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| Middle Tennessee's #1 Online News Source | Wednesday, May 9, 2007 |
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Vanderbilt nurses paint what they see By SARAH B. GILLIAM | sgilliam@tennessean.com | 259-8066 |
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Visit to Cheekwood includes plein air art lesson by visiting artist Equipped with paint brushes rather than stethoscopes, 27 Vanderbilt University Medical Center nurses recently visited Cheekwood for a lesson in plein air painting. "It is a nice way to express yourself and relax," said Heather Chan, a nurse in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. "In nursing you have to be very exact and precise, and this is nice because it is the complete opposite. There isn't a right or wrong answer." Vanderbilt's Cultural Enrichment office helped organize the painting seminar with Vermont artist Henry Isaacs, who is represented locally by Gallery One in Belle Meade. "I'm here today because I enjoy doing this. I enjoy teaching,'' said Isaacs who said he and his family have had a long relationship with nursing. "Nursing needs a lot of different kinds of support, caring for people needs a lot of applause and a lot of nurturing," Isaacs said. "What I can do, is paint. And what I can do is teach," he said. "It is my way of sharing." Isaacs said the idea of plein air painting for the nurses stems from the idea of observation. "It has become, in this country, a means of reviving this old idea of going outside into the landscape with your paints and creating a painting right there as opposed to creating an image in the studio," he said. His family established The Lisa DeFrancis Cancer Fund in honor if his late wife, who died of breast cancer in 1998. The fund provides annual grants to oncology nurses for the specific purpose of underwriting brief travel experiences and achieving a much earned break, said Gallery One owner Shelley Liles. Ann Cross, co-chairperson of the Nurse Wellness Committee, helped organize the painting outing. "We brought a gang of nurses out here today to give them a break and let them tap into their creative side," she said, beginning to paint clouds on her sky blue canvas. "A lot of what an artist does is around observation. That's what nurses are trained to do—to be observers. "I don't think it is surprising the nurses here are so talented." For Marayet Warner-Francis, the experience has inspired her as an artist and a role model for her middle school-aged son. "I haven't painted since the seventh grade," she said. "I realized that there is an inner artist in me if I slow down and observe. "Now I want to take my son to the Frist and bring my son to Cheekwood." Isaacs will return to Nashville on May 19 for a private reception hosted by Gallery One for the Vanderbilt nurses and hospital community. A selection of paintings by the nurses will be exhibited at the gallery that evening, Liles said. |
A nurse from Vanderbilt University Medical Center paints at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens.
SARAH B. GILLIAM / THE TENNESSEAN) 
Marayet Warner-Francis is among the nurses from Vanderbilt University Medical Center to paint at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. “I realized that there is an inner artist in me if I slow down and observe.” (SARAH B. GILLIAM/ THE TENNESSEAN) About Gallery One
Isaacs is one of nearly 30 artists represented by Gallery One, which features the original works of artists from throughout the country, from emerging to the well established.
About Issacs
Isaacs received degrees in printmaking from the Slade School and in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design.
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