The Sechelt Hospital Foundation is making good on a promise to artists who contributed to a major fundraising effort last year in a new initiative that ultimately benefits not just the artists but hospital patients and staff members as well.
The 36 artists donated artworks to the foundation’s Art of Healing program, which raised some $75,000, disbursed directly to healthcare projects on the Sunshine Coast. Now those same artists are getting an opportunity to market their work in Sechelt Hospital in tandem with a calendar the foundation has produced.
Each of the 12 months in the calendar features three artists who, during their month, “will have a chance to sell their works in a designated pop-up gallery space within the hospital,” said Jane Macdonald, Sechelt Hospital Foundation’s executive director.
“It was part of the benefits that we offered them for contributing to the Art of Healing,” Macdonald told Coast Reporter. She credits the marketing idea to artist Ruth Rodgers, who is a member of the foundation’s board of directors.
“This is also recognizing the fact that our art community is constantly asked to give away art for free,” Macdonald said. “I’d love for them to have to hang a lot of pieces during their month on display because that would mean their work is getting sold.”
The hospital’s art program is not just an opportunity to reward generous artists, it’s also about filling hallways with beautiful creations that research has shown have a “ripple effect of positivity for patients, staff and visitors,” Macdonald said.
A prime example is the corridor in the hospital’s new ambulatory care unit, which has been decorated with dozens of paintings from the hospital’s growing, permanent collection. Prior to art being displayed, the long hallway offered little more than sterile beige walls, making the prospect of walking to a dialysis or chemotherapy appointment all the more grim. One patient told Macdonald, “However temporary, you have now provided us a trauma-free zone in the hospital.”
The for-sale exhibiting area is in the well-travelled hallway that stretches between the hospital’s main atrium entrance and the administrative offices. Each artist’s display space is approximately 2.5 metres wide by 1.5 metres high (100 in. by 60 in.). They can hang more than one piece at a time if the works fit within that area. Items for sale can be identified by their accompanying bright yellow labels.
January’s artists are Paula O’Brien, Kim LaFave and Donna Stewart. Stewart also works at the hospital as a medical imaging technologist.
The calendars are for sale for $10 at the hospital’s Auxiliary’s Gift Shop.
