April 3, 2008 - Media Release

"Where everything was alright for a brief period of time…"
Inner Landscapes focusing on inner healing

Ann Launcelott

Amherst, NS (April 3, 2008) It is becoming increasingly well known that art can humanize an institution. Studies have been done that confirm the ability of art to reduce stress, enhance feelings of comfort, familiarity and well-being, and to restore the spirit. Displayed art works can be calming for viewers, and a place of rest: a sanctuary from busyness, procedures and pain, for all those within an institution, whether they are patients, family members, or health care workers. As a result, art can aid in the promotion of positive attitudes (and therefore positive outcomes) for all concerned.

Starting April 7th, the Cumberland Health Care Foundation is pleased to present a collection of photographic works from five photographers: Joanne Chilton, Alberta Schaap, Rod Stewart, Ann Launcelott, and Monika Wright.

Photographs, unlike some other forms of art, are easily accessible to the general population. Photography has long been a part of popular culture and everyday lives, and as a result it readily evokes emotion and touches individual’s hearts.

"Photographs can provide opportunities to grieve, to remember or to forget, to find peace, to laugh, to restore the spirit", says local photographer Alberta Schaap, “They bring an immediate sense of place, time, person or event. They can also be a way to connect to the timeless beauty and stillness of the natural world. For all of these reasons, we believed a showing of carefully chosen images would enhance and benefit this particular health care setting in Cumberland.”

Alberta Schaap

For Schaap, the chance to give something back to the healthcare staff, other patients and their families was important. Two years earlier, Schaap returned to Amherst from Halifax, where she had been working in Multiple Sclerosis research, to help take care of her mother, who had entered palliative care at the regional hospital.

"It was a long – yet short – three months," said Schaap, "I often walked the galleries when I was staying here with Mom - at times you had to let other people’s artwork take you somewhere else – where everything was alright for a brief period of time." Schaap, the daughter of Amherst painter Gerard Schaap, is exhibiting her photography for the first time in Amherst. "We, as a group, wanted to give something back," said Schaap, “and just like our photographs, we’re only here for a brief amount of time, caught in a particular moment.”

The Cumberland Health Care Art Gallery has a total of four galleries at the regional hospital, with a portion of the sale of each work going towards the Foundation’s hospital equipment fund.

The Cumberland Health Care Foundation is a registered Canadian not-for-profit charity. It is dedicated to enhancing the provision of a high standard of health care within Cumberland County, by raising funds and supporting new and improved services, programs, equipment and facilities. For additional information, please visit our website at www.chcfoundation.com or call locally 667-5400 ext. 6210.