Now In Its Third Year, Hospital Show Transforms Adversity Into Art

Matthew Hersh

Lois Kilgore is a 23-year-old painter whose macular degeneration subsequently developed into total blindness. Instead of succumbing to her disability, however, she continued her artistic pursuit, but this time with sculpture – feeling her way with her hands.

Shirley Bell, a quadriplegic, is not only a self-taught painter, but a self-taught mouth painter. As art brightens the public corridors in a new exhibit at the University Medical Center at Princeton, it is the integrity of the work that a casual viewer will first notice: the stories behind the art only make the show that much more impressive.

Make no mistake, though. The point of ArtFirst! is not to underscore the disability, but to highlight the actual art. The show grew out of an event that Princeton HealthCare System president and CEO Barry Rabner brought to Princeton when he came from his previous post at Main Line Health System in Pennsylvania. With 81 artists combining for 275 pieces of artwork in one exhibit, viewers have an opportunity to see a whole range of artistic expression, including photography, mixed-media, watercolors, oils, and sculpture.

"We really try to maintain a certain quality and level of art in the show," said Cindy Torruellas, who, along with Cynthia Shull, is the co-chair of this year's event. Now in its third year, the show, which is sponsored by the Auxiliary of the University Medical Center at Princeton, is an international, juried exhibition and sale of all-original art and crafts that will be on display through April 15. ArtFirst! will once again give 80 percent of its sales to the hospital's breast health wing with the remainder of the proceeds going to the artists.

Some of the featured artists, like John Bisbee, did not tap into their artistic talents until they became victims of their disabilities. Bisbee, a native of Tampa, was studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He began painting at the hospital where he was receiving care and subsequently took art classes at various art centers and universities. While Bisbee has since completed his doctorate in physics, he continues to paint and exhibit his work.

Mr. Bisbee's is a case of art becoming therapy, but a number of artists in the show, like Frances Schatz, began their careers as artists, became disabled, and persevered. While teaching art at a Pennsylvania elementary school, Schatz suffered a brain injury that left her without use of her right hand. Schatz is now working to become an art therapist.

"There are so many who were trained in art, happened to have an accident, and still used their art – but in a different way," Shull said.

The exhibit brings in hundreds of submissions yearly, Shull and Torruellas said, which makes the task of whittling down the works displayed in the show that much more difficult. There was also an issue as to how mentally ill an artist must be to take part in the show. Those who were mildly depressed, for instance, were not accepted, but those suffering from schizophrenia, and other cognitive disorders were allowed to enter.

Not all artists want to identify their work with their disability, Shull added. "There are a few who we know are disabled who do not want to be classified as such."

The co-chairs and exhibit curator Lois Levy put out a "call to artists" through galleries, newspapers, magazines, websites, and databases that brought in an onslaught of slides from artists interested in taking part in the show. From there, the three sat down and reviewed the works. "We tried to maintain a higher standard for the show and that's why we get such a wonderful response from quality artists," Torruellas said, placing an emphasis on the desire to keep past exhibitors coming while bring new artists in.

One notable new participant in the show is Beth Livingston, a Princeton native who was paralyzed from the waist down in an auto accident in 1989. A sculptor now residing in Bozeman, Mont., Ms. Livingston uses her upperbody strength to create the large, heavy pieces that she contributed to the show.

"The fact that you're physically disabled does not mean that you're doomed to just sit there and live day to day," Shull said.

In this show, as the name suggests, it's the art that comes first, which is just as the artists intended it.