff member, how would they go about doing so?
They can do it in a number of ways:
- Go to the Project Art Web page. We will have a form there so they can participate online.
- Find the participation brochures in numerous places around the hospital, especially the elevator lobbies. And they can at any time
- Call me at 356-8713 or call Project Art at 353-6417. I will have several days when I will set up a spot that people can learn more about this project, and contribute their words to Illuminated Voices.
Let me emphasize again, this is all anonymous. If patients or visitors want to contribute in another language, we have translators for that.
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