Art on the Walls still soothing patients

Matt Unrau

As everyone flipped the calendar from September to October, the Clark Fork Valley Hospital and the Sanders County Arts Council flipped the art on the walls into the Fourth Quarter of 2009.

The Art on the Walls is in its third year in existence and has never had more artists represented or works hanging from the walls. It now spans an entire hallway and even turns the corner and goes down an adjacent hallway.

Despite the growth of the series and the change of art, the psychological effect of the beautiful paintings and photographs remain the same.

In a place that is associated with illness and pain, a distraction from your illness can be a welcome change for patients.

The art proved to be very welcoming to Faye Salomone, who works with the art council, during her three-month stay in the hospital. She would make her way down to the hallway late at night to escape from her pain. At the beginning of her stay she would roll down the hallway in a wheelchair and look forward to the day when she could walk the hallway.

“You’re stepping from that place that smells of antiseptic with people poking you with needles all day long and you come out here at night where it’s quiet and peaceful and its not a hospital. It’s an art gallery.”

It’s not only an escape for patients, but also the Nursing Home next door has been known to bring those living there over for a peak or two at the art.

For the artists themselves the Art on the Walls gives them an opportunity to get their works out in the public eye. This quarter’s art features artists from all over Sanders County only excluding artists from Dixon and Heron.

Before bring her six paintings to the hospital’s hallway for the first time last week Grace Stover had only shown them in a public setting at the Sanders County Fair. Now, she’s excited to see her art in a gallery setting.

“It’s awesome, its really neat to see it(here) because I wouldn’t have pictured me doing this at all,” says Stover. “This is encouraging me to pursue it(my painting) more.”

Stover’s favorite painting at the show is her painting of a rose from her mother’s yard in Noxon.

The art will remain on the walls until December 31 when it will be swapped for the first quarter art for 2010.