Tag Archives: Art

The Perfect 15th Wedding Anniversary Gift : Glassblowing Workshop in Astoria, Oregon

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David and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary last week. The traditional gift is crystal, but the modern one is glass or a watch. So David came up with a truly unique idea. He took me to Astoria, on the Oregon Coast, and treated me to a workshop at a glassblowing studio where I made a glass pumpkin. It was my first experience learning the craft of glassblowing.

We made an appointment at Fernhill Glass Studio where we met Claude and Chris. Claude let me choose the glass colors, and explained the process of making a glass pumpkin from beginning to end. It was a lot of information, but Chris made sure I used the right tool the right way at the right time. It was a lot of fun. At one point, I even used a blow torch half as big as I am tall to heat the glass stem, giving it its mirrored finish. I’d never used a blow torch before. There’s no photo of me with it; I suspect David, who took these photos, ducked for cover and I don’t blame him.

Click on images to enlarge.

I love my new Fall decoration! I had a blast, and can’t wait for our next trip to Astoria and trying my hand at another project.

SirenNation Visual Art Show, Portland Oregon, November 2018

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Quickened Towards All Celestial Things
graphite, acrylic, oil on wood 20″ x 20″ 2018

Quickened Towards All Celestial Things, graphite, acrylic, oil on wood, 20″ x 20″ by Julianna Paradisi 2018 https://jparadisirn.com/gallery/
On exhibit in November as part of the Siren Nation Visual Art Show Portland 5 Centers for the Arts Antoinette Hatfield Hall, 1111 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97205
Save the Date! Opening Reception: Thursday, November 1, 2018 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.
Beverages and complimentary snacks available. All ages!

A Nurse’s Sketch Book

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Nearly a year ago, I wrote a post about mindfulness and found time for creativity, in which I described how I used downtime spent in waiting rooms to draw, or more accurately, for advanced doodling.

The practice continues. This year, I purchased an inexpensive set of crayons, which I keep in a desk drawer. During my lunch break, I take a minute or two to add a splash of color to the ballpoint pen ink drawings. None took longer than 15 minutes to sketch, usually much less.

These rough sketches don’t take the place of painting in my studio, but, there’s a certain satisfaction that comes with adapting to challenges of managing time, learning to juggle purpose and passion. Nursing provides purpose rooted in service, and passion (or a reasonable facsimile of art) blossoms from its branches. Like spring flowers following a severe winter, it will not be denied.

 

Art & Nursing: New Work

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Art and Nursing: Exhibiting Art Within a Power Point Presentation About Oncology Nurse Navigators

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The above paintings are original works by Julianna Paradisi, and may not be used or reproduced without permission.

This year, I’ve had a few opportunities to try on the art of public speaking, a newish skill for me. The topics revolved around breast cancer, and oncology nurse navigation.

Recently, I was asked to speak to a group of inpatient oncology nurses about the role of nurse navigators for breast cancer patients, and the application to the hospital setting. Integrating the patient experience throughout the continuum of cancer treatment is a prominent part of what nurse navigators do, and inpatient nurses wanting to learn more (and earned CE) about oncology nurse navigation is exciting.  It demonstrates ONNs have an impact on patient care.

For the occasion, I decided to learn a new skill: creating a Power Point presentation. I know, I know, some of you were making Power Point presentations since your first elementary school book report, but you probably can’t write in cursive as well as an older nurse, or use a real typewriter.

Here’s the stipulation: because I am also an artist, I have a thing against using clip art or stock images from the Internet to illustrate my words. If you are familiar with my blog posts for Off the Charts you already know this.

So, not only did I learn to create, and present a Power Point slide show, I used jpegs from a series of paintings I made of mountains, illustrating the presentation from the perspective of my personal practice. For many, the word navigator connotes images of the ocean or GPS, but as a breast cancer survivor turned ONN, I see myself as a sherpa, someone who has climbed the mountain, familiar with its terrain and potential for treachery. I lead patients  up the mountain, summit, and then come back down. The paintings of mountains also suggest the barriers to care ONNs are tasked with removing for patients. The theme was woven into the closing remarks of the presentation.

Most of the paintings depict Mount Hood, the dominating peak and iconic symbol of Portland, Oregon, my home.

I gave the presentation with a sense of creative satisfaction in finding another way to merge art into my nursing practice.

 

 

 

 

Bringing Art into Clinical Settings

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by jparadisi

Hang Your Art Here by jparadisi

Nurses and artists share many characteristics. Donations of time and skills are perhaps the most common.

Nurses donate time by volunteering at health screenings, or speaking about risk prevention at health fairs. Artists often donate artwork to local charity fundraisers, or loan work for exhibition in a clinic or hospital lobby.

Art in the clinical setting may offer a sense of relaxation, joy, or even help to redirect the focus away from an unexpected diagnosis for a patient or a loved one — even if it’s just for a few minutes.

A reader asked about bringing art into clinical settings. Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind when either asking for a donation, or curating a hospital or clinic art exhibition on a small budget:

  • All blank walls are not created equal: Hang art away from direct sunlight, which fades the inks or paint, and damages works on paper like drawings or photography. Walls in areas of high humidity are also a poor choice for hanging art.
  • Ensure the artwork is secure: This is especially important when the artwork is borrowed. Professional galleries insure artwork while it is in their possession, but your clinic or hospital probably does not. Artwork should be under direct observation at all times, and secured behind locked doors when not. I met an artist whose painting was stolen from a lobby wall, creating an uncomfortable situation for both the artist and the clinic.
  • If the work is for sale, have interested parties contact the artist directly: Don’t get involved in the sales transactions.
  • Get permission to use the artists’ names and photographs of their artwork: This is useful for promoting the exhibit hosted by your department or clinic in the hospital newsletter and local press releases.
  • Disrespectfully handling artwork is a quick way to lose artist support: Framing is expensive. Protect the corners and edges from dings. Don’t stack paintings or photographs on top of each other when preparing to hang or taking down an exhibit. Secure art from falls. If necessary, provide signs asking viewers to refrain from touching the art.
  • Showcase a particular artist or stage a group show: Choosing work related by themes, for example, photography, still life, or about a specific cancer, is another idea. Include statements written by the artist describing their inspiration. Often the artists will volunteer to hang the shows, and provide labels for the work if you don’t know where to start. Art therapists are good resources for creating exhibitions too.
  • Thank your artists: When artists donate artwork they can only deduct the cost of the materials, not the price the work sold for, from their taxes, so a proper thank you is crucial. An appreciated thank you includes the name of the work, the buyer’s name and contact information (with the buyer’s permission) so the artist has an opportunity to connect with a potential collector, and the price the piece sold for. Consider hosting a reception for the artists and buyers to meet.

I Wish I’d Said It

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I’m not saying that there aren’t occasions when entertainments transcend their aim and become art, and I’m certainly not suggesting that art must not entertain, but the ultimate aim of an entertainment is to confirm the reader’s existing sense of how things are and how things should be, while the aim of the literary artist is to upset and disrupt that vision.

Robert Boswell

Celebrate Flag Day With 14% Discount on JParadisiRN Mugs Today Only!

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Nurse mugs now available at the JParadisiRN Art Store.
Nurse mugs now available at the JParadisiRN Art Store.

To Celebrate Flag Day, get a 14% discount on JParadisiRN original coffee mugs today only! Follow the links below, and be sure to use the discount code provided in the banner at the top of the page.

The JParadisiRN Art Store is NEW, offering three paintings of nurses, including a brand new painting of a man-nurse, “Don’t Call Me Murse.”  Two of my most requested paintings, “Sometimes My Surgical Mask Feels Like a Gag,” and “The White That Binds (Pinning Ceremony)” are also available. You can choose a mug from seven different styles, and customize them with the options offered.

I will offer new items soon. Be sure to take a look.

There’s also a permanent link to the JParadisiRNArtStore on this blog’s right-hand column.

The Damaging Effect of Preciosity

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Preciosity is over-refinement in art, music, or language, especially in the choice of words.

Nurse as Sisyphus by jparadisi 2012

Nurse as Sisyphus by jparadisi

I am struggling with preciosity while writing this post. A clever idea isn’t coming, and I feel distress, because I need to wrap it up. If I cannot write something profound, then at least I should be entertaining.

Preciosity is an art term with a negative connotation. An artist should never hold something she makes so precious that she cannot bring herself to change or even destroy it, because the bit of paint or brush stroke that’s considered precious enslaves the painting.

Writers are familiar with preciosity too. Sometimes the best-loved words are the very ones that need editing to clarify the thought. Any precious bit a writer or artist insists on retaining becomes an obstacle to the larger creative process, very often ruining the result.

Being a nurse also requires a resistance to preciosity. The best care plans are never perfect. A beautifully constructed work schedule becomes overwhelming, because of a staff sick call or unexpected admissions. We administer a medication, and the infusion is delayed or halted, because the patient has an allergic reaction to it. We are disheartened by the recurrence of disease in a favorite patient. On very bad days, we make an error.

There is no preciosity allowed in either art or nursing. Everything is up for grabs and can change in a heartbeat. Nurses striving the hardest for preciosity are the most doomed to disappointment in colleagues, patient outcomes, and themselves.

A good day of patient care cannot be summoned on command from a nurse any more than a masterpiece can be summoned from an artist or the next great American novel (or a blog post) can be summoned from a writer. Some days, both in nursing and in art, the best you can do is show up and try your best.

At the end of a shift, you may have made someone feel better, but perhaps all you did was prevent that person from getting worse. Likewise, after painting all day, you may end up taking a palette knife to the canvas and scraping all that newly applied paint to the floor, so that you can start again tomorrow.

Seated in my favorite chair while writing this post on a laptop, I struggle to keep myself from deleting it. Some days, both as  nurse and a blogger, this is the best I can do.

Why Nurses Need to Make Art

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The first thing people usually say to me when they find out I’m an artist is, “Gosh, I can’t even draw a straight line.” My response to that statement is, “Nobody can. That’s what straight edges are for.”

Detail of oil painting by jparadisi

Detail of oil painting by jparadisi

When these same people discover I am also an oncology nurse, the second thing they say is, “Painting must be so therapeutic, after dealing with so much death.” My response to this statement is more complex than the first.

First, there’s not really “so much death” in oncology, as treatments improve and many cancers are managed as chronic conditions, which is great. There is still sad sorrow, however. Ironically, when I’m most engaged in a real life human drama, that’s when I find it the most difficult to unleash my creativity. On those days, I’m more likely to calm myself by going for a long run, or knitting, which I consider hobbies.

For me, the creative act of painting is often as uncomfortable as a difficult day of patient care. This is because, I believe the difference between art as therapy, and art as art, is that art as art usually begins with a question or inquiry, and most importantly, results in an insight. Art as therapy requires neither. However, if art as therapy results in an insight, it can also meet the status of art as art. Simply speaking, strong works of art, like strong nursing, involves critical thinking, not simply performing rote skills.

Attaining insight is the reason I believe it is so important for nurses to open up to creativity. Insight leads to an understanding of motivation, our own, and that of others. When we understand our motivations, we are better able to communicate with others. In this dynamic time of The Affordable Health Care Act, nurses need to publicly communicate our role in health care now more than ever.

For instance, the nurse blogosphere is full of posts championing Advanced Practice Nurses as primary care providers. Proponents focus on filling the gap created by a shortage of Family Practice physicians, and reducing the cost of care. While these goals are admirable, the time is now to take creative control of the Nurse Practitioner image by promoting the characteristics differentiating medical science from nursing science: an emphasis on preventive care, in-depth patient teaching, and patient-centered care, which are in some ways superior to that offered by medical science. By creating an image, or branding, if you will, for APRNs, they are appreciated as a unique profession, not as a watered down brand of medicine, or “doctor lite.”

Unflattering, and inaccurate images of nurses are created through tradition, novelists, and outside observers, but rarely by nurses themselves. In order to dispel the nursing stereotypes we despise, nurses will need to rise up and create new ones through visual art, novels, screenplays, and films of such quality that our vision of ourselves transcends into mainstream culture.

Note: This post originally appeared in March 14 2013 on RNFM Radio: Nursing Unleashed!