If you want to see a healthy sampling of local art, here's an unexpected venue: Texarkana's new hospice inpatient care center.
Pottery, paintings, ironwork and photographs made by local and regional artists add warmth and interesting sights to Hospice of Texarkana's Inpatient Care Center located on Galleria Oaks Drive.
Photo Gallery
Celebrity Karaoke
A few shots from The BUZZ's Celebrity Karaoke held at The Village on December 13.
Fifteen artists and one memorabilia collector, ranging from Chris Thomas to Tyler Arnold and Jeannie Edwards to Dean Lynn, have either loaned or donated their work to be displayed at the center, lending a more hospitable, homey touch to the setting.
In addition, a collection of theater memorabilia and a digital photo ArtBook give the arts and culture a presence in this center where patients seek respite as their families and friends gather around them. It opened last year.
A local decorator worked with Hospice of Texarkana on this project, securing artist donations and guiding the overall appearance. Cindy Marsh serves as executive director of Hospice of Texarkana.
"Cindy had a vision with Brent Stewart, our decorator for this, to be be a very natural-looking setting, peaceful, calming. You'll notice there's just a few colors used throughout the building," said Stefanie Brazile, director of development and public relations for Hospice of Texarkana.
Marsh said it was important to get representational involvement from the local arts community. "We really have everything from the canvases to pottery to ironwork," she said. "And so I think it's just an interesting collection."
While there's a peacefulness that you can sense here, much of the art also has colorful liveliness to it. "When we were thinking toward a hospice inpatient facility, we definitely wanted this to be a place where people lived," Marsh said. They also aim to change the art out so people can see different works here.
"A lot of families have said this is more like coming to a really nice home," Brazile said.
Said Marsh, "If there's any one thing that we hear most frequently, it's people come through the doors and they just feel peace. They will almost just physically relax their shoulders and exhale." That's what they hoped for at the center, which isn't a long-term care facility.
Hospice aims to provide a beautiful place where the visiting family can be comfortable, including gathering areas for large families. Marsh said Stewart did things with the design that brought additional beauty at no cost, such as windows with a certain pattern to fit the architectural style.
Other artists include Judy Jones with four paintings, Kathi Couch, Joseph Raymond with a painting donated in memory of a friend, bird photographs by Melanie Gloster also donated in memory of a friend, Hot Springs artist Paul Shepard with hummingbird photos, iron sculptures by Linda Smith, Patrick Papp paintings, Merilyn Johnson, Jeff Brown and M.M. Long.
Branden O'Neal's theater art collection, including a snazzy pair of Natalie Wood's leather pants, decorates the theater and coffee shop. The abstract work of Lynn Schneider, an artist with a local connection, was donated in her memory.
If you walk into the administrative side of the building, a colorful painting by Couch greets you in the foyer. Stewart said the ball really got rolling when Couch asked him whether they'd have local artists' work at the center.
"I said well, as a matter of fact, yes, we are, but we're not buying local art. 'How would you like to donate a piece?'" Stewart recalled asking her. She said yes; then others followed and did the same. Couch painted a piece specifically for the center.
"I think it's probably one of her most favorite pieces of work she's done, too," Stewart said. Whether painted for the building or they simply ended up there, the Inpatient Care Center's art is inspired, he believes.
"And in the grand scheme of things meant for that building," Stewart said.
Nearby that Couch piece, around the corner in the main hallway, a Judy Jones painting depicts an elderly man raking leaves. It's simple and striking.
Stewart recalls seeing it at Jones' home and thinking it looked like a photograph. He later called Jones to ask if she'd consider letting the center borrow it. Like other local artists, she stepped up.
"She said, 'No, I won't let you borrow it but I'll give it to you.' It's very special. It really and truly sets the tone for the patients' families and guests that come in the door. When they make that left turn and they come down that hallway and they see that, it really kind of strikes everyone," Stewart said.
The Lynn piece was painted in memory of the artist's sister, said Marsh, as a work to be donated. "It's called 'Soft Lee as You Leave Me,' a play on her name," she said.
It's indicative of how the artist titles his paintings, Stewart explained.
One of Gloster's donations portrays an owl that, camouflaged against its backdrop, seems to observe you in the hallway. She was asked to donate enough photographs for every patient room in the center. "There's three per room and then there's a variety that are in the hallways," Marsh said. No two of them are alike. In all, she donated about 40 photos.
The portable ArtBook digital photo gallery allows beautiful, inspirational art to be shared with patients at the center. Like the physical works of art, it's a donation, too.
"This nonprofit that's called For Love and Art, their goal is to place these particularly in hospice inpatient care centers around the country," Brazile said. It's a photo album that can be taken directly to the patient. The donation was made in honor of veterans. Museums like Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Art Institute of Chicago are represented.
Exposure to art can help patients feel less pain, she said. "So we hope to add art therapy. We've already added pet therapy," Brazile said. They'd like to add music therapy, aromatherapy and massage therapy, too.
Because of an illness, Stewart himself spent time in the hospital before doing his decorating work for the center. That experience shaped him and influenced his design approach.
"I designed it from the view of the patient, actually," he said. Even with commercial art that he wanted patients to see in their rooms, he was specific in what he sought.
He said when they worked on the building, they felt the power and magnitude of what they were trying to do and what it could mean to the people who go there.
"The overall design of the building is a Craftsman style with the pattern on the windows and the columns and the patios with the cedar arbors," Stewart said. "Really, more than anything I just wanted it to feel like home. I just want people to feel comfortable and at home, and to feel as special in that building as I do."
Hospice of Texarkana is seeking volunteers who'd like to show ArtBook images to patients at least four hours each month. Volunteers would need to complete training, a background check and drug testing, which are paid for by Hospice of Texarkana. If interested, contact Debra Morse at 903-794-4263.
(On the Net: HospiceofTexarkana.org.)