artist statement

PROFESSIONAL BIO

Current Position: Special Projects, University of California, San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2020 - present

Former Position: Founder and Director, Art for Recovery, 1988 - 2020

Professional Affiliations:

• National Organization for the Arts in Health (NOAH) Board Member

• Co-Chair, NOAH Membership Committee

• Member, NOAH Finance Committee

I have been involved with UCSF Art for Recovery since its inception in 1988 and retired in January 2020. In June 2020, I was asked to return to the UCSF Cancer Center to work on special projects with adults living with cancer and to create healing environments throughout UCSF Health. As the Director of Art for Recovery’s award-winning program, I was responsible for raising funds through grants, solicited and unsolicited donations, and presenting programming that would inspire funders to donate.

I have created and facilitated numerous art and healing programs, including:

• The Breast Cancer Quilts Project

• The award-winning Firefly Project

• Employee Well-Being Project

• Healing Garden Music Series

• The Open Art Studio for anyone dealing with cancer

• Writing and expressive art workshops on the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit and in the Hematology/Oncology Department with adults living with cancer

• An elective in the UCSF School of Medicine

In collaboration with the UCSF Department of Medical Humanities, I have published several works:

• "The Firefly Project: Conversations about what it means to be alive"

• "Bedside Manners: What to say and what not to say when someone is ill"

• "The Portable Artist Workbook"

• "The Portable Artist Coloring Book"

• "The Art for Recovery Book of Prompts"

• "Prompts for Reflection"

• "The Postcard Quote Project"

• Published papers: "Creating Community in Art for Recovery" and "Conversations about Death and Dying in the Firefly Project Pen Pal Exchange and Art That Heals (2024)"

In the spring of 2018, the "Patient as Teacher Anthology" was published. Along with the Art for Recovery staff, we have painted eight murals (six on the ceilings of the Ultrasound suites) throughout UCSF. Collaborating with UCSF architects, I created the UCSF Mount Zion Meditation Room. I am currently serving on the Mission Bay Core Committee for Arts and Interiors for new buildings and clinics associated with UCSF Health and continuing to create healing environments for our patients with the UCSF Architects.

In 2020, I was nominated to the board of the National Organization for Arts in Health and co-lead NOAH’s ARC, a national initiative to alleviate burnout and stress in clinicians through the expressive arts. My background is in fine arts, psychology, and art history, and my career began with research in 18th and 19th Century American Painting and Sculpture at the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. I am a painter, illustrator, and work in mixed media.