Undergoing an MRI exam can be an unnerving experience: a patient is surrounded by a loud, clanking, vibrating and rumbling machine, magnifying the claustrophobic feeling of being enclosed in a tight space, unable to move.
For young children, that experience can be very stressful, says Paula Most, the arts coordinator for Lifespan.
But, thanks to an engaging painting called “Fishnet Mural,” a collage of brightly colored images created by Public Art Works, or PAW, the MRI room in The Center for Pediatric Imaging at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence has been transformed, according to Most, into an underwater habitat of fanciful fish and fauna. “The mural helps the tech people refocus the patient’s attention away from the machinery and the test,” Most said.
Funded in part with a $10,000 grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts, the mural is the second in a series of works that PAW has created for Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
The first, installed in June 2008, was a series of painted, ceiling tiles in the Center for Pediatric Imaging at Hasbro. A third project is in the planning stage, to be installed in the CT Scan Room, with a focus on Rhode Island images, such as lobster boats and lighthouses.
PAW is a 2-year-old organization of professional, Rhode Island-based artists working together to promote and encourage art in public spaces – and to promote collaboration with the business community, said founding member Kenneth Speiser, a Providence-based sculptor and printmaker. Other founding members include artists Merle Mainelli Poulton and Nancy Gaucher-Thomas.
For PAW artists, the ability to seek out commissioned work and develop relationships with local businesses is critical to their economic survival, said Speiser. “The art-buying community in Rhode Island … would rather buy art from a Rhode Island artist if it’s in a New York gallery,” he said.
The new mural was installed early on Feb.16 – before the hectic, daily schedule of exams commenced at 7 a.m. Because the magnetic field of the 1.5 Tesla MRI machine used is 30,000 times stronger than the earth’s magnetic field, according to Daniel Acuri, senior MRI technologist at Rhode Island Hospital, it required innovative approaches to creating and installing the artwork. Nothing with any metal components could be employed.
To measure the space in the room, a paper tape measure had to be used – as well as pencils without any metal fasteners for an eraser, according to Gaucher-Thomas. Hammers, paint brushes, cans of paint, cameras, metal pens, and belt buckles were all forbidden.
The 6-foot by 16-foot mural, composed on nine sections of painted Homasote fiber board, took more than two months to create – before its installation.
The new mural has been especially welcomed by medical technicians and doctors.
“Instead of a cold, institutional room, this project transformed our pediatric MRI suite into a friendly, fun place,” said Dr. John J. Cronan, radiologist-in-chief, Rhode Island Hospital, and professor and chairman, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
Gaucher-Thomas praised Hasbro for embracing the arts. While she called the mural “more illustrative than fine art,” it is a process that forces the artist to move beyond her comfort zone.
“It is something that we can do to give back to the community, as artists,” she said. •
