The politics of the arts – a modest but fractious corner of the portfolio of Ben Bradshaw, secretary of state for culture, media and sport – will not decide the next general election. Yet the arts are a fascinating microcosm of the wider political theatre. We have an incumbent culture secretary who, largely through inattention, has created a vacuum into which has stepped the shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who has assiduously and politely haunted the arts world for the last two-and-a-half years. His ministrations have brought him friends in surprising quarters and culminated in a culture manifesto that is either admirably concise or characteristically lacking in detail, depending on your perspective.

The Tories acknowledge they will cut core arts funding – by how much, we do not know. Yet this admission is accompanied by the claim that over the course of a putative Tory parliament, arts funding will go up. Lottery money will – by 2012 at the latest, say the Tories – be redirected to its original good causes, bringing in £40m a year. At the same time extra income is to come through private sources, and they look to the US’s philanthropic culture as an example. Arts organisations are to be encouraged to raise endowments. A system whereby the wealthy may give objects to museums in lieu of tax is to be brought in. Gift aid is to be improved.

I can think of no one in the arts who thinks fundraising from private sources is a bad idea. But the US has a philanthropic tradition, embedded in its culture. We do not; nor can it be created in the span of a parliament. In America, endowments are being seriously questioned – and not just because the economic crisis has left many “underwater”. Jesse Rosen, the president of the League of American Orchestras, speaking at the annual conference for the Association of British Orchestras in Glasgow last week, warned British colleagues that though American donors of past generations may have deemed it the “right thing” to give to their local museum or orchestra, privately raised income is diminishing now – in part because younger donors prefer to give to environmental or health charities.

Some organisations are questioning whether funds raised for endowments could have been better spent on artistic projects. And, he warned, endowments must be raised on top of the usual fundraising targets required for arts organisations’ annual income – an immensely difficult task, in reality achievable only for organisations that have the staff to undertake it. Shabby little fringe venues or shoestring-run avant garde groups – invariably the wellspring of artistic innovation – will be left out in the cold.

There’s a further problem, and this is one of culture and ethos. The rich require a return on their donations – most often, power. This is not automatically a bad thing: there are enlightened, hands-off donors. But look at the US, and we see boards of trustees composed almost entirely of the wealthy, wielding extraordinary and not always positive potency. British national museums, by contrast, are tightly bound up with a progressive vision of civic culture and the people’s shared stewardship. This is an ethos lacking in the US, where, in part as a consequence, the arts are fighting to justify their charitable status, with critics wondering why organisations apparently catering solely to the white middle class should be eligible for generous tax breaks. The US example is more eloquent on the perils than the advantages of a culture of private giving.

Hunt claims that Bradshaw is being disingenuous: Labour would cut too, he says, it is just that the Tories are being honest about it. But this is not a done deal. This week, arts minister Margaret Hodge, in a speech at the thinktank Demos, wondered why there is no discussion about ring-fencing the arts budget. Well, why not? Public spending on arts, architecture, museums and heritage is minute: together, just over 1% of the health budget.

And it’s a bargain. With that tiny bedrock of public spending, the creative industries are growing by 4% a year. Despite a few failures, British arts organisations are lean, efficient and often brilliant. Yet there is much to be done: the brain drain of artists needs to be addressed, the poverty of regional theatre, the devastating effects of local authorities pulling budgets. At the same time there is a growing pride in publicly supported culture. National Campaign for the Arts ran a debate this week, the motion being: “This house believes that the country can no longer afford to subsidise the arts.” Even the rightwingers speaking for the motion couldn’t argue that arts subsidy should be swept away. Politicians cut the arts at their peril.

This third event in the Open Art Program focuses on art in health. Helene Hugel of Helium and visual artist Siobhan Clancy will co-present their linked practices in the area of health. Helium is a new multi-disciplinary arts and health company for children, committed to nurturing and honouring creativity as a natural resource fundamental to a child’s well-being. Helium strives to develop new and innovative forms of practice on both an artistic and a clinical level. Helene Hugel is Helium’s director, a social entrepreneur and a puppeteer/performer who regards the healthcare setting as a platform to develop new work for and with children. Helene will reflect upon and share the journey of expanding her practice as an artist and as an entrepreneur. Siobhan Clancy is a visual artist and a member of Helium’s team of artists. She will illustrate her experience while working as artist-in-residence with children in a hospital on Helium’s Puppet Portal Project. For more information on the work of Helium see helium.ie.

Open Art is a program of free events presenting contemporary visual arts practice, taking place in the exhibition space at the Johnston Central Library throughout Winter/Spring 2010. The events run fortnightly on Saturday mornings, 11.30am – 1pm. The events are designed not only for the Visual Arts community but also for the broader arts community and for all members of the public with an interest in what visual art has to offer and how the practice is developing in Ireland. The Open Art program is devised and delivered by visual artist Yvonne Cullivan and supported by Cavan County Council Arts Office, Johnston Central Library and the Arts Council.

• All are welcome. Admission is free but advance booking is recommended. Contact Yvonne at ycullivan@gmail.com or 086 8848540. See yvonnecullivan.com/openart.htm.

Headway Black Country is a unique body in its diversity of services and its intent to meet the social, educational, medical and creative needs of people with aqcuired brain injuries Since it was set up in 1997, Headway Black Country has pioneered innovative therapeutic programs.

Rehabilitative group sessions are provided on their premises in Dudley for two sessions per day, morning and afternoon, on four days a week, Monday to Thursday. For Wolverhampton residents with acquired brain injury, they provide an outreach service in Wolverhampton on one day per week for two sessions, working on cognitive rehabilitation.

At present the Dudley rehabilitative groups are ranged in focus from Computer Skills, Social and Creative Art, Creative Expression (supporting people who have difficulty with communication), Cognitive and Life Skills to Social Interaction and Communication.

Depending on which lobe is damaged due to cessation of blood or haemmorhage, a whole range of difficulties can result from a traumatic brain injury. These can vary from being very visible to being subtly destabilising, and can pass unnoticed until a crisis point is reached. Many injuries occur in motor and sports accidents, or following such incidents as cardiac arrest or strokes and some from viral infections such as encephalitis.

Seizures, personality changes, mood swings, loss of memory, bursts of rage, eye problems and failure of muscular co-ordination are some of the symptoms that an acquired brain injury survivor may face and want to address in the process of rehabilitation.

The recently acknowledged possibility of regrowth of brain cells has placed art therapy as a vital force in helping people recover from brain injuries and to help people make sense of a world again which may have considerably perceptually shifted. The benefits to people of art therapy is a living example of the power and value of collaborative relationships that can exist between art and medicine.

A growing body of literature demonstrates the effectiveness of art therapy. Some of these benefits include increased dexterity and hand eye-coordination, improved initiation of sequential activities, increased social ease, longer periods of focus, increased stamina and a reduction of agitation. Clinical data has demonstrated that the images produced in making art help externalize and resolve internalized fears, conflicts and blocks.

On January 2nd, the Mayor of Dudley opened the Headways exhibition of art at the Netherton Arts Centrecreated. In addition to the benefits the artists receive as regards to confidence, self-esteem, creative merit bursts through the works. This fountain of artistic talent that flows is perhaps attributable to the qualities of disinhibition and creative connectedness that many brain injury survivors display.

Artist Georgia Belfont has been the facilitator of the arts program at Headways. One of the works that Georgia Belfont is most well-known for is Re-evaluating Olympia; a painting which looked at how black women have been portrayed in European art history.

Belfont’s work raises awareness that some views in art have historically dominated to the detriment of others. It is perhaps therefore no coincidence that in this part of her career she is to be found championing the creativity of a demograph whose creative insights are frequently marginalized.

Historically many artists have struggled with challenging psychological conditions. The Surrealist movement, and in particular Andre Breton and Jean Dubuffet were keen admirers of artists who had perceptual variations from the “norm” and increasingly it would appear that an widening appreciation of art is growing as regards the work of people with all variations of intellecutual ability.

The Art Therapy Studio in Cleveland, Ohio in the US, is a similarly important organisation to Headway Black Country in promoticing understanding of the importance of arts programs ot people with acquired brain injuries. The ATS has been working with the local health centre MetroHealth for the last 40 years providing art based rehabilitation programs. In their promotional material they state:

“The integrating process of creating an image with paint or clay helps put the pieces back together and makes connections to who we are and what we feel when nothing else seems to work.” Art Studio Therapy website.

On the Headway website, people who have used the Black Country services have contributed testimonials about the importance of the organization to their quality of living. One brain injury survivor writes:

“I think it is just a superb organisation and I feel very grateful to have a place here. I enjoy it as: number one: It is my big day out – a reason to get up and ready and take care about what I wear and how I look and feel. Number two: it is a place to come and be with lovely people in a similar circumstance who understand exactly where one is or might be coming from, on any topic ator on any level. Number three: I find it very informative on MANY levels but most especially the way it enables me to understand and come to terms with my brain injury and my “new life”. It’s not so scary after all! I can live with this…..on and on and on and on…”

The Headway’s exhibition reasserts the vital fact that for survivors of acquired brain injuries working together in arts contexts promotes interaction with other people and a gentle way to gain self-understanding. Furthermore, it results in the most beautiful, emotionally unmasked art works filled with symbolic weight and sincere intent that help all viewers to gain insight into the experiences of a too often marginalised and unheard sectors of the community.

Headway Exhibition
Dates: 01 Jan 2010 – 31 Mar 2010
Venue: Netherton Arts Centre, Northfield Road, Netherton, Dudley, DY2 9ER. 01384 812846
Headway Black Country
Address: 198 Wolverhampton Street, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 1DZ
Tel: 01384 869961
Fax: 01384 869962

For more information visit the Headway Black Country website here.

Barb McKeon, the hospital’s employee counselor, oversees a cancer support group and provides counseling for cardiac rehabilitation patients. McKeon said the exhibit gives extra attention to the concept of art therapy, a form of coping for patients dealing with stress related to health problems and recovery.

“Art therapy is an old form of therapy that has been used for diagnosis and treatment by mainly counselors and therapists,” McKeon said.

Both creating and viewing art can be useful for patients, she said, because it can take them to another dimension, where they can release frustrated and angry feelings related to their health situation.

McKeon said art therapy is especially useful for diagnosis purposes with children, because it helps the child to portray in picture form things that are happening in their life, and the therapist can question them about those things.

For others, a stressful event — becoming handicapped after an accident or a long recovery from a major surgery — leads patients to seek help, where McKeon will often recommend art therapy.

“Different patients have different ideas about art. Some it will appeal to, some it will not, but you still want to encourage them to take it up, and see if it will work well for them,” McKeon said.

She said the patients she has worked with who have used art therapy, either by creating their own art or taking time to view it, are better able to express their anger or stress.

McKeon said patients who choose to take up painting or another artistic practice feel relief in being able to express themselves by using strong techniques or colors.

With patients who simply view art, she said the experience helps them bring forward memories or feelings they might have suppressed, or they might see something entirely different from what the average person sees. Those revelations are enlightening and useful for therapists.

McKeon also said art therapy is an opportunity for patients who have become handicapped to get back into the stream of life. She said it can be hard for patients to return to a normal routine and to all the things they used to do. Art therapy helps them find something new to do.

“It’s a vehicle for them to rejoin society, because they can no longer get up and do things, but by the stroke of a paintbrush this can be a means to get them resurrected again,” she said.

In the past, two of her patients have created art and submitted it to the “Art for the Health of It” exhibit, which is open to artists in a 175-mile radius of Cape Girardeau. One patient, she said, was extremely stressed after becoming handicapped. Creating and entering his art in the show helped the patient regain an interest in the practice, as well as allowing a means of expression and building self esteem.

McKeon said the exhibit also affects visitors and employees.

“We have heard in the hospital many times, that when the paintings come down, they miss it,” she said. “Some of the pictures touch them in a very special way.”

She said those who view the exhibit may remember happier moments, and those feelings help them with current stress.

“It provides them with a moment of relief and I think that’s been very good for them,” she said.

Patients in the hospital often visit the exhibit by request of their visitors.

“Even just going to an art show is a means of relaxation,” McKeon said.

The exhibit will hang outside the surgical waiting room on the hospital’s first floor until April 29. This year’s exhibit was judged by Emily Booth, a professor of art and gallery coordinator from Southeast Missouri State University. Booth selected 60 pieces from 120 submissions by 41 artists. Dave Walker of Jackson won Best of Show for a fabric piece entitled “Bamboo Pagoda” during the opening reception.

© Copyright 2010, seMissourian.com
Story URL: http://www.semissourian.com/story/1612932.html

Dancing is good for your heart — and that comes from Dr. Cliff Gerrard, the cardiologist.

“It’s a moderate type of exercise that stresses your heart and lungs — in a good way,” he said. “It’s an aerobic type exercise, mild to moderate.”

In fact, it’s a good way for people who have had heart problems to get exercise, but only after the physician has given clearance, he stressed.

“It’s good for someone who has had heart trouble and is trying to improve physical capacity,” said Cliff.

So if you’d like to improve your health and want a break from the treadmill, you can attend the Bedford County Arts Council’s Arts for the Heart Dance Saturday. Not only can you get a fun workout, you can socialize, donate to the American Heart Association and the Art Council, and even learn more about heart health. The Heart Association will have an information booth at the dance, and will receive a portion of every $10 ticket sold.

Heart health

According to the AARP, dancing helps improve your health in many ways.

“Like other moderate, low-impact, weight bearing activities, such as brisk walking, cycling or aerobics, dancing can help:

* strengthen bones and muscles without hurting your joints

* tone your entire body

* improve your posture and balance, which can prevent falls

* increase your stamina and flexibility

* reduce stress and tension

* build confidence

* provide opportunities to meet people, and

* ward off illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, osteoporosis, and depression.”

Sweetheart health

Dancing can be good for other matters of the heart, too. The Gerrards first met through their mutual love of Tennessee walking horses (they own and show The American Choice, the 2009 World Grand Champion in Show Pleasure Novice). After they began seeing each other, they discovered another mutual love.

Dancing.

“I’ve done some dancing, I’ve loved it all my life,” said Linda, who teaches at Trevecca in Nashville. “But actually, I didn’t even know he could dance for a while. He’s been the only man in my life who could dance, and loved it, and was good at it!

“I think the more things you have in common, the easier it is to have a successful marriage,” she added.

Cliff really got started in dancing in junior high school in his hometown of Jackson.

“It was part of the social structure in Jackson, the wintertime and summertime formals,” he said. “It was just fun.”

He grew up with the Memphis shag and other 1950s dances, but has added the waltz, the foxtrot, the jitterbug and many other dances to his repertoire. He and Linda don’t dance professionally, but just for fun, having a good time getting together with friends — as they will Saturday night at The Fly.

If you go

The Arts for the Heart dance will be held from 7 to 11 p.m. Feb. 20 at The Fly. The Cripple Creek Review band will perform. For tickets or more information call 703-7613.

© Copyright 2010 Shelbyville Times-Gazette

TORONTO, Feb. 16 /CNW/ – The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) has launched an Artists in Residence (Health) pilot program. This new initiative supports artist residencies within health care settings, connecting wellness and creativity. OAC will contribute up to $93,350 towards artists’ costs for residencies in two designated health sites through 2010.

OAC’s partners include the new North Bay Regional Health Centre slated for opening January 30, 2011, as well as The Four Villages Community Health Centre in Toronto. Partnering arts organizations are the W.K.P. Kennedy Gallery in North Bay and Toronto’s Centre for Digital Storytelling. OAC’s funds are directed to the artistic and living costs of the artists in residence. The arts organizations involved are working closely with both OAC and health care partners. Health care partners for their part, will provide artist space. No frontline health care costs are being diverted to this pilot.

OAC Outreach and Development Manager, Bushra Junaid notes “in our 2008 public consultations, we heard loud and clear that communities in Ontario support efforts to break down barriers and have the arts enhance not only our cultural spaces but our everyday lives as well.”

    Arts Partners
    -------------

A northern Ontario artist will be selected for the first residency in North Bay. It is intended to help create the space and set the tone for the facility, and will take place in the summer of 2010 as the medical community moves into the new North Bay Regional Health Centre building. For the second residency, the W.K.P. Kennedy Gallery will invite emerging and established Canadian or international artists to apply for two to three month residencies that will engage the health centre community through their work in visual, media or interdisciplinary arts. It will start as the facility opens its doors to the public in January 2011. This residency will actively promote interactions between artists, health workers, patients and visitors, as artists also undertake outreach activities such as talks, workshops and exhibitions, intended to increase artistic awareness within the community. A jury composed of regional practicing artists and healthcare professionals will select the artists. The project, dubbed “ArtsHealth North Residency” coincides with the launch of the hospital’s state of the art facility, the North Bay Regional Health Centre. Deadlines for the second residency applications will be made available by the W.K.P. Kennedy Gallery in the spring of 2010.

In Toronto, the Centre for Digital Storytelling and The Four Villages Community Health Centre are collaborating on a six month-long video storytelling project that will capture two to five minute stories featuring community members of all ages and walks of life.

Artist Jennifer LaFontaine, has been selected to lead this project. “In a health centre,” she says, “the transformative power of storytelling can be life-affirming and support people through processes of healing and understanding. It brings another layer of humanity to the institution, but at the same time, gives insight and voice to some of the critical issues facing clients at Four Villages. Our goal is to share these stories with dignity, and see how our digital storytelling practice can also expand within this community.”

    Background
    ----------

The Artists in Residence (Health) pilot has been tailored to each community’s needs. Both projects embody a unique way of bringing art and creativity to a health and wellness setting, and explore ways in which community engagement efforts can have a positive impact on the physical space and the community’s experiences in that space.

As Dermot Wilson, Director/Curator at North Bay’s W.K.P. Kennedy Gallery and a member of the North Bay Regional Health Centre’s Art Committee, says “this program adds the artist and contemporary art to healing and recognizes that psychological well-being, creativity and the role of physical space are part of this process.”

The North Bay partners formed a committee to develop and promote this residency initiative. “Our group includes architects, artists, doctors, nurses, dentists, and managers among others. We have all encountered unprecedented levels of support for the ArtsHealth North project. People in North Bay and across our region are committed to the “spirit” of the program. They feel that in this case art will make a quantifiable difference,” says Wilson.

Artists in Residence (Health) is modeled on OAC’s Artists in Residence (Education) program, which was launched in 2007-2008 and now counts five educational partners across Ontario.

    More on Arts and Health
    -----------------------

Interest in the connections between art and health has increased significantly in recent years, with arts funding agencies in the U.S., Australia and the U.K. exploring a range of arts and health initiatives. New

research publications such as Arts and Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice have also emerged. The growing body of evidence points to the positive impacts of integrating the arts into community health services.

A 2009 State of the Field Report: Arts in Healthcare by the U.S. based Society for Arts in Healthcare (SAH) notes that arts initiatives in health settings not only have the potential to improve patients’ overall health, but also foster a host of other important effects, including greater treatment compliance and improved workplace conditions for health workers. New SAH evidence goes so far as to suggest that such creative initiatives are having a marked economic impact, by reducing patients’ length of stay and ultimately, overall healthcare costs.

The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is the province of Ontario’s primary funding body for professional arts activity. Since 1963, OAC has played a vital role in promoting and assisting the development of the arts and artists for the enjoyment and benefit of Ontarians.

For further information: Geneviève Vallerand, Communications Coordinator, Ontario Arts Council, (416) 969-7434, 1-800-387-0058, ext. 7434, gvallerand@arts.on.ca; Pat Stephens, Manager, Public Relations, North Bay Regional Health Centre, (705) 495-8127, stephp@nbgh.on.ca; Sandra Almeida, Director, Program and Community Initiatives, Four Villages Community Health Centre, (416) 604-0640, ext. 1077, sandra@4villages.on.ca; Dermot Wilson, Director, Curator, W.K.P. Kennedy Gallery, (705) 474-1944, dermot@kennedygallery.org; Jennifer LaFontaine, Toronto Region Director, Centre for Digital Storytelling, (416) 968-6989, jenlafontaine@storycentre.org

Typically science doesn’t bed down with theatre, much less mate with artistic vigor, but the accord between the two is explored in the recent production Heuschrecken [The Locusts] developed by Stefan Kaegi of Rimini Protokoll. “And why not?” asks Arizona State University’s Manfred Laubichler and Gitta Honegger who review the production in the Jan. 29 issue of the journal Science.

“Scientists have no trouble seeing themselves as artists,” Honegger says. “But can theatre embrace science as art? That’s another question. Traditionally there has been skepticism.”

Laubichler is a professor in ASU’s School of Life Sciences and co-director of the Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity in the College of Liberal Art and Sciences and currently a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. Honegger is a professor in the Herberger Institute’s School of Theatre and Film and a fellow with the International Research Center “Interweaving Performance Cultures” at the Free University Berlin. The two viewed Kaegi’s production at the Schauspielhaus in Zürich.

On the stage, a small audience sits on risers facing a 60 m2 terrarium filled with 10,000 locusts. In the terrarium, or around the viewers, are actors and scientists, real ones, doing what scientists do: taking measurements, making observations, and living out complex stories of their own: writ large. Video cameras project the unfolding drama on stage; the living, the dying, the loving, the interwoven narratives and even, locust music.

The marriage of theatre and science is not new. The Greeks, starting with Aristotle embraced a more integrated relationship of the two. “But a divide came when we associated science with the brain and the arts with emotions,” Honegger says.

Programs have now arisen, from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to ASU, to re-explore the disciplines shared energies. Honegger and Laubichler have co-taught two courses: Theater and Science and Theater and Medicine. In 2003, they brought in a playwright from New York and, in 2004, surgeon-turned-author Sherwin Nuland came to work with a mix of theater and biology students from ASU’s Center for Biology and Society. Students wrote plays, some of which were chosen for presentation: a reading at the Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix.

Experiences at the interface of the disciplines caused one biology student, Julie Story, to think seriously about the nature of medicine and the role of patients. Her play looked at women in South Africa, where she had spent a summer, as they experienced disease, including HIV-AIDS. Through the writing, she came to see their illness more through their eyes. Story, who went on to medical school at Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, followed by a residency at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, is now returning to practice Emergency Medicine in Phoenix.

“There is a shared creative relationship between art and science,” Laubichler says. “In the laboratory there is an experimental approach. This is also true on stage: something is put forward to be analyzed, considered and interpreted.”

Both Honegger and Laubichler feel that if artists were embedded in a science department, “to interact and absorb the art of the scientific process. We would see a new theatrical approach and avoid stereotypes.”

“More conversations would reveal the richness of material and insight that cannot be seen from outside that world,” the duo asserts.

Of her experience on stage with Heuschrecken, Honegger points out that “German theater invests more in the unpredictable reactions of the audience. There is much more interest in experimental approaches, challenging the audience. To ‘disturb.’

“By this I don’t mean sex or violence, but transformations. For example, in this production, to transform without sentimentality, creating excitement about the unknown, to connect with the scientist,” Honegger states. “There is drama to be found within the animal community, which reflects the unpredictability found in our human community.”

“By the end,” Honegger adds. “I started to relate to these animals, as if they were fellow beings and actors. I started to understand something of the relationship between the animals and the scientists who work with them.”

To read their review Of Locusts and Scientists in the journal Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/

To find out more about the production http://www.rimini-protokoll.de/website/en/project_4200.html

Source: Margaret Coulombe
Arizona State University

Walking through the glass doors of the ASU Anthropology Museum, the matted frames on the wall showcase an array of photographs of everything from candy in vending machines to beat-up cars and neighborhood graffiti.

All of the images were taken by Phoenix fifth- and sixth-graders as part of the South Phoenix Photovoice project. The images depict the students’ perspectives of health and well-being in the community.

The Photovoice project is designed to discuss the increasing problem of childhood obesity and allow students to speak through photography.

The photography exhibit opened this week at ASU’s Tempe campus and will run through March 12.

Seline Szkupinski Quiroga, project co-director and medical anthropologist at ASU, said issues of childhood obesity are often expected to be solved by food preparers and school officials, rather than the students.

“I wanted to make the students feel empowered that they would have things to say and adults would be paying attention,” she said. “I also wanted to do the project as a class, with a photographer, so at the end of it they would have some sort of skill.”

The photographer brought in for the program was ASU graduate Andrew Hammerand.

Hammerand graduated in May with a fine arts degree and was teaching community photo classes at ASU when he was approached to be the instructor for the course.

In the classes, Hammerand taught the children the basics of using a digital camera, how to be aware of their surroundings and to see the world in photographs.

“As much as I was there for the technical aspect, I was there to guide them,” he said. “It was more than just clicking the button and hitting the shutter.”

April Bojorquez, a sociocultural anthropology graduate student, also worked on the project. Bojorquez said she has experience working with the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and interacting with students, so the project was a great opportunity.

“[The project] is really going to show the potential of the program and give voice to the students involved,” she said.

The program has a community partnership with the South Mountain Salvation Army, an institute regularly involved with children-enrichment programs.

It was funded by the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Health Services, ASU and the Salvation Army Phoenix South Mountain Corps Community Center.

The students involved in the 12-week program had weekly assignments based on what they learned in class. Exercises ranged from bringing in photographs of everything they had eaten that week to taking pictures of their perspective on healthy eating.

In the beginning, the students focused on individual factors like not only eating fast food, Quiroga said, but as the program progressed and discussion took place, the students started thinking in terms of the community.

“A turning point for me was when the kids took a picture of a car and they said, ‘this car is healthy,’” Quiroga said. “It was just a car, but the car was good since you can drive to get food.”

In South Phoenix communities, many of the students don’t feel safe traveling by foot, and illustrated health in the terms of a car, which they see as a safe place, she said.

Hammerand said he was impressed by the higher learning the students demonstrated.

“Seeing them propel toward the world of art and photography — and really a higher appreciation for art — was great,” he said.

Collaborators in the project said they hope the project will lead to continuing funding for art and academic enrichment programs in South Phoenix.

“I love the idea of using arts to get people to articulate their ideas,” Quiroga said. “I would love to partner with theater or dance and do more work of this kind.”

These students grow up more quickly than people who might not have lived in South Phoenix and deal with situations that force them to mature more quickly, Hammerand said.

“It really is a good thing when the community comes together to give opportunities to the students,” he said.

Reach the reporter at amoswalt@asu.edu

Anne Turville knows radiation and chemotherapy killed the cancer in her daughter’s ribs and lungs. But the Gahanna, Ohio, mother believes that making pottery also helped keep Sarah alive.

Sarah, now 16, discovered pottery in 2006 at a camp for sick children, and insisted on taking lessons when she returned home.

“She has done remarkably well,” Turville said. “I am sure that pottery had a big part in this.”

The opportunity for artistic expression often makes a meaningful difference in a patient’s health, said Dr. Larry Norton, deputy physician-in-chief for breast cancer programs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Others find yoga, exercise or writing helpful.

“There’s a growing awareness among people that healing is about more than what pill you take,” Norton said.

Art therapy — the connection between the creative process and healing — is being explored in hospital rooms and art studios around the country.

Norton sees art helping patients develop a greater self-awareness, which allows them to make sounder decisions about their health and treatments. Dealing with cancer requires “knowledge of who you are,” he said. “Art really helps that.”

Often, art provides a way for patients to express feelings they can’t put into words, added art therapist Tracy Councill, who runs a program for children with cancer at the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University Children’s Medical Center, in Washington, D.C.

Creating vases and other pottery pieces made Sarah Turville feel better and worry less, she said. “I thought it was fun and wanted to continue doing it,” she said.

Alicia Paulson used art to quell the pain she endured after being hit by a garbage truck and seriously injuring her foot in March 1998. She received an embroidery kit in a care package after her accident, and began embroidering sheets and pillowcases.

“It literally became a pain management technique,” said Paulson, of Portland, Ore. “It became something I had to do to survive the pain I was feeling from the recovery of my surgeries.”

Paulson eventually started a business selling embroidery pieces and other handmade items. Today, she works as a craft designer, author and photographer. Her reconstructed foot causes her daily pain.

During her recovery, Paulson said she was attracted to embroidery because she had control over the process. She found it “very satisfying to watch those spaces fill up with color.”

Patients often are drawn to art because it is something they can control, Councill said.

“It really helps them feel like they can get their feet on the ground,” she said.

Patients tend to relax when they’re doing art, and that helps them process what’s happening to them, she said.

“Often they figure out what questions they have,” she said. “It helps them articulate (their needs and concerns) to doctors and nurses.”

While being treated for leukemia, 12-year-old Daniel Shank-Rowe looked forward to going to the Lombardi Cancer Center, where he created figures out of pipe cleaners and a castle out of boxes.

“Doing art doesn’t make you feel like a normal kid,” he said. “It makes how you are feeling normal for once.”

Daniel, who has been in remission for a year, said he was “a little bummed” when doctors said he didn’t have to visit the cancer center — and its art studio — as often.

Cindy Perlis, director of Art for Recovery at the University of California-San Francisco’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the center offers an art studio, writing workshops and music programs. Patients tend to form a community where they talk about emotions and worries they can’t share with loved ones, she said.

Perlis, an artist who has directed the center for 22 years, often facilitates the conversations by asking patients to discuss their artwork. For one project, she encouraged patients to remake their pill bottles. One woman crafted her bottles into a boat. Another patient used candy to make the bottles look like they were overflowing with pills.

The art “brings attention to the illness,” she said. “It’s not a distraction.”

Expressing oneself and being understood makes a difference in a patient’s condition, she said.

“It helps people to cope, to heal,” Perlis said. “Healing is so much bigger than a cure.”