Artists from Gallery A3 Exhibit at Cooley Dickinson Hospital

As part of the Art and Healing Program sponsored by The Friends of Cooley Dickinson, five artists from the local cooperative Gallery A3 will exhibit their work in the hospital’s North Gallery during November and December. Ten percent of the artists’ sales benefits programs and services at the hospital and its satellite health care facilities, such as the renovation of the emergency department and the new pediatric wing.

Rhea Banker, who manages the Art and Healing Program at Cooley Dickinson, explains that the ongoing project of displaying rotations of local artwork in the hospital comes from a strong conviction that art can be an important part of people’s healing process. “It can be so scary, as you all know, coming to the hospital, so to have some things of beauty on the walls of the hospital just brightens up a part of each day,” Banker says. This includes patients, their families, and hospital staff. “I've heard from nurses, doctors, technicians, maintenance people. They can’t wait to see what new work comes in when we change the exhibit. And I love for the artists to be part of this, to hear from the people who are actually in the environment, expressing so much gratitude and joy from seeing the art.”

Banker usually coordinates exhibits in the hospital for individual artists or for two-person shows but is excited to display works by five artists from Gallery A3. “It's more challenging – as you know – to get a group together, but it's such a varied look and it creates more dialogue among the patients in the hospital.”

The five artists from A3 work in a variety of media, subject matters, and styles. Repeating bands of vibrant color dance and weave through Paula Hite’s recent abstract acrylic paintings on paper. Evelyn Pye's oil paintings are abstracted landscapes exploring the shapes and feeling of the land in winter and summer. Rochelle Shicoff is a visual storyteller, always communicating, in a series format, with lines, colors and shapes. A mixed media artist, Diane Steingart creates evocative abstract and semi-representational pieces that focus on her memories, feelings, and experiences. Monotype prints by Janet W. Winston reveal her interest in architectural shapes, combinations of color to express mood, and the world of butterflies.

**Online Art Forum on Art and Healing**

On Thursday, December 11, 2025, at 7:30 pm on Zoom, Rhea Banker of the Art and Healing program at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, will join the exhibiting artists. She will speak about the important role of art in a hospital setting, and about Gallery A3's two exhibits at North Gallery this year. Pre-register for this program, which is free and open to the public, via the gallery website: www.gallerya3.com