The mural-style paintings that adorn Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago aren’t only a reflection of the neighborhoods that surround its service area, they were a creative project for 13 local high school and college students. Saint Anthony Hospital, a 110-year-old Catholic facility, provides care to a largely underserved population that includes many Latinos and African-Americans.
 This mural-style artwork is part of a series gracing a unit at Saint Anthony Hospital. |
Hospital CEO Guy Medaglia first got the idea for the program when he toured the West Side neighborhoods surrounding the hospital and saw many colorful murals, a popular form of informal public art. Medaglia, who took over the helm of the hospital in July 2007, wanted to pursue a partnership with local artists, especially local student artists.
The hospital brought such a partnership to fruition last year, when it collaborated with Yollocali Arts Reach, an arts education and career-training program offered by the neighboring National Museum of Mexican Art. The students spent 12 weeks laboring on the project, which includes 19 different pieces that thread through the entire telemetry unit. The initiative was funded by a local business that donated $20,000.
But installing a series of paintings in a busy patient care environment presented challenges, says Jim Sifuentes, the hospital’s vice president of mission and community development. The artists had to work around the many doorways and entrances to patient rooms. But the students were sometimes able to incorporate these doorways into their designs. After much planning—and making sure the artwork met hospital safety codes—the individual pieces were cut out of sheets of birch wood, then painted and hung.
Overall patient response to the artwork has been positive, says Sifuentes, but there are other benefits. “We too often hear only the negative stories about young people in some of the neighborhoods we serve,” says Sifuentes. “It’s important for community residents to see that we also have many hard-working, creative young people who want to make positive contributions.”
This article first appeared in the May 2009 issue of HFM.
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