Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Monday, July 14, 2008

 Central Baptist Hospital issued a call for help, and art students at Bryan Station High School eagerly responded. Their partnership has resulted in a colorful, creative new exhibit called Art for the Heart.
  The busiest stairwell in the hospital has become a gallery for 72 pieces of student artwork. The idea is to encourage people – from Central Baptist employees to patients and visitors – to bypass the elevator and get some cardiovascular exercise. As added incentive for hospital staff to walk instead of ride, the students incorporated employees’ photos or names into the artwork.
  “This was something fun and educational for the public as well as my kids,” said Bryan Station art teacher Marquetta Hensley, who opted to use contemporary and modern art.
  For the project, her students interpreted famous pieces by such artists as Andy Warhol, Vincent van Gogh and Jackson Pollock. Their work – which ranges from 24 x 24 inches to 48 x 60 inches – is all acrylic paint on stretch canvas.
  Hensley took the lead in measuring the hospital walls and designing the exhibit. Each floor of the main stairwell has a different theme, including post-impressionism, expressionism, cubism, surrealism, abstract expressionism and pop art.
  “You see art breaking away from its traditional aspect of painting exactly what you see into totally abstract as you go up the steps,” Hensley said.
  Karen Hill, a nurse executive and vice president at Central Baptist, spearheaded the wellness project, which was based on an idea from a staff nurse who had read about the use of light and music in stairwells.
  Another benefit is that partnering with schools enables students who might not be interested in medical careers to be involved in an aspect of health care. Eventually, the hospital plans to display student art in its other stairwells, too.
  “She jumped on it big time,” Hill said of Hensley’s response to the proposal.
  “We let her order what she needed, and we took care of the funding,” Hill said. “We provided all the materials. The students provided the talent and the time.”
  Hensley’s students spent six to eight weeks on the project. Some stayed after class, and others skipped lunch as they labored to reproduce well-known artwork including van Gogh’s “The Starry Night,” Salvador Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory” and Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup Cans.”
  Ashley Elder, a junior at Bryan Station, contributed a lot to the effort.
  “It was very time-consuming. I stayed after school quite a few days painting,” said Elder, who painted bits and pieces of most of the art. “Everybody did a really good job. I’m really proud of it.”