{"id":27648,"date":"2011-01-05T08:21:49","date_gmt":"2011-01-05T13:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=27648"},"modified":"2011-05-31T12:36:33","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T16:36:33","slug":"a-creative-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/01\/a-creative-gift\/","title":{"rendered":"A Creative Gift"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"baker2_lg\"<\/a>
Paintings by Brenda Baker make the the Health Center's dermatology waiting room a more welcoming place.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

Sitting in a waiting room can be a nerve-racking experience \u2013 especially if you are a child waiting for a surgical procedure. But a pleasant environment in the waiting room can help keep you calm until your name is called.<\/p>\n

Artist Brenda Baker set out to develop such an environment in the dermatology office\u2019s surgical waiting and recovery room at the UConn Health Center by creating and donating three works of art to hang there.<\/p>\n

\"CampaignThe state-of-the-art dermatology office, which opened last year just around the corner from the main Health Center campus in Farmington, gives UConn experts a new home where they continue to provide advanced medical, surgical, and cosmetic services. Thanks to Baker, the patients get to wait in a room with colorful images that infuse it with positive energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the opening of the building, my husband and I went on a tour of the clinic,\u201d says Baker. \u201cWe came upon a room which is used as a waiting room for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer surgery patients and is often used for children. The room struck me as very nice, but quite institutional and lacking color.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putting herself in the shoes of her potential audience, Baker created three whimsical paintings intended to ease the tension not only of the children, but of their parents as well.<\/p>\n

\"baker_lg\"<\/a>
Artist Brenda Baker, a former patient, found a creative way to give back to the Health Center. Photo provided by the UConn Foundation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Baker, a patient of Dr. Jane Grant-Kels, who specializes in the early diagnosis of malignant melanoma, understood just what was needed, having been diagnosed with melanoma herself.<\/p>\n

Grant-Kels was delighted when Baker mentioned that she was willing to create works specifically for the dermatology surgery waiting room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have lots of art on our walls donated to us by our patients. It enhances the beauty of our offices both for our patients and the care providers,\u201d says Grant-Kels. \u201cArt is a wonderful medium and can transform a room into a friendly, welcoming place rather than a cold or frightening space. Art, like music, can be very soothing to our patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three paintings, each 4 feet by 5 feet, depict children in a waiting room. The first shows a second grade student with a bandage, clutching a stuffed dinosaur also sporting a bandage. The second captures a teenage boy listening to his iPod, seemingly on the way to baseball practice. And the third painting shows centers on a pre-teen girl between ballet lessons and basketball practice.<\/p>\n

Grant-Kels says the trio rarely go unnoticed. \u201cAlready many of our patients have commented on the beautiful new art in our facility,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Baker notes that there is room for more art in health care settings. \u201cIt is my hope that my gift will inspire other artists to donate their works to UConn\u2019s facilities,\u201d she says. \u201cTo look at spaces needing decoration, and expressing their gratitude through art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

For more information about supporting the UConn Health Center, please contact the UConn Foundation\u2019s development department<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist Brenda Baker, a former patient, gives back to the Health Center with works of art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[43],"class_list":["post-27648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 17:25:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27648"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36436,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27648\/revisions\/36436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27648"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=27648"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=27648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}