Art heals at Capital Health in Hopewell

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As an artist, Colleen Attara has a deep belief that “art heals.”

“I feel really strongly about that,” said Attara, of Yardley, Pa., who has displayed her work in several “healing settings,” including the upcoming “Artists of Yardley” exhibit, which opens today in the Roma Bank Art and Healing Gallery at Hopewell Hospital.

“There is something nurturing and beautiful about the art in the hospital and it is all really different but it all goes together creating this feeling of calmness,” she said.

Attara’s work — a hand-sewn image using photographs printed on vellum — will be displayed along with 34 other artists in a show debuting tonight for a run through March 28. The juried exhibition, selected by the Capital Health Arts and Healing Committee, will be judged by art critic Janet Purcell.

This is the first of a series of rotating art galleries presented by the hospital, said Larry DeSanto, executive vice president and chief operating officer.

“This in a great opportunity to display art from a variety of artists in the community,” he said. “When we first started to design the hospital, we were increasingly aware of the importance art plays in the healing process. There is a science behind it.”

DeSanto said that when families visit loved ones in the hospital, it is “one of the most stressful times of their lives,” and the decision to adorn each of its wards with artistic creations was integral to reducing that stress and calming loved ones as well as the patients.

The hospital currently features 700 pieces of art, including an installation created by Attara on display in the pediatric ward. The installation is a signature piece by Attara, made out of signage salvaged and turned into a symbolic city chronicling the hospital’s move from Trenton to Hopewell.

Attara said the hospital’s commitment to local artists is a fundamental to its healing nature.

“I believe in what they do, and I love that they have local art throughout the hospital,” she said. “It’s indicative of the good healing that they have in the hospital ... I have had people saying they had to go by pediatrics, and when they see my installation, they feel happy.”