Donated art to grace health facilities’ walls

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This article was published 28/11/2017 (2881 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Patients in a beige waiting room at Grace Hospital will be surrounded by some colourful cheer, thanks to a new art donation program launched Tuesday.

“Art is uplifting, it helps the spirit,” Winnipeg Regional Health Authority interim president and CEO Réal Cloutier said.

The program was launched by Artists in Healthcare Manitoba, a non-profit organization that brings music and art to the hospital bedsides of patients around the province. The group collects donations of art, and gives it to different health-care facilities in Manitoba. In turn, the facilities are free to display the art or auction it at a charitable event.

The program wouldn’t have been possible without Gary Scherbain, the longtime owner of the Wah-Sa Gallery, who created the program and donated almost 200 pieces of Indigenous woodlands art from his personal collection.

“We’re here to honour Gary,” Shirley Grierson, executive director of Artists in Healthcare Manitoba, said at a news conference Tuesday.

“We think he’s developed the best model. Once it’s given to a health-care facility — it’s yours.”

The 75-year-old gallerist and art collector was happy to help.

“As a member of our community, we have to give back,” Scherbain said.

Scherbain’s been donating to the Grace Hospital Foundation for decades, but wanted to branch out, so he contacted Artists in Healthcare Manitoba with his idea. Together, the planning started.

“I personally made a substantial contribution, and now we’re going to invite the community of Winnipeg to, too,” said Scherbain.

There’s more benefit to donating than just feeling good.

Donors receive a charitable tax receipt, and can choose which health-care facility their art will go to.

Other facilities participating in the program include Concordia Foundation; Deer Lodge Centre Foundation; Jocelyn House Hospice; Misericordia Health Centre Foundation; Pan Am Clinic Foundation; Riverview Health Centre Foundation; Selkirk Mental Health Centre; St. Boniface Hospital Foundation; Victoria General Hospital Foundation and A Port in the Storm — a residence for people who come to the city for health care.

When Scherbain started planning the art program, he thought patients and their visitors would benefit most.

But when he began doing some research (he called Vancouver General Hospital, which started a similar program in 2000), he was surprised to learn it was hospital staff that appreciated it most.

“They’re there every day,” said Scherbain. “You come into a hospital and there’s just blank walls.”

Not any longer, if everything goes right.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca