Cancer Center is the only facility in
Indiana selected for PaintFest America tour
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana
– Each stroke of the brush, every splash of color paints a personal portrait. Collectively,
the artists create a blended canvas of struggle, survival, hope and healing wrought
by cancer.
Franciscan St. Francis
Health Cancer Center will soon participate in a special event winding its way
through 50 states in 50 days. It’s called PaintFest America, a program sponsored by the Foundation for Hospital Art, and its
goal is to encourage cancer patients, their families and the staff who care for
them.
Franciscan St. Francis
was the only medical facility in Indiana to be selected for the PaintFest
America, which begins at 10 a.m., Friday, July 22 in the Cancer Center lobby,
located at 8111 S. Emerson Ave. Patients, survivors, family members and staff will
create colorful panels for three large murals for
display in the hospital at a later date.
The murals feature different designs and offer a paint-by-numbers
type of approach. PaintAmerica representatives will be on hand to lend guidance
and provide all of the supplies.
“While their work is an expression of art, painting together as a
team also is therapeutic for patients, survivors and families and a means to
understand and cope with the disease,” said Rachael Cassidy, business
development manager for the Cancer Center.
Additionally, a designated cancer patient and a cancer survivor
will paint an Indiana panel, which will include both the state bird (cardinal)
and state flower (peony). That piece will be added to the 50-state mural “Stars
of Hope” to be assembled in New York on the final day of the tour, Aug. 24, at
Mount Sinai Beth Israel Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Since 1984, the Foundation for Hospital Art has donated more than
40,000 paintings to 4,000 hospitals in 195 countries.
Photos courtesy of PaintFest America
