Healing with art: IU School of Medicine to host public art installation
Guest post courtesy of IU Communications colleague Brittany Aders:
The Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute on the IUPUI campus will host “An Afternoon of Art” show featuring a public art installation from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 17. Some artists featured in the installation will be present to discuss their works, and artwork in the research wings that usually prohibit public entrance will be open for tours.
“The public art program is a successful attempt to engage the community in our campus using the arts and humanities,” said Jeffrey Rothenberg, chief medical officer of IU Health and an associate professor in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the IU School of Medicine. “We argue that people want to be in interesting spaces, and science has shown that art can cause physiological changes in those who perceive it. The art here is a real intricate part of the building and was intentionally placed in both patient care and non-patient care areas.”
Marianne Glick, director at the Eugene & Marilyn Glick Family Foundation, will have her piece “Dancing Through Eernity” on display as part of “An Afternoon of Art.”
Rothenberg is also chair of the Glick Eye Institute Public Art Project Committee, advocating for interdisciplinary education incorporating arts and humanities to other fields of study within health care.
Rothenberg began painting during his medical residency about 25 years ago. “I believe that, as healthcare providers, the arts can make us better, more empathetic healers,” he said.
Two of Rothenberg’s pieces, “Occuli” and the “Teichopsia,” will be displayed in the art installation. Occuli is a mobile located in the lobby that uses glass spheres to represent the globe of the eye.
The globes are suspended from metal armature bent in the shape of the 100-year logo for the IU School of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology. There are also 400 beads used to create the mobile which were crafted by the Imani workshop, a group of HIV positive women in Kenya where Rothenberg has traveled to work with the medical school at Moi University.
The second piece uses 160 pieces of reduced metallic glass melted in the same logo shape as the first piece. Each separate piece is crafted with different impressions.
“Visiting the Glick Eye Institute is like visiting a small art museum with the breadth and value of the art present,” Rothenberg said.
Attendees can expect to see many different art forms, including 2- D and 3-D works, video art, photography, poetry, ceramics, wood, glass and more. There will also be health screenings on site during the show.
“Art was a huge part of Marilyn Glick’s life. She not only embraced and supported the arts in central Indiana, but she was also one of our counties’ leading collectors of studio glass art,” Rothenberg said. “That’s how we met and formed a friendship and is why the public art project is an important part of her legacy.”
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is also hosting the exhibition, “Masters of Contemporary Glass: Highlights from the Marilyn and Eugene Glick Collection,” in remembrance and celebration of Glick’s legacy. The exhibit showcases about 60 highlights of their donated collection and is currently on display.
Tags: Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute, Imani workshop, Indianapolis Museum of Art, IU School of Medicine, IUPUI, Jeffrey Rothenberg, Marianne Glick
