ARTSWORK INDEX
Artswork focuses on Life As Myth projects in the written, visual and spoken arts.
IN THE STUDIO
MURALS
MOUNT SINAI MEDICAL CENTER
Spring-Summer 2007
Urgent Care Room One: A Moonlit Sanctuary
Fall 2007 - Winter 2008
Urgent Care Room Two: A lotus haven
Spring 2008 - In progress
Mount Sinai Medical Center: Murals for the Gynecological Emergency Care Rooms
Summer 2008
Mount Sinai Medical Center: Murals for the office complex of the SAVI program
Upcoming 2008
New York-Presbyterian Hospital & Columbia University Medical Center: Mural (In cooperation with the C. G. Jung Foundation for Analytic Psychology)
IN THE NEWS
Joyful Heart Foundation: Featured Artist Winter 2008
Ribbon cutting ceremony: Mount Sinai Medical Center
For information on purchases & commissions:
ARTSWORK: PROJECTS IN WRITTEN, VISUAL AND SPOKEN ARTS
MAY 2008
MURALS: BRINGING COLOR TO HEALING
Flower Garden. Gustav Klimt. 1905. Narodni Galeri, Prague.
I am presently working with the staff at SAVI* on the mural design for their office space. They wish to communicate an active, optimistic message about their work. That approach has informed the direction the mural will take, both in color and form. After looking at several paintings by a variety of artists, Julia Turkel, SAFE program coordinator, selected the vibrant triadic color palette of this painting by Klimt for the mural.
Notes
* Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center
IN THE STUDIO: THE ROOKERY
Great Blue Heron. US Fish & Wildlife.
When despair for the world grows in me, and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be -- I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought or grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.!
Wendell Berry (b. 1934), Southern writer, cultural critic and farmerI have recently started a new canvas - The Rookery. "Rookery" has a dual meaning. On the one hand, it can denote a crowded or rundown tenement. But a rookery can also mean a habitat for the breeding and nesting of marine mammals or birds.
As part of my research, I am exploring the nesting habits of Great Blue Herons. Although solitary by nature, these graceful birds prefer communal nests in the branches of tall trees. A heron rookery, also known as a heronry, might hold hundreds of families. However, heron pairs will also build lone nests in shrubs or low lying areas. A departure from the safety of elevated group nesting leaves herons and their offspring more vulnerable to predators. Therefore it is only attempted when the lower habitat offers adequate resources and protection.
IN THE NEWS: FEATURED ARTIST FOR THE JOYFUL HEART FOUNDATION
To read the article in its entirety or to learn more about The Joyful Heart Foundation, link through the logo above.
. . . Ms. Usher, prompted by her dedication to work with survivors of sexual assault, recently coupled her compassion with her talents as an artist to complete a renovation of the exam room in The Mount Sinai Hospital's Emergency Department used specifically for treating survivors of sexual assault. This space has now been transformed into a sanctuary filled with bamboo, moonlight and tree frogs far removed from the sterile atmosphere of a typical exam room. Joyful Heart Foundation web site.
The Joyful Heart Foundation is currently spotlighting Wesley Usher, the Mount Sinai Medical Center murals and the Life As Myth web site. Mariska Hargitay, an actress well known for her portrayal of Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, founded Joyful Heart "to help survivors of sexual assault heal their minds, bodies and spirits and reclaim their lives." Joyful Heart, which began in 2002, now offers a variety of services and programs which are designed to complement traditional counseling and therapy. These include art therapy, surf camps, swimming with dolphins in the wild, yoga and writing workshops.
Life As Myth explores personal and collective mythology through written, visual and spoken arts.
For information on arts and educational services, contact Wesley Usher at Life As Myth.