Participatory volunteer art project with breast cancer patients
Metropolitan Hospital, NYC
ART FOR A CHANGE is a participatory volunteer project with breast cancer patients of the Metropolitan Hospital in NYC. All donations are tax deductible! We just need $ 2,700! Your support can make the difference! Any amount you give, no matter how small, will be a great help!
Starting on October 3rd, 2024, we will be there (Bibiana Huang Matheis, Anne Harmon, Maria-Gracia Donoso, Vanessa Smith and myself) once a month doing paintings with breast cancer patients (limited to 12 participants per day). In October 2025, the paintings created will be part of an exhibition at the El Barrio’s Artspace PS109. There will be a final auction. 100% of the proceeds from the sales will be donated to the hospital to purchase medical equipment.
Thank you!
Monique Allain
DIALOGUES WITH PAINTING ON CLEAR ACRYLIC PLATES
Imagining a better world and bringing it to life!
Our Goal is rebuilding ourselves, our loved ones, and our surroundings.
Records of the Dialogue between JoAnn and Monique performed on July 26th 2024 at the Infusion Center from the Metropolitan Hospital.
PERIOD
October 2024 / October 2025
LOCATION
Art Dialogues
Metropolitan Hospital
1901 First Ave, NY, 10029
(626) 926-3879
Exhibition and Auction
THANKS
Many thanks to all supporters and those involved in the ART FOR A CHANGE project! Your contribution is essential to make it happen!
Special THANKS to:
Alison Estabrook, JoAnn Fox Weingarten, Metropolitan Hospital, El Barrio's Artspace PS109, Inspirational Art Group International, Bibiana Huang Matheis, Anne Harmon, Maria-Gracia Donoso and Vanessa Smith.
ART FOR A CHANGE – WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
Imagining a better world and bringing it to life!
Record of the Dialogue between JoAnn and Monique performed on July 26th 2024 at the Infusion Center, Metropolitan Hospital.
Our goal is rebuilding ourselves, our loved ones, and our surroundings.
All of us, inhabitants of the planet, are part of this body, which is Earth. We are like its cells. We belong to the Cosmos; we are part of it, and we are interconnected.
By focusing on healing our planet, we also rebuild ourselves, our loved ones, and our surroundings. Healing is a universal process that starts with our thoughts and beliefs.
The thought is the beginning of the action! Directing our thoughts to what we believe produces changes! Let's focus our imagination on the healing of Earth through a dialogue with painting. This is an opportunity to express your creativity and make our wishes become concrete! Join us and begin materializing dreams!
Starting on October 3rd, 2024, we will be at the 8th Floor Infusion Center in the Main Building of Metropolitan Hospital on the first Thursday of every month from 1:30 to 3:30 pm to do paintings with breast cancer patients (limited to 12 participants per day). In October 2025, the paintings created will be part of an exhibition and there will be a final auction. 100% of the proceeds from the sales will be donated to the hospital to purchase medical equipment.
Record of the Dialogue between JoAnn and Monique performed on July 26th 2024 at the Infusion Center, Metropolitan Hospital.
Testimony from JoAnn of the Art Dialogue between her and Monique performed on July 26th 2024 at the Infusion Center, Metropolitan Hospital.
PURPOSE
ART FOR A CHANGE is an opportunity for the breast cancer patients from Metropolitan Hospital to experience a creative process using acrylic paint on a clear acrylic plate, and to establish connections in a non-verbal communication form with the artists involved in this project.
The purpose of the collaboration between artist and patient is to provide a well-being atmosphere to bring comfort to the patients and where the healing process can be improved.
JoAnn and Monique's Art Dialogue, 2024, acrylic paint on a clear acrylic sheet, 10 x 10 in.
JoAnn's Palette Painting resulting from the Art Dialogue with Monique, 2024, acrylic paint on gesso board, 8 x 8 in.
Monique’s Palette Painting resulting from the Art Dialogue with JoAnn, 2024, acrylic paint on gesso board, 8 x 8 in.
Works from the Art Dialogue between JoAnn and Monique performed on July 26th 2024 at the Infusion Center, Metropolitan Hospital.
DESCRIPTION
Project duration: 13 months (October 3rd 2024 / October 27th 2025.
Starting on October 3rd 2024 until September x 2025, every first Thursday of the month from 1:30 to 3:30 pm, an artist from the Art for a Change team will be at the 8th Floor Infusion Center in the Main Building of Metropolitan Hospital to do participatory paintings with the breast cancer patients (limited to 12 participants per day). While waiting for their consultation, patients will be invited to communicate with the artists by painting together simultaneously, each one in one side of a 12” x 12” clear acrylic plate.
Record of the Dialogue between JoAnn and Monique performed on July 26th 2024 at the Infusion Center, Metropolitan Hospital.
Both participants, artist and patient, will be sitting at the table facing each other, with the only divider being the clear acrylic plate between them.
They will remain connected throughout the process, seeing each other through the acrylic, and following the evolution of the painting.
Record of the Dialogue between JoAnn and Monique performed on July 26th 2024 at the Infusion Center, Metropolitan Hospital.
Record of the Dialogue between JoAnn and Monique performed on July 26th 2024 at the Infusion Center, Metropolitan Hospital.
Record of the Dialogue between JoAnn and Monique performed on July 26th 2024 at the Infusion Center, Metropolitan Hospital.
Record of the Dialogue between JoAnn and Monique performed on July 26th 2024 at the Infusion Center, Metropolitan Hospital.
Record of the Dialogue between JoAnn and Monique performed on July 26th 2024 at the Infusion Center, Metropolitan Hospital.
During most of the dialogues with paint, Bibiana Huang Matheis, one of the artists of the team will play healing music at her piano.
There is no pre-established duration of the process.
Each painting ends when the interlocutors stop interacting or when the doctor calls the patient. An average of 10 to 20 minutes maximum is estimated for each patient.
EXHIBITION AND AUCTION
The project culminates with an exhibition and auction of works produced during the year at the Metropolitan. A panel will be created with all the gesso boards used as palettes. Those represent the portraits of the participants of the dialogues, as they carry the colors chosen by the patients and artists.
The exhibition and auction will be held at El Barrio’s Artspace PS109, two blocks away from the hospital, at 215 E 99th St, New York, NY 10029.
Date of exhibition & auction:
Opening – October 8th 2025 at 6PM 2025
Visits from October 9th and October 25th 2025 / Mon to Friday from 10AM to 5PM.
Auction and closing event – October 25th 2025 from 6 to 8PM
A silent auction would be running during the celebration and would close 40 min before the end of the event.
The buyers would be able to take their paintings with them the same day of the auction, when it ends.
Artwork to be produced:
Estimation of 144 paintings 12”x 12”on clear acrylic plates
Estimation of 240 gesso board ”tiles” 8” x 8” resulting from the
patients and artists palettes constituting a big panel on the wall (the pieces will be sold individually).
Works resulting from the Art Dialogues with paint on glass performed with the public in 2016 at the “Festival de Arte 48h” in São Paulo.
Works resulting from the Art Dialogues with paint on glass performed with the public in 2016 at the “Festival de Arte 48h” in São Paulo.
Works resulting from the Art Dialogues with paint on glass performed with the public in 2016 at the “Festival de Arte 48h” in São Paulo.
Works resulting from the Art Dialogues with paint on glass performed with the public in 2016 at the “Festival de Arte 48h” in São Paulo.
Works resulting from the Art Dialogues with paint on glass performed with the public in 2016 at the “Festival de Arte 48h” in São Paulo.
Works resulting from the Art Dialogues with paint on glass performed with the public in 2016 at the “Festival de Arte 48h” in São Paulo.
CALENDAR
The monthly meetings with art dialogues will happen every first Thursday of the months, from October 3rd until September 4th. They will start at 1:30PM and end at 3:30PM.
The opening of the exhibition will be on October 8th from 6 to 8PM and the auction & closing event will be on October 26th, from 6 to 8PM. During this period the show can be seen every week days from 10AM to 5PM.
Saturdays and Sundays the space is closed.
Dates subject to change in case of unforeseen circumstances.
MATERIALS
Setting of the table for the Art Dialogue
Setting of the table for the Art Dialogue
Brushes
Clear acrylic support
Acrylic paint
THOUGHTS & REFERENCES
“...thinking about something produces effects, just as doing something produces...
“…our reality is created by our own projections. It is thought that creates the external world beyond us.”
“...our activities say who we are. We are the way we act.”
Quotes from Francisca Cho by Begley, p.29, 2008.
The guidance of thoughts sets the mind in the direction of a positive and constructive path, which not only emotionally helps the patients in dealing with the disease, but also contributes to strengthening their immune system. The establishment of connections and dialogues between the patients and the artists is also an important component of the project as the feeling from the patients of being seen and heard is emotionally extremely positive.
Mind and Life Institute studies confirm that thought has enough power not only to cause physical and tangible changes in our being, but it is also capable of causing changes in our surroundings.
Dan Buettner (“Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”) identified essential things present in the lives of long-lived people: a. Being connected to other people, feeling welcomed, beloved and close to family and community. b. Practice of creative activities.
Susan Andrews has been scientifically dedicated to researching happiness for years. She identified that the happiest people are those surrounded by affection, those who practice meditation, and people who feel useful in the community to which they belong.
Books
ANDREWS, Susan. A ciência de ser feliz. São Paulo: Ágora, 2011.
BEGLEY, Sharon. Treine a mente: mude o cérebro. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2008.
FELDENKRAIS, Moshe. Consciência pelo movimento. São Paulo: Summus Editora, 1972.
Site
Documentary
BUETTNER, Dan. Live to 100: secrets of the blue zones. Netflix 2023.
ARTISTS PARTICIPANTS
Monique Allain
Bibiana Huang Matheis
Anne Harmon
Maria-Gracia Donoso
Vanessa Smith
Monique Allain - Concept and Coordination / Art dialogues with patients / Photos and videos records of the process
Bibiana Huang Matheis - Piano healing music player - Photos and videos records of the process - Art dialogues with patients
Anne Harmon - Art dialogues with patients - Photos and videos records of the process
Maria-Gracia Donoso - Art dialogues with patients - Photos and videos records of the process
Vanessa Smith - Photos and video records of the process
Bibiana is an artist, fine arts photographer and curator. She is a breast cancer survivor who has volunteered for many years in the cancer ward of the same hospital where she was treated, the Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York. Her volunteer therapy included playing piano for the patients in the infusion and radiation waiting rooms. She also used origami practice as a form of therapy with the patients.
Over the years she has been involved in a variety of projects ranging from mixed media installations to performance art. Her work has appeared in major exhibits and publications of all types in the US and Europe, in New York City, Chicago, and Berlin. Her work is hanging on permanent display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture – Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C.
She is the recipient of the 2015 Arts Westchester ‘50 for 50’ Arts Award honoring 50 Outstanding artists on the 50-year Anniversary of the organization. She was also honored with the 2014 Arts Mid-Hudson Executive Arts Award – Individual Artist. In 2019 she was an artist in residence at the Fresh Winds Art Biennale in Iceland.
Bibiana is presently the co-founder and Vice-Chair of the Inspiration Arts Group International, a global, diverse collective of artists from around the world, united with the common objective of positive interchange, collaboration and fellowship. The group is a resource for artists in all media to share, contemplate, create, work and communicate their artistic expressions.
Bibiana has curated a series of exhibitions in the Hudson Valley for 15 years. This includes a highly successful series of art exhibitions titled “Address Earth” at the Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art, Western Connecticut State University Gallery, the Hammond Museum and many more. She is widely recognized as a strong advocate for the arts in the New York Metro region.
A cancer diagnosis is one of the most feared and serious life events that causes stress in individuals and families. Cancer disrupts social, physical and emotional well-being and results in a range of emotions, including anger, fear, sadness, guilt, embarrassment and shame. Music and art therapy can be part of a complementary program to accompany medical treatment. There are many benefits of art and music therapy, which can be used to improve mood, decrease stress, pain, anxiety level and enhance relaxation. Music therapy is an effective form of supporting cancer care for patients during the treatment process and for promoting wellness, improve physical and emotional well-being and the quality of life.
As a breast cancer survivor and longtime volunteer in cancer wards, Bibiana is experienced in using art and music tools and practices to help patients cope with continuous supportive cancer care for inpatients.
Anne Harmon
Anne Harmon is a painter from North Dakota now living in Nyack, New York. She studied life drawing at UCLA before moving to Europe to continue her studies in art, language and culture. There she studied sculpture in Lucerne, Switzerland and settled in Florence, Italy at L’Accademia de Belli Arte to focus on painting. After all travels Anne found her abstract paintings exploded in wide skies similar to the vistas she left behind on the plains. This connection to nature formed her desire for expression through painting. Her work has been shown in galleries in Rome, Florence and New York. For the past twenty years, she has been working as a scenic artist in film, tv and theater and most recently held a permanent position at the Metropolitan Opera.
mgdonoso@me.com
Maria-Gracia Donoso is a Chilean / French visual artist born and raised in Chile during the Chilean dictatorship. She explores concepts related to patriarchy, cultural identity, and gender roles, all from the vantage point of intersection between isolation and collective consciousness. She began her artistic journey by studying at the University of Fine Arts in Santiago. After completing her studies at the Ecole Penninghen (ESAG), the former Académie Julian in Paris, she pursued further education at the Université de la Sorbonne in Paris, France and graduate at the University of Fine Arts in Barcelona, Spain. Subsequently, she earned a Master's degree in Fine Arts from Fak d'Art in Barcelona. Drawing from her life experiences, she utilizes diverse media to delve into the phenomena of perception. Her work is centered on the significance of personal experiences. Her interdisciplinary practice is a convergence of both new and traditional techniques, encompassing photography, video, performance, sculpture, printmaking, and interactive media. Donoso's Art has been exhibited in different countries, in museums and galleries, essentially in Japan, USA, Latin America, Spain and France.
917) 370-0878
dymock87@hotmail.com
Vanessa Hedwig Smith is a painter, filmmaker, and writer who has lived and worked in India, Nepal, England, and the US. Her series of 94 short films, The Art of Impermanence, was shown for six months at a satellite show at the Venice Biennale. Most of the series revolves around: process; ethics; beauty; health; spirituality; and the environment. The BBC film she produced – Rape, Abortion, Prison, won an Amnesty International Award, helped free a 14 year old from prison, and helped an international effort to change Nepalese law. She is co – founder of Let’s Talk- a series of events and programs on mental health issues at the Bedford Playhouse. She holds a BA from Stanford in Urban Design, and an MA from Columbia in Cultural Anthropology. Her first book of poetry – Room Tone will be published by Finishing Line Press February 2024.
LETTERS OF PARTNERSHIP & SUPPORT & APPROVAL
