School of Medicine hosts second annual Student, Faculty and Staff Art Show

It’s been said that medicine keeps people alive, but art makes life worth living. Through Feb. 26, more than 50 people are exhibiting their paintings, photographs, sculptures, ceramics and mixed media in the first floor atrium of the School of Medicine’s Farrell Learning and Teaching Center. The pieces are part of the second annual Student, Faculty and Staff Art Show, sponsored by the Washington University School of Medicine Arts Commission.

Images from the Art Show
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“I think it’s a great way to bring the medical community together,” says Daniel Wattson, a second-year medical student and director of the Arts Commission. “It’s also clear that there’s a lot of artistic talent at the medical school, in addition to medical knowledge.”

Jason Hill shows his photograph titled “Spin.” For a close-up of the photo, click the image. Use the following link to hear him discuss the photograph.

Wattson is proud that the medical school has one of the largest art shows of its kind, facilitated by the abundant space that the Learning and Teaching Center provides.

Jason Hill, a fourth-year M.D./Ph.D. student, is represented in the show by “Spin,” a photograph of a girl in a white, long dress twirling in front of an industrial building near the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis. “I believe that contrast is the key to life, just as contrast in painting, photography and art is essential,” Hill says.

Jama Rendell, a secretary in radiology, entered a black-and-white oil painting of a woman titled “Sway.” Rendell said reading travel magazines inspired her to paint the piece. “I liked the way she looked,” Rendell says. “She looks like she’s in a tropical breeze on a veranda.”

Jama Rendell displays her black-and-white oil painting titled “Sway.” For a close-up of the painting, click the image. Use the following link to hear her discuss the painting.

Rendell is participating in the show so people besides her family can see her art, and she said she’ll enjoy seeing what others at the medical school do in their spare time.

In addition to the art show, the Arts Commission sponsors informal Coffeehouse Concerts a few times a semester, where student and faculty musicians perform. It also supports Hippocrene, an annual literary magazine that includes poetry, short stories and other submissions and is distributed to current and prospective students, faculty and staff.