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PROJECTS

As the principal secondary goal of the Art for Healing Foundation is art education, in addition to installing individual works, we have created several unique "galleries" that have contributed significantly to the educational component of our goals.

Where we've installed groupings of works by one artist, we have created a "gallery" including a biographical text to highlight the principal accomplishments and contributions of the artist displayed.

Some of the galleries are comprised of original works of art, others are comprised of reproductions, in the case of famous artists, but in either case, our goal in doing so is to create a better awareness of the artist behind the works and of the importance of art as an expression of our humanity.

The A. McKenzie Brockman Collection

The A. McKenzie Brockman Collection was inaugurated in December 2006 at Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Montreal. Made possible by a very generous donation by this avid collector, the collection is comprised of sixteen works and includes pieces by such renowned Canadian artists as Arthur Lismer (member Group of Seven), Philip Surrey, RCA, Moe Reinblatt and Marcelle Dufour, to name a few. Known to his friends as Mac, he left his early professional career as an educator to immerse himself in his love of all things artistic and an art auction experience early on proved to be the inspiration for his opening l'Atelier d'Art de Deux Montagnes, a centre for antiques and works of art he operated in Deux Montagnes. Ever the curious adventurer, Mr. Brockman took a year in 1987 to travel to Lima and Machu Picchu in Peru and to visit Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Easter Island. He remembers this as the most interesting year of his life.




The Wendy Simon Gallery

In December of 2006 thirty prints were installed in the Radiology & Imaging Department of the Royal Victoria Hospital and was made possible through a generous donation by Freda & Irwin Browns. Born and educated in England, Wendy Simon came to Canada in the mid-seventies with a degree in biology and physics from the University of London and would later earn a BFA in 1980 at Concordia University. She taught at Dawson College and the Saidye Bronfman Centre, and was an active member of the Montreal Print Collectors Society. Simon's artistic interests were vast: they included woodcut, lithography, silkscreening, intaglio, serigraphy, and digital imagery. An accomplished photographer, she transferred photo images to etching plates, transforming them on her own printing press into beautiful representations of the elements of Nature she loved most: bees, grass, sunflowers, roses, pears, and flowers of the field. Although the pieces exhibited in the gallery express Simon's lighter side, her oeuvre also includes the dark and spiritual. She was able to channel her feelings of aggression through her art, as well as through the practice of Kendo, of which she was a Master.




The Myrna Brooks Bercovitch Gallery

The Myrna Brooks Bercovitch Gallery was inaugurated in December 2006 on the 5th floor of Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Montreal. Consisting of sixteen works, the gallery was made possible by a generous donation by the artist and is representative of the wide range of mixed media Myrna uses including acrylic and watercolour paint, paper and fabric, collage and stencils all while she exercises a free hand use of bright, primary colours as well as more muted tones. Myrna attributes her freedom to try new ideas to the influence of some of her favorite painters: Riopelle and Rauschenberg, Matisse and Jackson Pollock. A trained nurse, Brooks Bercovitch has also studied dance most of her life and is a member of PLAN, a program designed to ensure that individuals with physical and other handicaps can never be displaced from their homes. This mission was inspired by Brooks Bercovitch's own daughter, Rebecca, a young woman with special needs, who, because of her bravery, is this passionate artist's greatest teacher.




The Special Needs Department Gallery of the Saidye Bronfman School of Fine Arts at Yaldei Develepmental Center

In November 2006 thirty works created by the Special Needs Department artists of the Saidye Bronfman School of Fine Arts were installed at Yaldei Developmental Center in the Queen Elizabeth Health Complex in Montreal. The Special Needs Department is comprised of intellectually challenged adult students with the goal to promote and encourage their creative development, imagination and artistic expression and to expand the visibility of their work in the community. The students are guided by professional artists and instructors to learn skills and techniques and are supported by volunteers in their creative process. Special thanks go to the participating artists; Harry Birenhak, Howard Bloom, Matthew Brotherwood, Claudia Carlini, Stephen Feigelson, Linda Gotlieb, Richard Hevey, Michael Pollack, Gary Wilk and Anita Yashinsky.

Yaldei Developmental Centre, recipient of the gallery, is an organization committed to helping children with developmental challenges to reach their full potential. Their continuum of professional services and programs are designed to identify and respond to the complex needs of the special needs family and to provide the most advanced and unique program of intensive early intervention, using a broad range of multidisciplinary therapeutic approaches. Yaldei is also dedicated to ensuring that families have access to coordinated, supportive, educational and therapeutic services that are geared to their child's individual needs.

The inauguration of the gallery was covered by reporter Anne Lewis of CTV News and aired on the local affiliate station in Montreal.




The Cedars Breast Clinic

In November of 2006 forty-five reproductions were installed in the Cedars Breast Clinic at the Royal Victoria Hospital and was made possible through a generous donation by the Miriam & Sydney Pinchuk Family Foundation. The Cedars Breast Clinic brings together, in one location, top medical teams from two prestigious institutions: the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Montreal General Hospital and is a significant women's health care milestone and a proud reflection of both the visionary leadership of the Cedars Cancer Institute and the spirit of its committed volunteers and loyal donors. The artwork is installed throughout the clinic including the reception area, public areas, private offices and examining rooms with a particular attention paid to the works selected given the clinic's mostly female patient base.




The Mamie Colton Gallery

In November 2006 the Mamie Colton Gallery was inaugurated on the 5th floor of Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Montreal. The gallery consists of eighteen works of art and was made possible through the generous donation by the artist of pieces from both her "Earth" and "Striped" Series that comprise landscapes, seascapes and desertscapes in her signature organic and geometric forms. Born in Montreal, Mamie has been cultivating her unique art for over 50 years with her early passion for art more formally explored later on under the tutelage of well-regarded mentors, such as Herman Heimlich and Leslie Schalk.




The Marion Zimmer Ketubah Gallery

The Marion Zimmer Ketubah Gallery was inaugurated in October 2006 on the 5th floor of Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Montreal. Consisting of twenty-four pieces, the gallery was made possible through the generous donation of these works by the artist & Jessy Black-Grosman of jessyjudaica.com. Originally written in Aramaic, Ketubahs were established as the legally binding wedding contract specifying a Jewish groom's financial obligations to his bride and are among the first documents ever created conferring legal status and financial rights to women. Today, the ketubah's form and function has broadened to include the personal vows of love and committment of same sex or interfaith couples, non-Jews or for couples celebrating an anniversary. Co-founder of La Societé des Calligraphes de Montréal in 1979, Marion continues to be motivated by her love of the written word, of the physical act of writing, and by the ketubah's connection to her Jewish roots.




Hemodialysis and Renal Clinic - Jewish General Hospital

In August of 2006 forty-six reproductions were installed in the Hemodialysis and Renal Clinic of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. This installation was made possible through the generous donation of friends and family of both Art for Healing Foundation Co-founder Gary Blair, in celebration of his 50th birthday, as well as in memory of the late Morty Pinchuk, a long time dialysis patient and uncle of Art for Healing Foundation Co-founder Earl Pinchuk. The Hemodialysis department is where out patients receive dialysis treatments, in many if not most cases, several times a week. In order to alleviate the monotony of the visits, the theme chosen for the installation was "travel" in the hopes that it would encourage patients to use the images as an inspiration to "travel in their minds" while receiving treatments and thus take them away from the limitations of their surroundings.




The Eating Disorder Clinic of the Douglas Hospital

In June 2006 five beautiful abstract works were installed in the out-patient and in-patient clinics of the Eating Disorder Clinic of the Douglas Hospital in Montreal. The works were created and donated by local artist, Josée Lavigne, herself an eating disorder survivor. Under the guidance of Dr. Howard Steiger, Program Director, the works were installed along with a touching and inspiring poem, entitled "To Live", also written by Josée and dedicated to those suffering from eating disorders. The patients in both programs have been very receptive to the artwork, which has brought both colour and new life to the clinics, and has been particularly appreciated in light of the artist's personal connection to a shared illness.




The Marcel Barbeau Gallery

In May 2006 the Marcel Barbeau Gallery was inaugurated in the ground-floor main boardroom of the Montreal Children's Hospital. The gallery consists of two beautiful paintings by this historical figure in Quebec Art History. Marcel Barbeau was born in Montreal in 1925 and was a member of the group of painters called the "Automatistes", begun by Paul-Emile Borduas in 1946. Barbeau and his colleagues in the movement, Pierre Gauvreau, Fernand Leduc, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Roger Fauteaux, formed the backbone of Abstract Expressionism in the Canadian art scene. The Marcel Barbeau Gallery was made possible through a very generous donation by Nancy Pencer and her family, in loving memory of her husband, the late Gerry Pencer.




The Joseph Prezament Gallery

In May 2006 the Joseph Prezament Gallery was installed on the 5th floor of Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Montreal. This generous donation of thirteen works was made by noted Montreal artist, Rita Briansky, widow of the artist. Joseph Prezament, originally born in Winnipeg, studied with LeMoine Fitzgerald, the Group of Seven artist whose interest in pointillist technique is evident in Prezament's work, and later attended the Montreal Artists School of Ghitta Caiserman-Roth and Alfred Pinsky. Since the inception of the gallery, Maimonides residents can be seen easing their wheelchairs and strolling with their walkers along the corridor where this gallery is installed.




The Evelyn Gold Gallery

In April 2006 the Evelyn Gold Gallery was inaugurated in the newly renovated Oncology Department of the Montreal Children's Hospital. The six works of art that comprise the gallery were generously donated by the artist and consist of whimsical images that were inspired by a sculpture created by the artist Jim Eaton entitled "Wheeled Thing". Evelyn was born in Montreal in 1939 and studied art at Concordia University, the Potter's Club, later renamed the Visual Arts Centre, the Saidye Bronfman Centre and Ecole des Beaux Arts and had the priviledge of studying under Helene Baillargeon, Rita Briansky, Leslie Coppold, Lisel Hoffman, Moe Reinblatt, Ghitta Caiserman-Roth, Carole Segal and Robert Venor. Evelyn is married to the Order of Canada recipient and renowned oncologist Dr. Phil Gold.




The Romero Britto Gallery

Several reproductions by the internationally renowned New York based artist Romero Britto were also installed in the Oncology Department of the Montreal Children's Hospital. Britto's images are bright, colourful and replete with playful energy and are intended to create cheerfulness in a department that otherwise deals with very serious health issues. One image in particular, a series of colourful hearts, has been strategically placed in front of the only window looking out from the isolation room where patients, because of their depleted immune systems, live in quarantine for up to 30 days after undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. This project was installed courtesy of the Art for Healing Foundation.




ART IS

The ART IS installation was inaugurated in February 2006 at the Gilman Pavilion of the Montreal Children's Hospital, home to Adolescent Medicine, Adolescent Psychiatry and Dentistry. This installation was created by Montreal artists Nicole Provost and Olivier Dumoulin and came about as the result of a dinner conversation between the Foundation's co-founders and Nicole & Olivier one summer evening. The topic of the conversation of course was; "What is art?" from which this beautiful work was inspired. The installation currently serves as a therapeutic tool used by the Art Therapy Department in the treatment of children and adolescents dealing with sexual and drug abuse as well as other emotional and health issues.




Entraide Grands Brulés / Villa Medica

In October of 2005 forty reproductions were installed in the offices and patient care units of both Entraide Grands Brulés and the Villa Medica Rehabilitation Centre in Montreal made possible through the generous donation of an anonymous donor and great friend of the Art for Healing Foundation. The Entraide Grands Brulés story is as much the story of Montrealer Sophie Sureau and one that is as inspirational as it is horrific.

In 2002 Sophie and her husband Jeff travelled to Bali for a highly anticipated vacation. By a twist of fate, they were having dinner in a restaurant across the street from the nightclub that was bombed by a local terrorist group. While Jeff escaped with minor burns, Sophie was not so lucky. She suffered third degree burns to over 23% of her body and was additionally injured by the stampede that enveloped the nightclub in the chaos that followed the bombing. Sophie spent the next thirty-five says in a Singapore hospital recovering and then returned to Montreal in January 2003.

On her return she entered the Hôpital Hotel Dieu for more surgery and when discharged, entered Villa Medica Rehabilitation Centre to relearn such simple things like just clenching her fist. As bad as the physical pain was, the psychological pain was just as bad, if not worse. Beset by nightmares and panic attacks in which she relived the bombing, Sophie turned to anti-depressants. After finally returning to work in the field of marketing, she felt that something was amiss in her life.

During her recovery and rehabilitation Sophie had realized that burn survivors and their families desperately need psychological assistance to not only deal with the physical pain but with the challenges they would face in readjusting to a post trauma "new normal". Such a mechanism did not exist and so, in 2004, along with a doctor and another burn survivor, she helped to cofound Entraide Grands Brulés, a support group associated with the Villa Medica Rehabilitation Centre that counsels and supports burn survivors with offices set-up adjacent to the rehabilitation centre.

Each year over 300 Quebecers suffer from major burns but now, thanks to Sophie's initiative and the dedicated staff of Entraide Grands Brulés and Villa Medica Rehabilitation Centre, their recovery is made easier through the ongoing support this wonderful organization is now providing.




Art Therapy Department at the Montreal Children's Hospital

In October of 2004 seven reproductions were installed in the Art Therapy Department of the Gilman Pavilion of the Montreal Children's Hospital. Chosen specifically by the chief therapist to be used in her formal therapeutic work, the images include a diverse group of subject matter and styles by Edward Hopper, Keith Haring, Morris Louis and Nancy Ortenstone, amongst others. The art is used to assist the young patients to express their feelings and emotions indirectly through discussion about the artwork and in doing so, help them to discover and then move the discussion to the real issues they face. This project was made possible courtesy of the Art for Healing Foundation.