GlobalGiving.org: Bring creativity and hope to public hospitals

RxArt to Install Hospital Healing Garden in a New York City Public Hospital

Diane Brown — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:04:13 GMT

Paula Hayes healing garden rendering

RxArt is pleased to announce its latest and most ambitious project to date to be installed in the summer and fall of 2011 at Kings County Hospital, an inner-city public hospital in Central Brooklyn. RxArt will work with renowned contemporary artist Paula Hayes to create a state-of-the art sculptural healing garden for patients, their families, hospital staff and the general public. The garden will replace a static existing space and incorporate a new drainage system, lighting, seating and planting units according to the artist’s unique aesthetic and design.

The healing garden will not only act as a meditative oasis for those experiencing physical and emotional hardship, but it will also expose the surrounding community to a landscape of living contemporary art. RxArt, Paula Hayes, and Kings County Hospital thank you for supporting the power of art, and we look forward to sharing with you our groundbreaking finished space.

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RxArt's First Installation in NYC's Public Hospitals

Diane Brown — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:55:43 GMT

Since founding RxArt, it has been a dream of mine to be able to work in New York City’s public hospitals. I am thrilled to tell you that in October we completed our first installation of original drawings and prints by Ben Jones, Laura Owens, Paul Henry Ramirez, Chris Martin and Garrett Phelan in the pediatric unit of Gouverneur Hospital on the Lower East Side.

Two years ago RxArt moved to a storefront on the Lower East Side, so Gouverneur seemed like the perfect place to start. The response from patients, staff, and hospital administrators has been extremely gratifying. The generous contributions we received during the GlobalGiving Challenge have made our work in Manhattan’s hospitals a reality – thank you for your support of these exciting RxArt projects.

We need your help more than ever to maintain projects of the caliber produced in 2009, and in order to extend our program and reach as many patients as possible. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

With all good wishes this holiday season, Diane Brown

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RxArt's Gouverneur Installation

RxArt's First Annual Gingerbread House Party

Diane Brown — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:04:42 GMT

Will Cotton's Gingerbread House

RxArt will host our fist annual Gingerbread House Party on December 6, 2009 at Dylan's Candy Bar. Artist Will Cotton designed a gingerbread house specifically for this event, and will guide guests in decorating their own unique creation. The Gingerbread House Party is a great way to celebrate the holidays and support RxArt!

This event was inspired by RxArt's commission of 2 large paintings by Will Cotton for St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. Cotton paints what he bakes, and for this RxArt Event he selected gingerbread houses. The artist invited a young patient from St. Jude's, who had been successfully treated for cancer, to come to his studio with her family and decorate gingerbread houses. Everyone involved had so much fun that Cotton and RxArt decided to host this fundraising event.

Co-Chairs Anne Hearst and Jay MacInerney, and Hosts Kerianne and James Flynn, Dylan Lauren, Cynthia Rowley and Bill Powers invite you to decorate your own gingerbread house with Will Cotton. Join us Sunday, December 6, 2009, 11am - 2pm at Dylan's Candy Bar, NYC. For tickets and more information visit www.rxart.net.

RxArt and Jeff Koons To Transform Advocate Hope Children's Hospital CT Scan Unit

Diane Brown — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:14:09 GMT

The most adventurous RxArt project to date will be installed at Hope Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois this September. Jeff Koons is working directly on a pediatric CT Scan machine - covering it with his signature round monkey faces. Every wall in the room will be filled with Koons's iconic images. Rather than a scary experience in a cold white space, we hope children undergoing this test will feel like they are entering into a fantastic visual adventure.

The fact that the Hope Children’s Hospital project is centered on Koons’s transformation of the CT Scan machine is especially significant to the origins of RxArt. The initial idea for RxArt came to me when I was undergoing a CT scan and found that the only way to distract myself from the frightening procedure was to imagine an artwork (a Matthew Ritchie painting) going up the wall and across the ceiling. By entering into this artist’s complex imagery, I was mentally transported out of the sterile environment of the hospital. RxArt was founded based on the belief that art has the ability to not only transcend but to transform its settings and viewers.