“Off the Clock” Celebrates A Different Type of Artist

December 1, 2014
048
Art at “Off The Clock” show at Ebling Library.

Nearly 120 people attended the opening and reception for the “Off The Clock” art exhibit at Ebling Library. The exhibit is a special feature of “artwork fashioned during time away from the daily duties of professionals.”

Pathologists, veterinary medicine lab personnel, surgeons, library staff, psychiatrists, administrative staff, and food service workers submitted paintings, photographs, bead work, quilts, pastels, watercolors, lace and all other manner of creative pursuits to help create this inspiring show. Many of the pieces are for sale, with proceeds going to charity.

The show, one of the highest attended events at Ebling, was arranged by UW-Hospital Art Coordinators Sarah Grimes and Mandy Kron, and Micaela Sullivan-Fowler, Head of Marketing & Communications, Curator, and History of the Health Sciences Librarian at Ebling. The curators arranged the work by color, complementing the various mediums (oils, fabric, photography, sketches, watercolors collages), in a way that gives each piece a unique focus.

Sullivan-Fowler says the artists, no matter their background, or “day jobs” were able to showcase their talents, and gained a new level of appreciation for the power of art.

051
Additional pieces of art at “Off The Clock” show at Ebling Library.

“This is what avocation is all about, the love of doing something that is not, generally, how you make your living. But something that you have as a creative outlet. Countless participants say they found their art ‘meditative,’ that it was a great ‘stress reliever,'” Sullivan-Fowler noted. “One pediatric endocrinologist and one oncologist suggesting that it helped them be a more focused practitioner – knowing that they had an outlet apart from the sometimes difficult daily clinical decisions they must make.”

Joe Scalea, a transplant surgeon created two paintings, “Evolution of Organ Transplantation,” and “Yes, Normally I’m busy Saving Lives, But This Is Something I Do For Fun, For Me.”  He noted that the art helped him become an even better surgeon, saying “It’s the best therapy. Thanks so much for giving us this opportunity.”

Sullivan-Fowler says “Off The Clock” encourages creativity and the arts – a rich triumvirate of healing, practice, and support.

“Off the Clock” runs in the Ebling’s 3rd floor galleries at 750 Highland Ave. until Friday, January 9th, 2015. Contact Micaela Sullivan-Fowler, msullivan@library.wisc.edu with questions.