UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha have received a $3,500 grant from the Nebraska Arts Council to help bring a unique art exhibition to the UNO Art Gallery called “Saving Faces: Art and Medicine.”
“The funding from the Nebraska Arts Council highlights how important and unique this show will be,” said Deborah-Eve Lombard, director of the UNO Art Gallery. “The exhibition truly combines the best of art, science, hope and healing.”
It features 42 portraits by Scottish portrait artist Mark Gilbert showing patients with head and neck cancer at various stages of their treatment. Gilbert’s exhibition was spawned by an invitation from Iain Hutchison, M.D., a British maxillofacial surgeon who treats head and neck cancer patients. Dr. Hutchinson invited Gilbert to come to the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Unit of St. Bartholomew’s and Royal London Hospital and see for himself what these patients go through. The paintings he created provide a visual narrative of the healing process.
“Gilbert’s portraits capture his subjects’ transformation, bringing the viewer into contact with their suffering and healing,” said Virginia Aita, Ph.D., associate professor of preventive and societal medicine at UNMC. “What stands out is the dignity and humanity portrayed in the portraits.”
The exhibition will be on display in the UNO Art Gallery during January and February of 2006. A companion speaker series in conjunction with “Saving Faces” will be open to the public and will provide a rare opportunity to explore the integration of art and medicine and the nature of healing.
For more information about the “Saving Faces: Art and Medicine” exhibition and speaker series, contact either Dr. Aita at (402) 559-5157 or Lombard at (402) 554-2796. The UNO Art Gallery is located in the Weber Fine Arts Building on UNO’s main campus, 60th and Dodge streets.
The Nebraska Arts Council grants monetary resources to Nebraska’s non-profit organizations for arts projects and programs in communities throughout the state. This financial support is made possible by funds appropriated by the Nebraska Legislature and through competitive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Nebraskans wishing to learn more about these grants should visit the NAC Web site at www.nebraskaartscouncil.org.