Transformation: The Beauty and Mystery of Us
A multiple of cut-and-pasted printed paper, printed reproductions, found objects, acrylic, fabric, wood, cardboard, glass bottles and other materials, 48 in x 60 in on wood panel, 2022.
On permanent display in the new Surgery and Critical Care Tower at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown, and can be viewed by the public there.
PRESS: CBS Nashville, News Channel 5
Healing is not a work of perfection or expertise. We are all healers. We heal with our wholeness, our humanity, all of our life experience, even our wounds. ― Rachel Naomi Remen
This unique mixed media work honors the beautiful, vivid transformations that are a part of every human story. We are wounded and regenerated, fall ill and get well, are broken and restored. Healers set the stage for our recovery. We are fragile miracles of strength, mysteriously made to heal. My ambition is for every individual who engages with this work to find themselves and their own stories of loss and celebration within it.
Paying homage to the century old Nashville treasure known today as Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital, employing both traditional media and found objects this work incorporates historical artifacts such as newspaper clippings, vintage photos, 1950's nursing shoes and original nursing uniform, vintage pharmaceutical memorabilia, and early 1900's wooden crutches. Originally founded in 1919 in response to an influenza epidemic, Gladys Kilby was the first patient admitted to the hospital and gave birth to a baby girl, Anita Kilby Lewis. A copy of the original birth certificate along with a photo of mother and child has been incorporated into the art.
SPECIAL THANKS: This commissioned work was made possible by the Ascension Saint Thomas Foundation’s Carrie Teaford Fund. The fund was established in 2017 to honor the legacy of the late Carrie Teaford, a beloved community member and former hospital administrator.
I am grateful to Art Consultant Anne Strickland of Great American Art, to Katie Burke, archivist for Ascension Saint Thomas for her dedicated help in locating many of the objects used in this work and to the Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown Art Committee for this amazing opportunity.