Reilly brightens children’s treatment room

 

Above: Students who worked on the ceiling mural.
Photo Courtesy: Brooke Reilly

This year, I decided to take on a project that would blend my artistic skills and passion for helping others by creating a ceiling mural for a nearby hospital. I hoped to lift the spirits of children  struggling with serious diseases who are receiving treatment there. This year, I decided to take on a project that would blend my artistic skills and passion for helping others by creating a ceiling mural for a nearby hospital. I hoped to lift the spirits of children  struggling with serious diseases who are receiving treatment there.  My father works at Saint Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, a hospital that contains a specialized floor occupied by top doctors and nurses who care for young patients who suffer from several types of cancer and blood disorders. Though this floor is decorated with vibrant colors in the halls to give a  brighter appearance to what would normally be a dingy white wall, the atmosphere inside the treatment rooms was plain and simply unfit for a place that sick children often inhabit.  Unfortunately, treatment rooms on this particular floor carry out painful procedures that require patients to lie on their backs or stomachs for hours while their specific treatments are being carried out. Staring at blank walls, only being able to concentrate on the pain they are enduring is anything but what children should have to experience while they are on the journey of fighting their diseases.  Witnessing this dreary atmosphere myself, I took on the task of bringing joy and life to one of these treatment rooms by painting the mural, bringing the beauty of the outside world into their room to help them escape reality. The beginning of this project was a competition amongst the two-dimensional design class to see whose design captured the essence of joy and freedom that I was attempting to capture in the mural. After approximately three weeks, Jean Wong’s design that featured colorful air balloons, clouds, birds, and planes would be chosen and slightly modified to fit the layout of the ceiling.  The medium on which this artwork would be created was a drop-ceiling made up of many smooth, white tiles that could take on paint without changing the opacity of the original color.  Thanks to the outstanding support of all the teachers within the art department, several days were dedicated to drawing the design while being laid out on the floor.  Continued on page three…