I’d like to talk today about “evidence-based” restorative/healing art. Lately, I’ve noticed more and more people (a few art pros, too) who are claiming many paintings are “healing” works of art, but after looking at the pieces (sometimes with daggers and dripping blood and twisted heads or totally “abstract” images), I’ve started to wonder if they’ve actually read (which I do) the “medical outcomes” research and if they really understand the depth of the psychological and emotional wounding that almost always occurs when patients and their families are dealing with major illnesses.
Before I even began calling my paintings “evidence-based,” I first did extensive research on what the exact requirements and qualifications were in this category of art. Research from “actual studies done” in Norway, England, the US, and other countries, shows there’s a general patient preference for landscapes (regional, generic, or seasonal); waterscapes (regional, generic, or seasonal); florals (garden or bouquet styles); still-life (but used sparingly for variety); and a “whole host” of other detailed requirements.
Some of these “whole host of details” to consider before claiming a work of art is “evidence-based” also includes things like waterscapes to be calm or non-turbulent; landscapes to have visual depth, open foreground, trees with broad canopy, verdant vegetation, and positive cultural artifacts; flowers to look healthy and fresh, familiar in shape; and the background knowledge to do this kind of painting goes on and on and on. To say a work of art is “evidence-based” first requires knowing and meeting the requirements of the “evidence-based” studies.
The other thing I consider when painting is the depth of the psychological and emotional wounding that almost always occurs when patients and their families are dealing with major illnesses. Sitting in a hospital or home recovery room with full of force and impact “abstract” art on the wall or having to have to look at—especially just after having your body “penetrated” by a medical procedure—the powerful and penetrating colors of black and red (and to make it worse images shaped like daggers or pours like dripping blood) is the total opposite of what’s needed for health, healing and happiness.
I don’t have all the “evidence-based” art answers, but I do try to know many of them, and I know people (many of them cancer survivors) tell me—all the time—how the paintings I create for this market make them feel happy, healthy, and full of hope!
(For some of the information in this blog, I would like to give credit to NOAH Resources and The Center For Health Design.)
A Garden of Hope And Happiness by dorotheasandra.com (Acceptable as evidence-based art.)
Hopeful Happiness by dorotheasandra.com (Acceptable as evidence-based art.)
Hope by dorotheasandra.com (Acceptable as evidence-based art.)