Art prescriptions

By Joyce St. Antoine

Doctors are prescribing a trip to the museum as a way to counter chronic illnesses.

Described as a first in Canada, Montreal will have a year-long program issuing up to 50 prescriptions to patients, grant free admission to the Museum of Fines Arts starting in November 2018 with an art series full of paintings, sculptures and relaxation.  

While there are no structured programs locally, the Art Gallery of Windsor’s doors are open to the those who benefits from using art to deal with situations they are going through.

Chris Finn, curator of education for the Art Gallery of Windsor, said there have been enough responses from participants in the trials from the Montreal program to see the benefits.

“It helps to redirect their attention to whatever is stressing them out at a particular point in time, and it’s also been more recently assessed that artmaking has certain benefits in terms of enhancing self-esteem and social interactions,” said Finn. “It removes them from an isolated situation.”

Finn said this is an area where there has been some publication and they are still doing clinical trials to determine the benefits, but a lot of the evidence has been anecdotal from what he read.

Patricia Coates is professional artist who works with multimedia performance, video and film. She currently has a series at the AGW. Coates said art is a way to reflect things that are happening around us.

“For me personally, art is a way to uncover something about who we are as humans, to investigate the human condition. In this process of investigation, I see art as a way to unfold something about us,” said Coates. “We are both creative and destructive at the same time.”

Coates believes art has the power to give people a greater perspective on humanity and artists work with difficult ideas and subject matters to raise hard questions.

“I think art has a power to to take us outside ourselves, so really compelling art can show us a bigger picture and can question meaning in life and place,” said Coates. “If we are all challenging these difficult times and issues together, there is this feeling of collective support.”

Olivia Akey started her specialized art education at the University of Windsor’s School of Creative Arts and is now continuing her education at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C.

She said she has created many works about times of struggle in her life and has found that art has helped her to better understand her thoughts and feelings. This has allowed her to express her feelings instead of bottling them up.

“Galleries tend to be peaceful places where artists display their visual forms of expression,” said Akey. “ While not all art is emotional, much of it is, and often the works that aren’t meant to be are made emotional through the viewer’s interpretation.”

Touring the art gallery can also be paired with other common relaxation strategies. Just outside the AGW’s doors is Windsor’s Sculpture Garden and the scenic Riverfront trail. The AGW is open five days a week, and the Sculpture garden can be accessed until 11 p.m every night of the week.