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| National
Institutes of Health, Clinical Center Galleries Archive 2000 |
Gallery One: Bu Rulei Paintings
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Process/Figure: |
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| Gallery One: Sean Callahan Artist' Statement I have been walking the halls of NIH in the past six years as a patient and have always been in awe of the incredible artwork that hangs here. I have secretly had a goal to hang my own work here some day but never thought it would be a reality. I started painting seriously six years ago when I first started coming to NIH. I had studied art in college but pursued business soon after graduation, putting the paintbrushes down. Many years later, after I found out I was not well, it made me take a step back and slow down and take stock. I needed to find something to help me relax. I started painting watercolors because I could travel with them easily and could use them in while I was in the hospital. This diversion I started has become a serious form of therapy for me, and has helped me deal with the everyday struggle of having a serious illness. I have also found some success as a watercolor artist while living in Vermont. I am presently in three galleries and do shows throughout the state. I truly believe that this illness has helped me rediscover my art and put my life in the direction I needed to go. This show is a realization of a dream for me. |
Gallery One: Medicine for the Public
We begin the millenium with a look at NIH’s past. The original art in this exhibit was commissioned by Clinical Center Communications to illustrate the Medicine for the Public lecture series.
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The Medicine for the Public lecture series was created by the NIH Clinical Center in 1977. It is a series of lectures on disease topics by NIH scientists. |
| It was developed as a means of reaching out to the general public with information on clinical research, and to make people aware of what NIH does and how it contributes to the public health of the nation. The challenge was to create a means of conveying complex medical and scientific information to non-scientists. |
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This was achieved by creating understandable, recognizable, and sometimes humorous visual images to accompany the lecture that would help translate medical terminology into understandable concepts. |
The series has been popular from the start and often draws overflow crowds. It was the first outreach program that drew the community in to NIH. More than 180 Medicine for the Public lectures have been delivered. It remains as one of the most popular outreach programs at NIH.
NIH Clinical Center News Article
| A Few Words I have spent the last 21 years working as a nurse, and 14 of those years were here at the National Institutes of Health. During my time at NIH, I have had the opportunity to view many wonderful works of art displayed in the galleries which line these hallways. I would always make an effort to enter and leave the building via the hallways with these exhibits, because it would help me begin and end my workday with such beautiful, sometimes thought-provoking images. It so inspired me, that I decided to go back to school to study art. I have now been studying in the evenings after work for two years, at Montgomery College in Rockville. I have concentrated mostly on watercolor, working under the wonderful guidance of Professor Andrea Burchette. It has been an adventure I never dreamed could happen, and it is a joy to have my work hanging in the very art-filled halls that inspired me to pick up a paintbrush. I hope that you will find something in these halls that touches your soul also. --by Leslie Stephens |
National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center Galleries Archive: 2002 2001 1999
