Since it’s still Thurs­day (in the US!), and the col­or­ing book round up is still fresh in all of our minds, I thought it appro­pri­ate to post about another col­or­ing book that I was recently made atten­tion to. I was con­tacted by Nicki Eicher of RxArt, a really won­der­ful non-profit orga­ni­za­tion that works with both con­tem­po­rary artists and hos­pi­tals to pro­mote an patient envi­ron­ment that is cheer­ful and engag­ing. As explained on their website:

”…Com­mit­ted to fos­ter­ing artis­tic expres­sion and aware­ness through the chal­leng­ing yet reward­ing task of engag­ing patients through con­tem­po­rary art in health­care facil­i­ties. By curat­ing instal­la­tions in hos­pi­tal set­tings, we pro­vide a cre­ative sur­round­ing that helps to relieve stress and anx­i­ety, while increas­ing appre­ci­a­tion for con­tem­po­rary art.“

RxArt works with major artists to cre­ate site-specific instal­la­tions of their work to places such as children’s wards and out­pa­tient cen­ters. One of their lat­est projects was with Jeff Koons — he designed a children’s CT scan­ner for a hos­pi­tal in Chicago! I think it’s a bril­liant way to engage the pub­lic with con­tem­po­rary art and help ease fear and pain by allow­ing to take the focus off what’s in the present and get lost in the work sur­round­ing them.

As a non-profit, one of the ways in which RxArt raises money is through a col­or­ing book. Draw­ings by con­tem­po­rary artists (such as Robert Map­plethorpe, R. Crumb, Grace Har­ti­gan) have been included in their book, Between the Lines. It’s a really nice way of appeal­ing to adults but also remind­ing them of the cause they are sup­port­ing — chil­dren. And, per­haps best of all, these books are left in the hos­pi­tals where the work is installed, so they get to play along too! Check out more about the project.

All images court­sey of RxArt.