Spring 2025

Focused on the connection between art and healing, the Museum partnered with the Hospital for Special Care (HFSC), a long-term acute and chronic care hospital located in New Britain to provide arts opportunities to their patients.

For the patient artmaking series, we contracted Pam Murphy, Visual Arts Department Head at West Hartford Public Schools. Drawing from their personal memories, experiences, and feelings, the patients were guided through landscape painting techniques, inspired by the artworks from the exhibition Blue Grass, Green Skies: American Impression and Realism from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Each session built on the previous session and began with a mindfulness exercise before transitioning into artmaking activities. Students experimented with various adaptive tools so everyone was able to find points of access and connection to the artmaking. At the end of the program, each patient was given custom-designed artmaking kits based on their interests and abilities. Patients reported feeling a sense of pride in exploring new techniques, creating their own art, and finding a deeper connection with themselves. We are looking forward to welcoming the patients to the Museum soon for a field trip.

On April 24 and May 10, we invited hospital staff and their families to the Museum for an opportunity for respite and to introduce exercises that use art as a tool for mindfulness and healing. With rates of stress and burnout of healthcare workers at a high during the pandemic, there are still many opportunities to support these most vital members of our community. Through close-looking practices in the galleries, artmaking activities in the studios, and wellness exercises, participants were given tools and methods for self regulation and social and emotional wellbeing. We are in the process of developing further programming to serve healthcare professionals. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to [email protected].

The final component of this project was professional development for our Museum staff. We contracted Katherine Tineo-Komatsu, a licensed clinical social worker, trainer, consultant, educator, writer, advocate, and radical intuitive healer for this program. She led a full-day program that addressed social emotional learning and trauma-informed learning for all forward-facing staff and a half-day program for Learning and Engagement staff and Docents. These tools were instrumental in helping staff better understand the impact of trauma, which will help us serve all of our audiences better.

Support for this program was provided by the Art Bridges Foundation.