www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, January 12, 2017 | 28 Health by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff "Connected to your Community " OTMH collection a tribute to healing power of art The Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) Arts Council received a Visual Arts Project grant of $8,500 from the Ontario Arts Council. The funds are being used to create an art exhibition, which will be displayed at the hospital for a year starting last December (2016), according to recently-released information from the hospital. "The exhibition is called Crafted and it focuses on the healing aspect of art that comes through craft such as knitting or past times that involve a repetitive, meditative or laborious aspect to them, but interpreted through creative art," said Shannon Anderson, curator of the art collection at the hospital. "We're excited to put some different works on the walls and see how those reverberate with the visitors." The current exhibition is part of an expanded and changing art presence within the hospital, which includes photographs, paintings, sculpture and more. focuses on the theme of `Possible Worlds,'" said Anderson in an interview just ahead of the exhibition' s opening. "We were looking at bringing in elements of the natural environment and the ways artists look at the natural environment." Anderson said when the hospital was being built, about 60 spaces were designated for art. Those spaces have been filled with Anderson noting the collection has expanded beyond this. W hen asked why this was the case she noted there have been many studies and much information has come to light about the role art can play in a hospital environment. Elder Life Specialist Shirley Coughlin outlined some of these benefits. "The opportunity to look at original works of art at OTMH is such a gift to our patients in the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP)," she said. "A piece may trigger a memory or stimulate an interesting conversation between the patients and the HELP volunteers. It allows patients to go on an adventure, leaving the nursing unit and hopefully their health worries behind. There is great therapeutic and social value to having an exhibit such as this." The son of a HELP patient also praised the hospital' s art. "My mother thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Sally (HELP volunteer) looking at the various works of art displayed at OTMH. She found one piece especially interesting and wouldn' t stop talking about it during my visit with her," said Mike McGuire, son of Jean McGuire. "I think it is wonderful to have things of this nature in a hospital for patients and their families to enjoy." What' s next for art at OTMH? Anderson says the hospital regularly evaluates proposals for donations of art. She said at 1.6 million square feet in size, the new hospital has a lot of space to fill and the arts council is taking its time to make sure it is done right. Sylvia Rodgers, senior vice-president of clinical programs and chief nursing executive, shows one of many large prints adorning the walls, just prior to the new Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) opening. | Metroland file photo Anderson noted while the previous Oakville hospital, located on Reynolds Street, also had an art collection, she said it was not on the scale of the one that can now be found at the new facility, located on Hospital Gate at Third Line and Dundas Street. The OTMH Arts Council and Anderson' s part-time curator position were established with the new hospital in mind. The art council' s mandate is to collect (through donations and loans), curate and display works of art that inspire and bring joy to patients, visitors and their families as well as staff, physicians and volunteers. 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