Healing Sparks

Mixed media (acrylic, pastel, photos, illustration pens)

This vessel is a tribute to the founding artists comprising Smith Center’s Artist in Residence Program at Inova Schar Cancer Institute in Fairfax, VA. Testimonials from patients, caregivers, and staff emphasize how this team of gifted makers bring moments of joy, energy, and healing when it is most needed. Their passion and presence sparks creative engagement through the visual arts, vocal and instrumental music, poetry, knitting, and storytelling. The all-seeing eye here is surrounded by threads of trauma and grief we have all experienced since the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to burdens encountered by those we serve in the cancer community. Through regularly shared transformative experiences as artists in residence we have bonded as a network of support and resilience for each other. The names and bios of the artists portrayed on the bowl can be found on the AIR website at smithcenter-air.org